Transcripts For CSPAN3 The Civil War 20160910

Institute. Here is what some of the veterans had to say. Matt is a gentleman who knows more about this battle than any anyr man living, more than man who ever did live. He can tell more of what i did there then i can tell myself. Henry slocum was the commander of the 12th army corps at gettysburg. Acquainted a few months after the battle of gettysburg. I consider him the best authority in this country as regard to detail with that action. Hes sketched every part of the field and is familiar with the holder. Lastly, the kernel of the 33rd in the battle of gettysburg writing to the governor of massachusetts in 1878 rights the kernel i believe knows more about the battle of gettysburg than any officer in it on either side. He was not in the battle of gettysburg. He was not a soldier. Perhaps the most important person gettysburg you may never have heard of. Batchelor. S john why is he important to gettysburg and what was his vision . Bachelder,tigate because you cant understand him unless you get an oversight of his life. The first part of the program, we will run through what bachelder does in relationship to gettysburg and some things about his life. Also some of the controversies thisoccurred in some of place that informs us about bachelders experience at gettysburg. Bachelder is from New Hampshire. He was educated at a military school in New Hampshire. He seemed to like military things, history. In 1851 when he was 26 years old , he moved to reading and became facility and of a a school that became known as the pennsylvania military academy. In 1852, he is appointed a kernel. He was a colonel in the pennsylvania militia. I dont know if he ever did any in the pennsylvania militia. Ais tells us bachelder was good person at making connections with people who were powerful. He was very good atbat. He will stay in reading until 1853. He is an artist, a very good artist. He dabbled a bit in photography. Toward the late 1850s, what he was hoping to do was write the definitive history of the battle of monger hill and he was going to illustrate it. Encountered was that that a was extremely poorly documented. He really wasnt going to be able to write the tech of history he wanted but the war came along. Bachelder apparently, and i dont know what type of illness he said have had, but at one point he physically was not in the condition he needed to be to serve in the army. He is very committed to the union cause. But hes very interested in what might happen in this war so he attaches himself as a civilian to the army of the potomac in 1862 and follows the army of the virginia peninsula and paints this painting. It has been reprinted in a lot of picture books at the civil war. But the reason hes with the army is he wants to be president when they fight in these decisive battles of the war. Everyone thinks this campaign will end the war. Children will be there to document and illustrated. As campaign doesnt go planned. Bachelder gets sick and leaves the army at the end of the campaign and returns to New Hampshire but extracts a promise from some of his contacts in the army. He says i want you to give the early intelligence of any important movements looking toward a decisive engagement. Hes still hoping he can be present at that decisive battle he can write the history of. Bachelder could read the newspaper and in june 1863, it was splashed all over the place robert e. Lee had moved out of virginia into pennsylvania. His army contacts may have also contacted him and told him this campaign will be a big one and there will be a big battle. He would have learned shortly and as soon as he learned about the battle beginning i gettysburg, he made his arrangements at home and left home. He arrives on the battlefield either july 5 or july 7. The stories vary. Many of the confederate dead are still am buried by the time he has arrived. Unvaried by the time he has arrived. And sketchedround it all. And then he took his sketches and went to camp letterman hospital and other field hospitals and sat down with Wounded Soldiers and spoke to them about where they were on the battlefield and if they could mark where they were on these maps he was working on. Sometimes, he would take them out on the battlefield with him. Theres a confederate soldier who said when i was wounded at the general hospital, i went on the battlefield with you and pointed out where my regiment fought during the battle. He is going to document every road, every fence line, every house, every orchard, every would line. This is a very Detailed Survey he conducts. He finishes up late october, he willovember and then secure permission from general george meade, the commander of the army of the potomac, to travel down to brandy station, virginia where the army is going into Winter Quarters and he will spend the entire winter with the army. He certainly probably spent most of the winter down there and the purpose of going down there was to interview someone from every regiment in every battery that was in the battle. Pretty remarkable effort that bachelder will document this battle. He hopes to write a history of the battle and wants to create a map like no one has ever seen before for a major battle. He will travel around to all these different regiments and batteries and talk to officers and even takes a sketches down with him and he will sit down with these men and have them mark where they were on the field. He also discovers not all eyewitnesses are created alike. One day after he had been down in the second corps camps, he how i believe i discovered they made the sun stand still. He relayed how sometimes, several officers of different regiments would tell them we were engaged at four clock and hes talking to an officer from another regiment and this one says we were engaged at 6 00. He would say you might be in error because all these other officers said it was four clock. He said they would lean forward they would say i was there, i know. So bachelder will learn that this history that he wants to write, there will be some challenges to it. Some people lie, some people exaggerate, some people have something to cover. And some people just are very observant. As a historian, he will have to sift through those rings. He returned things. He returns to New Hampshire and sets to work on his isometric map, which im sure many of you have seen. You have to blow up this map. It is unbelievable. It is a birdseye view, looking down. When we did the battlefield ,ehabilitation at gettysburg our historians use that amount as among their base maps. Today, that map is in use. How did he get the confederate positions . From interviewing confederate soldiers who had been wounded. Marking their positions. One bachelder proposed he wanted to do this map, he said i commenced my drawing of it is berg. Gettysburg. Wise men shook their heads. It has been carefully examined by me. I find it as accurate as such a map can be made and it is accurate as far as my knowledge extends for that all of these people were so impressed with this map, they all endorsed it. Theres measures are on the map for the most prominent signature in the middle is commander meade. In that era, there wasnt any problem with doing this because yes hes making money off of it but he was also making a contribution to history. His interesting gettysburg does not wane a bit. He finishes this beautiful map and his next step is today, if he was living today, he would be in hollywood and he would have found somebody to make a movie. But they dont make movies then, they do painting so he commissions james walker to do a of the charge. A there is tremendous interest in this painting by veterans. Bachelder is also a Business Venture as well because he can take the painting around to various locations and lecture about the battle using the painting. And innting comes out, the late 1860s, he also begins to convene groupings of officers to go over the battlefield and mark positions and explain their position and movements during the battle. But the biggest one he puts 1869. Er is in he sends a circular out to all the officers he knows of and tells them he wants to gather everybody at the springs hotel. They will pay their train fare and put them in the hotel. Ocated west of Willoughby Run and what we are going to do is mark positions where regiments were on the battlefield. They also try to contact confederates. And they are going to get a tremendous response. 120 officers from the army of are going to attend this event and three or four from the army of Northern Virginia. Some of these officers who came came because they were suspicious. They are just trying to push business to the springs hotel and enhance the reputation of John Bachelder. That is what Alexander Webb got. You was a general in Brigade Commander and wrote the following letter from springs hotel two days into the event. Coming toimpression of locatinge position of troops have not been arranged and feeling the arrangement looked toward the interest of those interested in the springs and for the personal interest of colonel bachelder in the battle of gettysburg. Im satisfied my suspicions were unfounded and i now believe this meeting of prominent officers engaged in the battle is and was intended to simply fix the positions of regiments. It has been arranged and carried out with that single view and im satisfied it was not only my pleasure but my duty to attend this meeting. What webb expresses is something that bachelder is also very good at. He is sincere. Earninging to end up his living off of be a historian of the battle of gettysburg but there is no Government Agency that operates this place. Parking gettysburg. He is doing this at his own expense so he has to make a living at it. This guywebb learns is really was to do this. Purpose syria and his and others will discover that as well. Just to get an idea of the details, this is an excerpt. They had a stenographer with the group. The notes are fantastic. Very interesting. The 11th stake they drive into and july 1,s new 1863. The 12 stake is left of 133rd pennsylvania. That is the type of detail they were doing at this meeting of officers and on the battlefield. While this meeting of officers is going on, at some point during the meeting, bachelder is on the battlefield with Walter Harrison. A staff officer for general ticket. It was hot and they were sitting underneath the main clump of trees you can see. This was taken i think in march. In august, the trees were shaved sat shade so they underneath the trees and during the conversation, walter merison said explained to what an important feature the trees were at the time of the battle and how it had been a he said these trees must have been the high watermark of the rebellion. Harrison agreed. Bachelder writes he was imbued with a reference for those trees. He took all sorts of people on the battlefield. Hundreds and hundreds of veterans of the battle, almost every high ranking officer from the union army. Here we in 1885. You can imagine what you can learn on these experiences but the challenge he has and trying to sift through what they wanted you to know and what really happened. They are near the site where hancock was wounded on july 3. Bachelder will carry on from 1863 to 80 1894 when he dies. A massive correspondence with the veterans. Largely union but eventually gets to the confederates. You see the value of something that detailed and how it can help you if you are trying to reconstruct who was where and when they were there. The other letter is the commander of the texas brigade, describing in detail the movement his brigade made during the battle. The bachelder papers were kind of scattered around but the bulk the newended up in hampshire historical society. And nobody knew they were there, they sat there unused for decades. And finally in the late 1950s, ton whoedwin conning found them. He tracked down this bachelder fellow no one knew anything about that chilled her. He tracked him down and these people brought out all these boxes. Inside was hundreds and hundreds of letters from veterans to bachelder about the battle. David and andrea glad edited all the known bachelder papers. Bachelder also wanted to promote tourism to gettysburg in 1873. To see it. S how first, guidebook to gettysburg. Its really good even to this day. Its interesting to read because you can get an idea of what was here in 1873. While he was working on that,. Et also been commissioned he led a survey team that surveyed the battlefield at 100 to 200 feet. That is far more detailed than the bachelder are symmetric map. The bat shelter map was the atndational map that we use Gettysburg National Military Park all the time. Bachelder places all the troops on these maps. Time. These maps all the he made some mistakes in these maps but based on how difficult it is to do this mapping, these are remarkable. Still to this day, their value is priceless. After he finishes those maps, he is commissioned to do maps about the calvary battle. These are two of the four maps and they are extremely detailed and very useful. Once he finishes these, he starts working on a series of 68 maps of sequences. They look like finished maps but when you look at the second and third day maps, you can find , i dont think he ever finish the maps. Heres a reason why he didnt finish them. Paid 50,000 by the u. S. Government. Congress never appropriated money for anything during that time. That is how important they thought this battle would be. Likee knew the battle bachelder did. When bachelder finished his manuscript which came in at 2550 pages, everybody was disappointed. Didnt use any of that correspondence. Andidnt use the interviews the tour as he took the veterans on the battlefield. All this really is is stringing together all the official reports for the battle of gettysburg from the beginning to the end. Basically, bachelder was a compiler. He gathered these reports and put a narrative in between. He didnt have any official history. He put in the they paid 50,000 for something collect just going to dust. That is why the maps never got published. They never published the history. So i have to ask myself the question, why did bachelder ignore and leave out all of this material he had . The battle was controversial. Bachelders work year wasnt done. He didnt want to be controversial, he didnt what to jeopardize finishing his work. He took the safe course. He didnt do anything interpretive at all, he just laid out the facts and no one could attack him on that except they were all disappointed in him. Until he died in 1894 in one way or another, john theelder was a gated with gettysburg battlefield Memorial Association. This was an organization that peopleated by local immediately after the battle in august 1863 and was incorporated by the state of pennsylvania in the spring of 1864 and its sitese was to preserve the of the great Union Victory at gettysburg. They would buy up pieces of property that showed vital damage and the focus was on the union army. They didnt have authority to condemn property if they didnt have willing sellers. They didnt have that for where the Confederate Army had in. This was to highlight the union triumph. It is a unique endeavor, very unique because the monument was the battlefield and they didnt want any monuments, any roads. Way it was until about 1879, 1880 when this man was going to exercise a hostile takeover. John vanderslice came to gettysburg in 1879 with his unit. He was not in the battle but is union had a unit at gettysburg. Came out and watered wandered around and said this place has tremendous potential. This is the great victory of the union army. He got posts all over the state to get into the gettysburg battlefield Memorial Association. They took it over, voted out and what in a new board vanderslice wanted to do was open up avenues that would allow veterans to get to where they had been on the battlefield and wanted to encourage veterans to memorialize what they did. One of the people who was all John Bachelder. This was bachelders dream. He wants to market the field. He wants to encourage people to come to gettysburg, to learn about this history. Since vanderslice is suggesting the gbm a should start erecting monuments and opening avenues, we have and we need people to supervise the monument thing. There is no plan. We need somebody to do it. So bachelder is the obvious guy. In 1883, he is selected to be the superintendent of legends and tablets. He will work with state legislatures or veterans groups, whoever is responsible for any monument on the field to determine its location. He will also work with them to make sure it is an appropriate design. E will work with them this becomes important about material. And of the early monument best had think and stands sandstone. Bachelder will push for and get approval by the board to accept nothing but granite or bronze and some marble. Thats what the monument are so sturdy on the battlefield. Because bachelder early on is proposing stuff that will last a long time. Bachelder would be responsible for improving approving the inscription. You also accord with stitches etc. File. This is a tremendous amount of work. There was so much work after a few years he had to resign as supervisor of tablets ampligen. Tablets and legends. Just going to talk about one little thing here. ,he monument that i pointed out 147 infantry. All in there. Have this is the old bridge, over the railroad cut. The monument in the very right front from wisconsin. The 147th did not fight there. Go to the left of the photograph and up to the next ridge, that is where they fought. Up hereon the monument is bachelder mistake. He said that bachelder on the first map left whole batteries off of the it. 147 got put in the wrong place on the map. Henryxt map he put pauls back on the ridge where the monuments are and he put the one 47th with that. Because he did that the monument and not getting located on eastern mcphersons rich. It is still there. There are tons of them. Veterans were constantly having controversy. Who was the farthest to the right and who was there and on and on and you can imagine the amount of correspondence that went on. What about the confederates . To mark the seal you have to have the confederates. They were suspicious of bachelder initially. You see pictures of gms cap are and here is what he wrote in 18 defect. 1865. I decline a feeding tube bachelder will childers requests. Born fromal is northern sources. Excluded because it is unknown and unacceptable to him. It may be best to state here that the fact are implied in the questions with the kernel reference to me. They are almost imaginary and mythical. Past, i give you my personal recollections touching the particulars in which he rechoir. James kamber. Bachelder war you down. And he was sincere and it came through. Gradually that he had no agenda other than wanting to mark the battlefield. And not get any politics involved. Another right soon, i appreciate your desire to give the truth of history as accurate as possible. It must always result in bitterness of feeling. Downincerity wears people and he starts to get confederate correspondents who are telling them where they were on the field. The could only mark and preserve notfield with the army, and where the army of Northern Virginia was. Bachelder was always thinking in terms of coming generations. Imperative while the veterans are alive and while he is alive that we need to mark the confederate lines of battle. Is only way we can do that applied in from Union Veterans and the United States Congress Gets involved. We need the government involved. In 19 1889, when i advocate the markings skeptics looked at each other with a wink and said i was a client crank. I spent the better part of a lifetime preserving gettysburg. I now desire to round up a lifes work by completing the marking of the field and i hoped with the assistance of every veteran of the army of the potomac. Letters that veterans were of him are in most versatile order with publication. Mark the field, but not one word of commiseration, not one sentence in praise done at a bad cost. Robert carter said he most hardly in a worse the plan for marking the confederate line for historic purposes alone. I must disapprove any monuments with inappropriate legends which or comingpresent generations false history or or a false sentiment. It will be a tough road ahead. Some veterans who wrote him thought they. Beaver thees governor of pennsylvania. He writes and says that is a good idea to mark the lines. Wouldnt it be well to make in a to secureenable them not only avenues along which the lines of the can enter forces were formed but the ground over which pickett made his charge. It would be well in my judgment for the government to secure a portion of the land lying between the two lines which was fought over on the second day and charged by pickett. If this were done, it could be preserved in a National Park. The legislation did not make it through congress, twice it failed. I think it failed not because they didnt like bachelder, they just did not want to pay. It will cost 25,000 to start and they didnt want to appropriate the money. It wasnt until 1893 that they finally pushed it through. One of those reason is that bachelder, he was like a bulldog. Writing state legislatures, lobbying incessantly to try to find the right tools within the United States congress to push us legislation through your to go through and appoint a commission, all veterans plus an engineer. He is so famous and knowledgeable he is selected for the Commission Even though he is not a veteran. Surveyingt started on where the confederate lines were, where avenues would go. E knows all of the land owners he can talk to them about getting rights of way and get started. In 1894 he comes down with pneumonia and he dies. Culmination of what he has been working for all of this time. He said i now desire to round up a life work by completing the marking of the field. That life work is completed in a sense by the creation of Gettysburg National Military Park. It will get completed in 1895. The person who pushed that legislation through. And signals. It wasnt easy to get the legislation through congress. One of the reasons it reached the point that someone was thinking about doing this was because of bachelders work. A lifetime of work. He had built this place into this nationally prominent location. We will take a shift to a more narrow focus to a highly symbolic place, this is the High Water Mark in 1882. That is the clump of trees, you can see today there are other true spirit in 1882 they are gone. Remaining are the ones with the iron fence around it, the tall trees you see in the photograph. In july of 1881 the gbma decided at one of their theyngs when they meet are not like the National Park service. They dont live and work here. There is a couple of more members who work here. They are the local people who can do stuff to get done. Park,es in hyde massachusetts. They come to gettysburg for a few meetings a year. They dont make any money. They dont have much money. The only money they get is what is appropriate to them from state legislatures. In july of 1881 at one of their Board Meetings they decide, lets open and avenue from town road, coming out of the picture above it to Little Round Top which would be south of the clump of trees there we will open an avenue. You see wagon tracks in the photograph. Today it is a paved road. That is what hancock avenue was. The idea is we will open up this avenue and we need to a wire the angle. In 1882, you see the trees are still landing. It almost did not. Basil biggs, le, an african farmer and a business and and veterinarian bought the ankle area. 1869, that shoulder was riding along Cemetery Ridge and he comes along to basal cutting down the club of trees. Is thest thing he does historical value of these trees. He tried to explain this stuff says, i have to make a living. Sorry. Batchelder tries a different tact. His guy is a smart businessman he says, these trees will be worth more to you one day in the future if you preserve them. Called there is a group the Memorial Association is acquiring land. I guarantee you if you keep the trees you will get more money out of this land by selling it to them for historical value than you will by cutting these trees down. Said all right, good deal. He did not cut the trees down. That is how the trees ended up staying. They bought the land from biggs and he did make a profit. In august of 1883, batchelder later whens a month they correct the monument erect a monument. It takes a little while because these guys dont meet that often. In november of 1894 1884 no tablet ors monument shall be permanently erected on grounds held by the association without permission from the board of directors or has been approved by the super said supervisor of tablets and legends. Thing you put every want out there. If you are putting it on gbma land. They meet and have to approve your legend. These guys are making it up as they are going along. There is no master plan. There is no design or this landscape. They are making it up as a move along, stepbystep your do in 1885, the next year bachelder will make a recommendation that they put an iron fence around the clump of trees. The souvenir hunters are going in there and they will destroy them. The and theyook at say well they didnt like bachelder. They didnt have any money. And he isprove it going again in 1886 and they will turn him down again. Buildmes he motions lets an iron fence around it, both times it does not fly. They dont have any money. Between october of 1885 and june of 1880 three monuments were erected immediately south of the clump of trees. You can see there is no fence around it. You also can see if you are familiar putting this dont on the monument is not there. These are the three monuments. Moved to to engage the confederates who broke through during picketts charge. So that is the advanced positions they took. Because of monuments go in and more people are down there wandering around. Finally in 1887 the board goes ok. Batchelder, we do approve an iron fence. In 1887 the fence goes up. Vanderslice, john moves that bachelder prepares a , where picketts division assaulted the union lines tablet will be placed upon a metallic posts. We are talking with something simple. This was to bachelder the idea, the origin, the seed for creating a High Water Mark monument in gettysburg. Approved these three monuments but as he thought about it, remember there is no plan here. He thinks about it, this is going to be a problem. Helped than 13 regiments to repulse the attack. The units were mingled together to this is not a good way for future generations to understand how this data was fought. So bachelder will travel to washington dc, and he meets with the secretary of war. Regular Army Officers as well. They discussed how they should handle the eruption of monuments are gettysburg. Ection ofion er monuments at gettysburg and lines were battle were marked it would be better carried out. Battle rather of than the lines of contact. Batchelder returns to the Board Meeting in 1887 amp poses a policy that says you put your monument where you were in the line of battle, not contact. Unanimously approved. That is where you see the order on the about feel today. Battlefield today. You have another problem here. What are you going to do with three monuments that are already located near the clumps of thomas greergeant writes to bachelder, he says he is all for the line of adult thing. You are responsible to the next generation for the completeness of your work. If you leave a map standing over the field which confuses and misleads you will be condemned rather than honored for the service rendered. Attempt to locate monuments at the end of the chart you would have contention that you would be unable to reconcile. They asked for three massachusetts regiments, would you move your monuments to where you were in line in battle and we will place the tablet where you advance two. They agreed. You see the line of monuments, that is the line of battle on july third and july 2. The 15th massachusetts and 20th massachusetts are on the line. Are rightassachusetts in front of the 19th man you just massachusetts. They moved to the other side of hancock avenue, the eastern side which is where they were. They played by the rules. Policy now is going forward. It will leave some problems. On june 15, 1887, an act test by appropriateure to for the to the gbma purpose of marking positions on the battlefield. Fiveman commission. This is a Pennsylvania State commission and we have the gbma, landhey are coming on gbma as to where their monuments should go. Nobody from the 72nd pennsylvania showed up when they did the marking, in april of 1888. The commissioners were told that they were located where you see the triangle. That was their position. They drove a stake in the ground at the. Word filters back to the veterans of the second the seven 72nd regiment. They were unhappy. They want their monuments up in the front between the monument between the 69 and 71st regiment. The Commission Says we will come to philadelphia and we will meet with you and other veterans of the philadelphia update brigade. Dont likegry, they where the commission will locate them. Veterans from other regiments say you dont belong down there appeared your reserve line. Now it moves back to gettysburg. Commissioners from the state commission along with veterans from the 72nd come to a Board Meeting and they make their case. The 72nd said they want your monument at the wall. Bachelder said no you have to play by the rules per you have to go back there. The board agrees with him. They continue to debate this at the meeting. Compromises. Bma you can pleasure monument somewhere along the line where the philadelphia brigade monument is located. That is a compromise. 72nd veterans rejected the compromise and they continued to press to have their regimental monument up at the wall. Sometime after this meeting the pennsylvania commissioners agreed to meet with the representatives of the 72nd pennsylvania at gettysburg. Of 72nd guys, and they meet on the battlefield and they are trying to make their case and these pennsylvania commissioners are listening to them and saying you are not convincing us. Everybody is unhappy. They are not happy with what is going on. Sois getting late in the day they go down to the train station and they go to the u. S. Hotel in harrisburg and the commissioners hold an evening session. It goes on until 1 00 or 2 00 in the morning. One of these commissioners says that they were at a loss to know the to do to locate monument where it alone on the line of battle. Not where they moved up to, where they were in the line of battle. They are scratching their head. They are trying to figure out a compromise and then samuel harper, the secretary of the state Commission Finds this passage which is in paragraph six of the gbma policy and monuments. It is if the semi was a by other troops of monuments must be placed the order that they occupy the ground spirit the first line the second in 20 feet rear of it and so on. Thats logical. Harper says look, we tell the 72nd fellows they can put their monument 20 feet behind the front line. Lets try it in the 72nd guys go ok we can live with that. Nobody however communicated that to the board of the gbma. Indecember of that year, 1888, representatives of the 72nd copout to the battlefield and start digging the foundation for the monument. Context the sheriff and said you have to arrest these guys, they are trespassing. Court. Are going to january 7, 1889, the veterans of the 72nd filed a bill in county court requesting that their committee be allowed to erect its monument where the agreement was made with the state commission at a hotel in harrisburg. The court since sustains the it goesthe case to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court where you can read the testimony. I think it is strong against the 70 seconds case but they went. Win. Ey about 20 feet back from the front line right where they wanted it. It is a beautiful monument. It is a brilliant monument. There is hardly a visitor who comes to gettysburg who looks at that monument and sent those guys were on the front lines. A and they fought hand to hand. He has the appraised rifle. Bachelder got crushed in memory. But so did the vets that play by the rules. But he writes bachelder, i permitted the removal of my regiment but not anticipating such a travesty of truth thereby. Bachelder were so stung by the defeat that they felt they owed the public an apology. This is what they issue. The miss location of the 72nd monument is the only break not really true but they said it is the only break in the harmony of the entire field. For which we feel that an apology is required to be made to anyone. In so locating it a lot was misinterpreted. Inferences were unjustifiably drawn. The associations fought with every means to savor commonwealth from an error which puts it in a false position ore the entire time he army of the potomac and therefore the entire country. As i said in this battle of memory the 72nd prevail. 99. 9 percent of the visitors know nothing about what happened out there and no knowledge of this controversy. Bachelder what have one final victory. In shaping the memory of this battle. That was when the high water. Ark monument was erected remember what it looked like in the photograph in 1882, that is what it looks like now after the High Water Mark monument and the iron fence. You can see the influence of bachelder in making this place a mecca on the battlefield, a place that immediately attracts visitors. You go up Cemetery Ridge and you see that monument you get out of the car and walked over. You know something important happened here. Vanderslice was the person who sent that to match that children to erect a monument. There is no money. You either pay for it out of your pocket or you get state legislatures to fund it. This is a guy who works. He is dogged. He gets out there and he hassles for money. He writes that he personally prepares and discarded more than 20 different designs, made the contract, visited legislatures, pay bills precisely as though it was my private enterprise. The final design bachelder stumbled upon an open book on her side linked by canons thats all part of the monument. The legend that he prepares in this big open book is typical of him here and it is not interpreted, it does not address the cause or concert ends of the battle except obliquely. In the inscription for commands honored which stated in recognition of the patriotism displayed by the respective troops who met or assisted to repost wall streets assault. It was faith that made a contribution to the monuments. This thee places on attack is referred to as long street assault. Bachelder identifies in the monument that this clump of trees was a landmark towards which long streets assault was directed in 1863. He got that from Walter Harrison in 1869 when he was sitting in the shade and harrison told him that. One thing bachelder did not win. Its almost always call picketts charge. No matter how hard all the historians in this country have blow the huff and puff and down the High Water Mark of the chapter John Bachelder prevailed. Of John Bachelder prevailed, he shaped how we remember gettysburg place in the war. To sum up as we said, we could do a seminar on bachelder. Points touched the high in his life and career here. What did he do, what was his vision. Lets look at some of the things he did. E documented the battle wayapped the battle in a that no battle i am aware of was ever mapped up to that point in time. He marked the battlefield in a way that may no battlefield in the world has ever been mark. He promoted tourism on the field. He was the early guy who promoted the fact that now today 1. 5 Million People have come to gettysburg to help make it that place that was a destination for americans. He looked to the future and advocating how the field would be commemorated and with what materials the monuments and memorials would be made of you he was wise in this decision to mark the lines of battle and where units had made contact. The battlefield is easy for people to imagine more troops were and more or less understand where the armies were by the system that over how to layout. The last regimental monument was the 11 is the city. Monumentsoratorium on and they have some political clout and pushed it through. The principal monument is where they were in line of battle on west confederate avenue. Finally bachelder was perhaps the most important advocate a library for the confederate lines which led to the creation of a National Battlefield commission and the military part. Best said he spent the heart of lifetime in developing and preserving gettysburg. Up is whatd offer would his vision before gettysburg . For tomorrow, walk on the battlefield. His vision for this place, his presence, it is Gettysburg National military part. Thank you very much. [applause] if anybody has questions, we have a few minutes. Rushingome of you are out the door to see the game of thrones or the nba finals. If you have questions i will be here. Id love to get your take on this, at least one historian has said that when bachelder was told by the confederate staff officer that clump of trees on Cemetery Ridge was a landmark for long streets assault, that was the only time that anybody ever attributed to that clump of trees and they went on to argue that the confederate lines was not visually significant, more likely it was 12 new by. Walter harrison was right. He was the staff officer with ticket. It would have been his job to was goingthe landmark to move towards. It was not important for even company officers, those men didnt even need to know what the landmark was for the only people who needed to know would be Brigade Commanders, so they could instruct the regiment of direction as to where they were supposed to go. Argument that they could not see it, i have never understood that argument. If you go to the teacher or orchard, where they came up with the idea to attack from the center, you cannot miss it. Trees is a perfect landmark to guide a large force to sit in an area that you knew would be vulnerable to the union front europe the siglers growth grove, there is no way that robert e. Lee would have made an attack. Pickets men would have had to resent their flank to the federals on Cemetery Ridge. Law of people a to say it. Walter harrison said it and so p alexander. They should have known what the landmark was. Has the bachelder map been digitized . In map is digitized. I believe it is on a library of congress webs right. Map, i the bachelder dont know if it is digitized by map, the position three maps, they are also on the library of congress website. , you8 maps that he did might be in to find them on ebay because morningside is not an hour operation anymore but they were selling them anytime. But those maps you can find those around. That has been reprinted many times. I have a copy of that map the isometric. A lot of signatures on the map, the present president of Gettysburg College seminary, chief engineer in the core when was that map signed . It was painted and then had to be signed. Point. s a good i dont know there is a good answer for that. Bachelder said he spent the entire winter with the army of the potomac interviewing people to document their position but also working on his map. But the one letter in the bachelder papers, he said i have examined his map and said it is accurate is hancock in the summer of 1863. What may have happened is he man had a draft of the map finished before it went to the printer in 19 1863. It was not printed until 1864. Whether he sent a copy of the map to the army sometime in late winter and had all these people find it, that i dont know. Thank you. You mentioned earlier that the 147th new york was not in the correct location. I have an ancestor that fought and died at the railroad. Is that in the correct location . Yes it is in the correct location. You said they were lots of monuments that were in the wrong place. The monument the brigade if i did say that i misspoke. There am lots of monuments in the wrong ways. To makeeant is to try everybody adhere to this line of battle policy was a real challenge. One example is the second core. If you replace the monuments where my interpretation of the line of battle laces and they should be down by the pennsylvania monument. They are all worthy advanced to and saw. Fought. Ught that was a compromise. Children have to compromise on some of these things. 147th monument that we talk about, bachelder may not have end the individual who approved where that monument was. He did not approve every single and that happened. There were other people in the who would work through these things and approve the monuments. He they used bachelders maps and his maps were in error. I sympathize with bachelder. Challenge when you are dealing with all of these people, there are emotions about where they were. You are trying to make them think to the future. Making this battlefield understandable for people who were the on that. Its a tough sell. They have to make some compromises. There was another monument controversy had but it was like an hour and 10 minutes. Jerseywas the 12th new and new york which was by the brian farm. There are dozens of letters. Jerseys in the 12th new were furious, they werent here. They were back in reserves. They said yes we were removed up during the flight. Ultimately they did the exact same and with them that they did with the 72nd. They put it about 20 feet back from the other monuments and that seemed to satisfy everybody. I personally think you can go on. Can you compare and contrast that shoulders efforts and dedication to mapping and charting and monuments and someone to other battlefields, the only manassas . One that compares his antietam. Antietam had two remarkable who were interested in documenting that battle. John gould and ezra carmen who became the historian at antietam. Carmen was the leader of the 13 new jersey. Carmens maps of the battle of antietam are some of the best maps that have ever been repaired for any civil war battle. Top ofy maps i would the all of john hennessys maps, and all the documentation he put into it. Other than that, by people in that era, carmens mapping is unbelievable to they corresponded with every regiment and battery and they were systematic. The one thing i forgot to mention about bachelder is that any of his notes are lost. There was a fire in the family the in massachusetts in 1920s. For example, there are no papers from when he was with the army of the potomac in the winter of 63 and 54. No sketches. Nothing survived. That may have all burned up in the house. It is possible it could be scattered somewhere, but i doubt it. Besides antietam, what other places, vicksburg, they are very well marked. The Commission Student job. But what everyone was doing was following what that shoulder had done. Whatid the groundwork for can be done. It seem like he had a prominent position after the battle. How did all of his stuff completely disappear until the 1950s . It just happens with some people. You just drift into oblivion. People saw his name but for some reason nobody was interested in trying to track down what he really did and if it was any sort of papers he left. Thank you very much, folks. [applause] you are watching American History tv all weekend, every weekend on cspan3. To join the conversation, like us on facebook at cspan history. 1765 as an was built summer home. Abandoned during the revolutionary war the house was use as a military headquarters. Jumel, afterhen he died his wife mary aaron are on the occupied the home. The executive director of the mansion discusses the historical time between alexander hamilton, aaron burr in the mansion. They also talk about the connection between the site and hamilton, the musical. The New York Historical society hosted this