My book is an exploit edition of the history of the battlefield. The National Park service manages 70 sites that are civil warrelated. The battlefields from gettysburg to antietam to vicksburg to sites time, significantly. If you look at the photograph on the top right, that is an aerial view. The mostne of commercialized areas in the 1940s and 1950s. The image on the left should be familiar to many of you. Perhaps you have the opportunity to go up and the old tower that 1970s. Up in the how the battlefield has been commercialized and how it has changed over time. One of the questions i try to reconcile is what makes gettysburg different . This battlefield is different and antietam. Its different than chickamauga. Its different than perryville. Its different than shiloh. 51,000ttle, producing casualties in three days, is the bloodiest conflict in american history. The man in the slide is a soldier from the fifth massachusetts who was wounded in the fight at gettysburg. His name is john chase. He got hit at least 48 times. He loses his arm and his eye. Era. Unprecedented carnage. This should be a familiar photo. Impact onowing the the civilians. Over 10,000 horses and mules die. N this battlefield the men, union and confederate soldiers are very where they fell. ,hallow, trench graves Something Like this. When the fight is over, when the guns and the , are killed in the fight. They are left on the battlefield, as i mentioned, in graves like this where they are laid to rest. The northern pennsylvania to honor those who died so the nation might live. On a very cold pennsylvania fall of thee dedication national cemetery. Linking comes up from washington, d. C. To deliver,pre. So, the history of the gettysburg battlefield follows three very clear phases. Three different preservation entities have held responsibility stewardship for this battlefield. You guys know this. The first, the Gettysburg Memorial Association which manages gettysburg until 1895. In 1895, the u. S. War Department Steps in, gives federal backing and manages it until 1830 31 theident fdr just a month,eld, six weeks after the fight is talking about preserving the battlefield. There could be no more fitting. This is an historic photographs. We are standing on the union lines, looking west toward Seminary Ridge. They purchase over 500 acres of land. They preserve is lines on the union army. They dont do well in preserving. And along Seminary Ridge confederate battle ends battle lines. The firstalso oversee monuments and memorials in the battlefield. This is a cool photograph. You can recognize the monument, rights . Background, you can see some of the early entrenchment of jim crow. The war Department Steps in and preserves five civil war battlefields. Shiloh in 1894. Ontysburg becomes preserved february 11, and i bet you know the individual who spearheads the legislation to make Gettysburg National military park. Thats right. The iconic Union Victory becomes a place where Union Veterans and. Onfederate veterans can meet you have seen some of these historic photographs before. You know some of the stories. On the a photograph hill. I have overlaid some of the names. Some of these. Ze general long street standing very prominently in the center. The governor of pennsylvania,and reunions of the civil war occurs here in gettysburg. 50 years later, tens of thousands of union, confederate veterans will camp on the battlefield and they will talk and share stories and reminisce. The president of the united is born in stanton virginia. This is the governor of virginia. He is here 50 years later. , and he gives a very typical address. We are not here to talk about , he tellss of the war listeners. You have seen these images before. This is probably one of the most Iconic Images of civil war memory. 1920s, let me show you a few other photographs. Apartment uses the battlefield first and foremost as a landscape to commemorate the men who fought there. Thethey also use battlefield in utilitarian ways. This is a cool photograph. Photograph you see that this is above the high watermark, all the west point cadets here. Wearingleft, the men civilian clothes are some of the park commissioners. Are utilitarians fashion. The u. S. War department establishes camp colt and that facility andining it is established on the field of picketts charge. This is a photograph. Look at the tank in the center. If you everss the landscape and they see world war i tanks roaming across the fields of picketts charge. Colt. The big change occurs in 1933. One of the things that struck me when i was lighting the dissertation and researching writing the dissertation and ,esearching as a phd candidate the history of gettysburg does not occur in a vacuum. This place is not managed or preserved in a vacuum. Social, political, economic events influenced this. This is a great example. When the u. S. War Department Transfers ownership of gettysburg to the National Park service, itsgettysburg is manad on the local superintendent. James mcconaughey he is a harvard graduate. He has a degree in landscape architecture. So when he comes tork that we s gettysburg is going to host two, two civilian conservation camps. Remember, this is the program that roosevelt, its his brain child to put young men to work, ultimately over two million young people will be ccc employees until the program is terminated until 1982. One of the camps is down the confederate line where the amphitheater is at, stop six today. I still associate places with stops on the route. This is mcmillan woods, one of working there. And those of you up front, if you look at the picture and the dividuals in it, what do you notice about the ccc workers . Im thinking american. Now, that in itself is not unique particularly. Shy low National Military park hosts a africanamerican ccc camp in tennessee, in the 1930s. Gettysburg is different. The roan eelees are africanamerican, but roosevelt is going to sign off in making gettysburg a test case that not only are the enrollees afthe gettysburg battlefield, doing stuff like this. You all probably use this particular facility before, i bet, right . I know i have. You recognize it . That is the comfort station bathroom by the pennsylvania memorial. re beautifying monume upkeeping monuments. Theyre protecting or building or upgrading roads. Theyre doing a lot of the modern infrastructure. Here they are in the Soldiers National cemetery painting the lafayette fence. Remember the one that was first in washington, d. C. , the lafayette fence, lafayette field has moved to the hill, and then its going to be placed in between the Soldiers National cemetery and the evergreen cemetery. Here they are upgrading it. The you can drop your what ens great depression, not the new deal, but the second world war. When i was reading through the 1940s, this period of the park, i was wondering how the world war ii generation would use or relate to gettysburg. On december 7, 1941, the nation is torn from its i when president roosevelt promises that the United States would be an arsenal of democracy, he needs scrap metal to produce the liberty ships. Where does some of that scrap metal come from . It comes from civil war battlefields. Chattanooga, vicksburg, they all donate. Gettysburg will donate 18 tons, tons of civil war orderments, monuments, placards, decorative materia ge civil war parks and begins to disassemble some of their commemorative landscapes. One of the most interesting documents i read you know, being in the archives some days is just incredibly laborious, but you find these gems of a document. One of the best documents i found in the part of the 19 hoes, mostly what you would see are officers. This is a cool photograph. Theyre standing at the meade memorial, and you can see to he back left the zeigler grove tower, the War Department tower. That one is torn down in the 1960s to place the other building. But thats who would be visiting here, such as these men. The battlefield again becomes a training ground. Here they are practicing for Chemical Warfare on the fields n october of 1943. Gettysburg is also going to host a german prisoner of war propaganda or patriotic purposes. Heres the propaganda u. S. War department encouraging men to enlist with the line of the gettysburg address, we shall highly resolve that these men shall not have died in vain. Gary wills writes a great book on link responsibility gettysburg address. His speech is the shortest. , democracy, government of the people, by the people, shall not perish from the earth. The commercialization. Youll recognize some of the places here. This is the first field. You can see john follow ton reynolds moan ureget the buford monument on the left. This is route 30 looking towards town. You can see it littered with commercialization. Americans are visiting sites that they find inspirational, patriotic. And when you visit sites, the National Park Service Needs to create the infrastructure to support them or businesses need to create the infrastructure to support them. So gas stations will come on the battlefield. Hotels, motels come on the battlefield. This is the piece light inn t. Goes up in the postworld war ii era. After youre done talking about Alfred Iverson and the first days fight, you can have a refreshing cocktail, some seafood, hopefully not seafood commemorating or celebrating the civil war, its also a period of unprecedented social racial unrest in the United States, but particularly in the deep south. Thats the freedom riders in anniston, alabama. While many parks host centennial condemnations, none will be as monument, as pinnacle as gettysburg. So whats going on in gettysburg in the 1960s . The south sees a surge of interest in the gettysburg battlefield and will create, erect, dedicate monuments. So all the controversy we have georgia monument. Ts, the lee the individual on the right is the governor of georgia, and this monument goes up in september of 1961. Theyre very much civil war centennials. You would see pageantry like this. You would see the president of the United States coming to visit gettysburg. This is president kennedy and his wife to the right doing a tour of the battlefield with the colonel. Here at little round top, Vice President Lyndon Baynes Johnson shows up, former president wight david emuseum. If you look to the right, find the circle object, thats the building which the National Park Service Debuts in march of 1962. And you can see all those little white specks are cars, thousands. We always gripe about parking. I cant get a good place to park by the visitor center. See, its the same. Its the same. Gettysburg is going to see over two Million People, two Million People com to celebrate, reenact 789, but its also an occasion where governors and dignitaries can talk about the kimp air civil rights movement. So here, the governor of new jersey, whos laying a wreath at one of the new jersey monuments on cemetery ridge, ses this occasion, his oration, to talk about the unfulfilled promises of the american civil war. In 1963, hes telling, reminding listeners that the civil war was not fought to presembt union white or jim crow, but it was fought for liberty and justice for all, lay a wreath and zpwf like deliver an oration is george wallace. George wallace comes to gettysburg in early july, and he will lay a wreath at the alabama memorial, and he also gives a short speech at the then, then it explodes. So i want to go through the last bit of time that and i have talk to you quickly about the latter years of the 20th century, into the 21st century. The National Park service gets a new superintendent, probably a familiar face to manufacture you, dr. John latschar. He has an idea that they should Start Talking about those divisive issues. Instead of avoiding them, this is an opportunity to have important conversations about what those men were fighting for in 1863. Last year has a ph. D. In history. Hes also an army veteran. Hes going to be aided with congress. In 2000, mandating that federally management civil war sites include a discussion of slavery. So whether youre at fort sumter or gettysburg or Frederick Douglass house, the National Park service now has an obligation to have some conversation about causes of the civil war, including and that comes to fruition with the opening of the new Visitors Center. Youve all been in there. You know what im talking about, this building opens in 2008, and you can go into the new Visitors Center now, go through the museum, and you can get a discussion of slavery, you can get a discussion of reconstruction. Youll get a full picture one of the most famous opponents to that is jerry russell, a prominent member of an arkansas Political Group who says that if you talk about slavery at civil war sites, his words, it would be a cosmic threat. A cosmic threat. The National Park service opens this plan to talk about slavery for public consumption, and over 4,000 people in about a month and a half, two months, write in to National Park service, public record, telling the National Park service their thoughts on how slavery should be included in this conversation. Theyre all public record. That is landscape rehabilitation almost to fly under the radar. This is a neat photograph. This is the construction of that toumplet you can see how close it was to the Soldiers National cemetery. This goes up in the middle part of the 1970s. Bruce calls it an abomination. People complain when it goes up. Its an intrusion, its too close to the national cemetery. They complain when it goes down. Thats the recurring gettysburg theme, right . Whats lincoln say, you cant please some of the people all the time so. It goes down july 3, 2000, and it allows the National Park service to kick off this period of the individual on the top says the gettysburg is not an arboretum, it is not a bird sanctuary, so restore it. Another person on the bottom says visitors dont care if gettysburg looked like it did in 1863 or not, but the National Park service pushes through a plan to rehabilitate the battlefield to its close approximation of how the union and confederate soldiers saw it in 1863 july. Youve seen some of this. You can stand here at the new york artillery battery. These are smith guns and doubles defpble being look across the field to where the confederate as tacked, and you would say 1963. Clear consult the area down by devils den. Theres one of the 1930s restrooms, so they clear cut it, and that thing sticks out like a sore thumb, so awful. What do they do with it then . Tear it down. So the battlefield over the last 20 years has seen some dramatic changes, arguably the most dramatic changes in its entire history. This museum, which the park service acquired in the 1970s, the old rosensteel museum, became the Visitors Center, across from the national cemetery, was torn down. It closes in april of 2008, and then it torn down a year later. We all can sort of finally remember the electric map. I know, right . I miss the electric map and the exhibits. The other building is torn down after the centennial, sesquicentennial after the 150th, allowing us to see the area of zeiglers grove unimpeded for the buffet, right . Are you ready for it, the old park servicefor pickett either. Let me leave but words of someone whom weve talked about before. Joshua lawrence chamberlain. Gettysburg is a place unlike any other. This battlefield, this landscape, 6,000 acres, is acreage like nothing else. Its a place thats so powerful. So powerful. And . Joshua lawrence chamberlains estimation, this is a photograph of the dead cafplgtse he said in g be around not get a chathank you all. You were great