GDG- NC Troops

[MICHAEL DAVIDSON]

Laurence Schiller wrote:
   
  Message: 8 Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2007 19:48:44 -0500 From: Laurence Schiller <lds307 at northwestern.edu> Subject: Re: GDG- NC Troops To: GDG <gettysburg at arthes.com> Message-ID: <F82978D6-E5B6-44B9-968D-4933AE03758C at northwestern.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed 
   
  Greetings - no one seems to have picked up on this question - putting stones (or pennies) on a grave is an old Jewish tradition from Europe. They were designed to both signify remembrance but also, to keep the ghosts from roaming and causing trouble. This is what I always heard - hope it isn't just an old Yenta's tale. best, Laurie Schiller 
   
  I had written:
   
     My question is this:  I have often found a scattering of pennies  
> (Lincoln, of course) atop the monument.  Does anyone know the  
> meaning of this?  Similarly, I've found the 20th Maine marker piled  
> with pebbles and stones.  Are there some traditions behind these  
> things?
>
>   Michael Davidson
   
  Laurie,
   
  Thanks for the reply.  In my random web wanderings since I posed my question, looking for anything GMP related, I came across a couple of references.
   
  James McPherson, at a talk in June 2003 in Gettysburg, recalled an earlier tour when "We were puzzled to find hundreds of pennies placed on top of and alongside the marker that contains the words of the Address. I hadn’t seen this before, and was wondering about it when one of the students came up with the explanation: This was only a day or two after the 135th anniversary of Lincoln’s assassination on April 14, 1865. The penny, of course, has Lincoln’s profile on one side and a likeness of the Lincoln memorial in Washington on the other, with the words of the United States motto: E Pluribus Unum, Out of Many, One."
  http://www.gettysburgfoundation.org/whoweare-8.2.htm
   
  That it's an old custom is a good general explanation of the phenomenon, and the Lincoln connection may be obvious, but I guess what struck me was the incongruity of using a Lincoln penny to honor the 26 NC.  I also found a reference to Lincoln pennies in the upturned hoof on Longstreet's statue:
  http://groups.google.com/group/alt.war.civil.usa/browse_thread/thread/1603a5f27783f618/6381c26ce18bb273
   
  That writer speculated on the fact that most were "face down."  But that doesn't solve it, because the reverse shows the Lincoln Memorial.  I haven't paid attention, but I suspect heads or tails to be random.
   
  I found one comment (which I can't find again so I can't cite) to the effect that "Lots of people are suddenly doing it and no one is saying why."
   
  I suppose I'll have to do a penny survey, so I'll have to visit one more time.  (The things I do.)
   
  Michael Davidson