GETTYSBURG--A "patriot" who brought a revolver to Gettysburg National Military Park Saturday amid rumors of desecration of memorials accidentally shot himself in the leg Saturday.

Benjamin Hornberger, 23, of Shippensburg, accidentally triggered the revolver, which was inside a leg holster, when he temporarily rested the bottom of his flag pole against the holster, according to witnesses.

Park police were nearby when the shooting occurred and officers quickly applied a tourniquet that may have saved the man's life, said Sgt. Anna Rose, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Park Police.

A tourniquet type device covered the wound on the man's left thigh as he was loaded into an ambulance. He talked with paramedics and seemed in good spirits.

The gun then went off a second time about 1 p.m. when police were trying to unload the weapon. The gun was pointed at the ground in a field north of Meade's Headquarters along the west side of Taneytown Road. A PennLive reporter witnessed the second shot, which occurred as visitors to the park milled nearby.

Officers said the gun was "bad" and they had a hard time getting the rounds out of the chamber. After they forced all of the rounds out of the revolver, they secured the gun.

Other self-described patriots nearby said they had just talked to the man who was injured and that he came by himself to the park because of the planned demonstrations. He was not part of any specific group, but was just there as a patriot, they said.

The demonstrations were situated in a different part of the park than the reenactments Saturday.

Dozens of self-described Patriots came to the park about noon Saturday after hearing rumors that Antifa protesters might crash the park's events and try to desecrate memorials. Members of Antifa caused a ruckus in Harrisburg recently at an Anti-Sharia rally and one member was arrested for swinging a wooden pole with a nail attached at a police horse.

The rumors on Saturday appeared to be just that: rumors, as no Antifa members were seen at Gettysburg park Saturday.

Instead, there were dozens of men in camouflage outfits, some carrying long rifles or handguns or both, milling about the park holding large American flags. They walked outside of the perimeter of the fenced-in officially-designated demonstration areas, which were nearly empty all day.

A handful of members from the Real 3 % Risen group sat in one fenced area wearing Confederate flag hats and t-shirts while a lone man with a sign aligning the Confederate flag with slavery and racism sat alone in another fenced area.

UPDATE: This article was updated to add the man's name, age and hometown.