Codie Eash, SRMEC Director of Education and Interpretation, will present “‘The Grandest Ride Men Ever Took’: General Alexander Hays and the Protest after Pickett’s Charge” at the Cumberland Valley Civil War Round Table. The meeting begins at 7:00pm at the Franklin Fire Company (158 West King Street, Chambersburg, PA, 17201). For more information on the CVCWRT, visit https://www.facebook.com/cvcwrt/.

Following United States victory on July 3, 1863, division commander Alexander Hays dragged several captured Confederate battle flags across a dusty, bloody Cemetery Ridge. Despite dozens of eyewitness descriptions explaining this demonstration's symbolic importance, the event has been generally relegated to footnotes and brief remarks in battle histories. Join Codie as he examines precisely what happened that day, how it was remembered by those who observed and participated, and the ways it impacted many veterans' reflections on Gettysburg's status as a site of Rebel defeat.