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. The hat ends 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 ParkService 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 PresidentLyndon 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 ParkService 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 itauthor o violence how americans fought in the civil war. Captioning performed by vitac captioning performed by vitac became the Visitors Center, across from the National Cemetery, was became the park service 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 fondly remember the electric map and i know, right . I miss the electric map and the exhibits. The building is torn down after the suss kwa centennial allowing us to see the area of zieglers grove unimpeded for pickets buffet. Right . Are you ready for it, the old park service joke, just charge it. Yeah. I know. It never goes well, does it . It didnt go well for picket, either, as the case may be. Let me leave you with the 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 in Joshua Lawrence chamberlains estimation, this is a photograph the dedication of the 24th michigan, chamberlain says in great deeds something abides. On great fields something stays. And i think we all would echo chamberla chamberlains sentiment even in 2019. Thank you all very much. I appreciate it. So we have some time for some questions. Lets come up to the mic. Jesse. Yeah, i cant think of the mans exact name, but eisenhowers secretary of the interior decided that everyone who came to gettysburg needed to find a mini ball. So at night the state low security prisoners went out to the battlefield and they seeded the battlefield. With that being said, and pretending the policy that you cant take anything out does not exist, is there any way if you see a mini ball on the battlefield that you could tell if its 1863 or 1953 . So i will answer that sort of briefly. So youre right the policy about taking stuff out of the battlefield is not permitted. The Law Enforcement folks who im good friends with some of them get people who apparently take things from the battlefield and then mail them back to them with like this apology note, like they feel guilty. So dont pick anything off the battlefield, jesse, even if eisenhower said it was okay. Al mackey. Hi, jen. First of all, thanks for the presentation. You really showed us how after the triumph over adversity they went and got the fruits of victory, they didnt stop to do other things, you know, for instance if there was a National Hockey league back then they wouldnt waste time talking about the stanley cup playoffs, they would be working with the fruits of victory. But with camp colt all we hear about is eisenhower. Have you found any other famous officers who went through camp colt, for instance, patton was a tanker, did he go through camp colt or any other famous names . Thats a great question, al, and i woeb brooks simpson is working on his grand biography as we speak. So the short answer is no. Eisenhower seems to get all the acclaim. I havent seen anyone else prominently figured here at gettysburg, but there is a new book on gettysburg world war i, mark snell wrote it, it talked about the impact through influenza, how this landscape changed, all the problems associated with that. I suspect if you want to know a little bit more look into mark snells book, he would be well suited to answer that. Thank you for that question, though, al. In john browns body Steven Vincent ben nay took a jab at commercialism by saying you take this tour, you go by the strange monumental men and now its time to buy a paper weight. Just how early did commercialism really become a problem that people paid attention to at gettysburg . Commercialism starts in july of 1863. We know this. Even as the armies are retreating from the field local residents are coming and starting to collect objects. Thats how the rosen steel museum is established, its collected of materials right after the battle of gettysburg, but even in the 1880s, the latter part of the 19th century its prominently figured as a tourist site. Doing touristy things, there are dance halls and all sorts of trolley lines that crisscross through the battlefield making it accessible, making it a tourist destination. We lament that in the 20th century, the Home Sweet Home hotel that used to sit on the fields of pickets charge, that has always been a story of gettysburg, always been a part of its history. Thank you. Thank you for your question. Please. Yes, its always a continuum and as you say theres some things you realize later that shouldnt have been done and have been rectified. So what things do you think are happening right now that you think in the future were going to say why did we do it that way and should be changed . Thats a great question. I think now the preservation philosophies are reversible, thats sort of what guides the park service. Not to do anything that would be permanent. So the changes or the modifications that they are making now, if in time, 50, 100 years its seen as being antiquated, that can be changed. I think the philosophy of managing the landscape to how it looks at the time of the battle is remarkable. That is remarkable. In gettysburg doing that set the trend or the press didnt for other civil war sites to start to do the same. So vicksburg clear cut, santee dumb will clear cut and that gives us a richer more interpretive experience. Thank you. Thank you for your question. Hi. Could you please comment on how monuments past and present are chosen or allowed to be chosen to be included on to the battlefield. Thats a great question, with a little bit of a complicated story. So the gbma sets up its called a line of battle rule that mon oomts that go on the battlefield have to be placed on the line of battle. You see really violent debates and disputes about this. The 15th alabama wants to erect a monument up on little ronald top, his brother dies there on july 2nd but the line of battle rule permits him or does not allow him to do so. So you can see monuments very systematically where theyre placed, they have to go through approval for location, they go through approval for inscription and design, all very methodical. The National Park service now has a moratorium that no mormon umts will be elected on the gettysburg battlefield, its the most mon u meanted battlefield in the american civil war, all of American History. Thats a great question with a lot of political intrigue often behind it. Thank you for that. Thank you all. I will be around so if you didnt get a chance to ask me a question, please come and see me. You were great. Have a great sunday. Thank you all. [ applause ] American History tv products are now available at the new cspan online store. Go to cspan store. Org to see whats new for American History tv and check out all of the cspan products. Here is a look at whats live thursday. On cspan at 11 30 a. M. Eastern britains secretary of state for International Trade talks about the future of u. S. Uk relations. Then at 1 45 we will have live coverage of the iowa state fair with president ial candidate Steve Bullock and joe biden are speaking. Also later in the day the Cato Institute and Heritage Foundation cohost a sedate among interns about libertarianism versus conservatism. Thats at 6 30 p. M. Eastern. And more live coverage on cspan 2 in the morning as the center for strategic and International Studies looks at trade relations between the u. S. And china. Thats followed by a discussion on the future of ukraine, with two former u. S. Diplomats. And later Foreign Policy experts discuss raising tensions between the u. S. And iran. Thats at 2 00 p. M. Eastern. Sunday night on q a we were taken out of the hall and confronted this mob of angry people. Middle bury College Political science professor allison staininger talks about being physically attacked in 2017 after an appearance by author Charles Murray on campus. At the end of your discussion with Charles Murray you left that room and went where and what happened . The fact of the matter is i dont really remember much of it. I couldnt even tell you what door we went out. But we were taken out of the hall and confronted this mob of angry people, some of whom were in masks, and they were shoving and jostling. Their target was Charles Murray. Sunday night at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspans q a. American history tvs look at the civil war continues now with Louisiana StateUniversity Professor aaron sheehandean on his book the calculus of violence how americans fought the civil war. This talk was part of the Gettysburg College civil war institutes annual