Read the excerpt from "john burns: the unlikely civil war hero. " when john burns heard of the fight to keep the union in 1861, he immediately knew that he wanted help. Burns was a veteran of the war of 1812. The forty-nine years since seemed to have flown by mighty fast, and now war had come calling again. John stood, straightened his 67-year-old back, and marched down to the gettysburg recruiter. Which detail from this excerpt best supports the central idea that burns was an experienced soldier?.