Development Still Threatens Battlefield

An editorial from The Hanover Evening Sun

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"We suspect a bunch of the no-casino folks have declared victory and marched home.

But we hope they stick around a bit longer - the fight to keep the battlefield safe is far from over.

One group that insists it's in the fight for the duration is the Civil War Preservation Trust, which spearheaded the national fight against the erstwhile slots parlor in Straban Township.

"The casino proposal itself was merely a symptom of a larger development problem plaguing Gettysburg," trust President Jim Lighthizer said after state gaming authorities denied the license application for local slots. "The ... trust is committed to working with other preservation groups to protect the Gettysburg battleground."

The CWPT is reportedly interested in helping to save Hunterstown, the village north of Gettysburg near the site of a ferocious cavalry battle July 2, 1863, the second day of the three-day battle.

Hunterstown activists say they've been trying to get the trust's attention for years. Maybe the casino controversy, together with the recent inclusion of Hunterstown within the American Battlefield Protection Program, are what put Hunterstown on the national preservation radar.

But it's probably too late for Hunterstown. The historic village is certainly worth preserving, but the battlefield itself will disappear in the next few years. A local developer has already received Straban Township approval for a development of about 2,000 homes, some of which will sit on the fields once fought over by blue- and gray-clad horsemen.

But on the other side of Gettysburg, it's not too late to save the Baltimore Pike, which will no doubt feel development pressure when the new visitors center opens near there in 2008.

The restaurants and trinket shops along Steinwehr Avenue that followed the current visitors center have forever obliterated a key portion of the Gettysburg battlefield. No amount of tree removal or historic fence installation can ever recapture the center of the Union line as it appeared in 1863.

Those who truly care about hallowed ground should work to ensure the same thing doesn't happen along the Baltimore Pike.

During the late great casino fight, a common rejoinder on the part of pro-casino folks was to ask the opponents where they were when the Wal-Mart was built, or Gateway Gettysburg, or any of the other projects that bring traffic and asphalt to this national shrine.

This is their chance to show their opposition was more about saving the battlefield than it was about the morality of gambling.

There will be those who insist such development is necessary, that it brings needed jobs and tax revenues. But the recent battle over the casino suggests there are some things more important in the minds of many. And they still have a real fight on their hands."

Sincerely,

Randy

Please visit my primary site at www.brotherswar.com

All original material Copyright © 2005-2007. All Rights Reserved

Source: Hanover Evening Sun

Preserving Our Civil War Battlefields

In 1993, the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission submitted to Congress a comprehensive report on the status, significance, and need to preserve our threatened Civil War Battlefield sites. Far from the usual, tedious, bureaucratic language, the committee, including members like Edwin C. Bearss and James McPherson, spoke from their collective hearts. A portion of their report follows.


"Why Save Civil War Sites?

More than 620,000 American soldiers, sailors, and marines died in the Civil War. If the same proportion of our population were killed today, five million Americans would die! The casualties at Antietam on September 17, 1862, totaled three times the American casualties on D-Day, June 6, 1944. The Civil War destroyed the Confederacy and the South sank from being one of the wealthiest to being one of the poorest regions in the United States.

This terrible trauma should not be celebrated, nor should it be blotted from the national memory. And for good reason. That second American Revolution of 1861-1865 radically changed America while settling two fundamental, festering issues left unresolved by the first Revolution of 1776: whether the precarious experiment of the democratic republic federated in a union of states would survive; and whether slavery would continue to mock the ideals of this boasted land of liberty.
The Civil War transformed a loose federation of states into a unified and confident nation that launched into the 20th century as the world's leading economic producer and foremost democratic nation.

Yet, while acknowledging all this, some have asked: Why do anything more to protect the battlefields? Are not the principal battlefields already preserved in National and state parks? Can we not understand the important political and social changes that resulted from the war without studying the battles? Does not this preoccupation with "hallowed ground" romanticize violence and glorify war? These questions deserve answers.

First, an understanding of military campaigns and battles is crucial to comprehending all other aspects of the Civil War. Lincoln said in his second inaugural address that on "the progress of our arms...all else chiefly depends." Individual battles swayed elections, shaped political decisions, determined economic mobilization, brought women into the war effort, and influenced decisions to abolish slavery as well as to recruit former slaves in large numbers as soldiers.

The Seven Days battles prevented an early Union victory and changed the conflict from a limited to a total war; Antietam forestalled European recognition of the Confederacy and prompted the Emancipation Proclamation; Vicksburg, Gettysburg, and Chattanooga reversed a tide of Confederate victories that had threatened the Northern will to keep fighting; Sherman's capture of Atlanta and Sheridan's victories in the Shenandoah secured Lincoln's reelection, confirmed emancipation as a Northern war aim, and ensured continuation of the war to unconditional victory. A different outcome to any of these as well as other battles might have changed the course of the war -- and perhaps of the world's history.

So the battles were important. But do we need to preserve the battlefields to appreciate that truth? Can we not learn by reading books about campaigns and battles? The Commission has concluded the answer is "No." In part, this is simply a matter of being able to visualize how geography and topography shaped a battle -- the pattern of fields and woods, hills and valleys, roads and rock outcroppings, and rivers and streams. This cannot be done if the historical landscape has been paved over, cluttered with buildings, or carved into a different shape.

Those who have read about the ill-fated Pickett-Pettigrew charge at Gettysburg, but have not seen the place where it occurred, cannot understand it until they go there. Not until they view the three-quarters of a mile of open fields and walk the ground those Confederate soldiers trod, can they truly comprehend the courage needed to press onward, and why the assault, which cost some 10,000 Confederate casualties, failed.

If they could similarly view and walk the attack route of Union troops against Missionary Ridge in Chattanooga, they would be able to understand why that attack, seemingly more hopeless than at Gettysburg, succeeded spectacularly. Sadly though, Missionary Ridge now is built over.

But understanding Civil War battles is more than a matter of grasping their topographical and tactical details. Being present on a battlefield, we can experience an emotional empathy with the men who fought there. With a little imagination we can hear the first rebel yell at Manassas, imagine the horror as brush fires overtook the wounded at Wilderness, experience the terror of raw recruits at Perryville, share the anguish of the families of 800 or more unknown soldiers buried in a mass grave at Cold Harbor, or hear the hoarse yells of exhausted survivors of the Twentieth Maine as they launched a bayonet charge at Gettysburg's Little Round Top.

Every visitor to a Civil War battlefield has experienced such feelings. Proper educational and interpretive programs aid the visitor to visualize these dramatic scenes and to comprehend their meanings.

These experiences help us to understand what the Civil War was all about. This is not a matter of glorifying or romanticizing war. Quite the contrary; it is a matter of comprehending its grim reality. The battlefields are monuments to the gritty courage of the men who fought and died there. None condemned war more than those who suffered the horror and trauma of battle. In 1862, a Confederate veteran of Shiloh wrote home: "O it was too shocking too horrible. God grant that I may never be the partaker in such scenes again.... When released from this I shall ever be an advocate of peace."
Yet these men soldiered on through three more years of even bloodier battles than Shiloh. Most Civil War soldiers were volunteers. They fought not for glory, nor for money, but for a cause in which they believed deeply. They longed for peace and for a safe return to their families. But many of them reenlisted at least once, determined to fight for that cause even though they hated war.

A Confederate officer wrote in 1864 that "I am sick of war" but "were the contest again just commenced I would willingly undergo it again for the sake of our country's independence and liberty." An Ohio corporal in the trenches before Atlanta wrote, also in 1864: "There is nothing pleasant about this life, but I can endure its privations because there is a big idea at stake." And an African-American soldier wrote "If roasting on a bed of coals afire would do away with the curse of slavery, I would be willing to be the sacrifice."

These clashing convictions and the deadly determination to fight for them explain why the war lasted four long years and cost 620,000 lives. They also explain why Civil War veterans took the lead in creating the first National battlefield parks in the 1890s--not to glorify the war, but to commemorate the sacrifice of friends they had lost. "In our youth our hearts were touched with fire" wrote the thrice-wounded veteran Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., "It was given to us to learn at the outset that life is a profound and passionate thing."

Americans cannot afford to forget this lesson. It is perhaps the most important legacy of the Civil War. And the battlefields are the tangible monuments of that legacy. The Civil War touched the lives of everyone at the time, and it continues to do so today. Americans by the millions visit those relatively few battle sites that are accessible. Most come to share in a renewal of values and to understand more about the war, its profound meaning for themselves, and its lessons for our diverse nation--such as our ideals of tolerance.

Today many people know, or would like to know, of specific battlefields where some three million of their own ancestors participated in the historic events. The ability for so many to identify such a personal connection with one of the most memorable events in the American consciousness sets the Civil War and its battlefield sites apart from most historical events.

Communities, too, take great pride in their proximity to battlefields. A connection exists between a community and large national themes. Relationships forged by the Civil War -- among its battlefields, its consequences, and our people and communities today -- form a seamless web of American values, traditions, and priorities.
And finally, as with many historic properties significant in our national history, the principal Civil War battlefields need to be preserved and protected as places to answer important questions not yet asked and for purposes not yet perceived.
In this manner, and for these reasons, Civil War battlefields are a crucial link in the historical traditions that bind our nation together -- today and for the future."

When discussing their recommendations the commission concluded, "The Civil War Sites Advisory Commission has found that of the approximately 10,500 armed conflict sites known from the Civil War, 384 of them, about 3.7 percent, were the principal battle actions. These are the events that influenced the outcome of the war, its major campaigns, or important local operations.

Today, many of these 384 principal battlefields are lost; others are in imminent danger of fragmentation and loss as coherent historic sites. Over the next ten years, the nation could lose fully two-thirds of the major Civil War battlefields unless preventive actions are taken."

Thirteen years later, the outlook remains fraught with both triumph and tragedy. The National Park Service and non-profit organizations have reclaimed land on the Gettysburg, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and other battlefields. Public and private entities have repaired and restored monuments and markers. Although much has been done to save and restore these grounds, the Civil War Preservation Trust, the nation’s preeminent civil war preservation organization, states sadly, " Thirty acres of Civil War battlefield land are destroyed every day. These battlefields are part of our national heritage; scenes of struggle and sacrifice where American soldiers lost their lives. CWPT is working to preserve these “hallowed grounds,” as Abraham Lincoln called them, so that future generations can learn from them and can learn to appreciate their hard-won freedom."

Much of the Battlefields at Fredericksburg, Chattanooga, Franklin, Chancellorsville, Nashville, Petersburg, the Seven Days, and so many others are now entirely and completely lost to current and future generations. The CWPT notes Gettysburg as being one of the top ten threatened fields in the nation due to the proposed casino. Consider the tragedy if Americans and people from around the world would never again have the chance to walk those fields and understand the events that transformed our nation like no other time in history.

We do have the chance, the obligation to save and preserve what remains of our past so that future generations can understand how we became what we are. For more information on how every individual can help, please see the links below.

Sincerely,

Randy

Please visit my primary site at www.brotherswar.com

All original material Copyright © 2006. All Rights Reserved

Sources:
Civil War Sites Advisory Commission Report on the Nation's Civil War Battlefields

The Civil War Preservation Trust

Preservation Organizations and Information:
Civil War Preservation Organizations

Commentary: Our Capacity for Gallantry and Brutality

When I first created this blog, I announced my intention to fill these pages with responses to e-mails and questions that arose both from my postings here and from my primary website, brotherswar.com. Having strayed somewhat from that purpose, a recent reader has politely brought me back to center. He wrote, " I am intrigued by what you said in this blog: "Gettysburg is a good thing. It’s a symbol of what we were and could yet again become, in both a negative and positive aspect." Would you mind elaborating on that thought? I'd love to understand your perspective on the relation to Gettysburg and our future."

So many thoughts swirled in anticipation of answering this question that I struggled mightily with how to organize them. I did not know where to begin. Familiar sayings such as "Those who ignore the lessons of history are bound to repeat them" came to mind. While such wisdom resonates, (surely we cannot understand how we arrived here without studying from whence we came) even this thought seemed to trivialize the essence of Gettysburg. While considering the competing ideas contending for the privilege of defining this place, something continuously drew me back to the hallowed ground where ten thousand died and many more suffered wounds.

First and foremost, Gettysburg is a place where events occurred the depth of which I cannot fathom. A tremendous number of ordinary Americans, over 160,000, collided on these now peaceful fields. Most of these men knew intimately the horrors of war. They withstood the incomprehensible slaughter at Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. The veterans of such conflicts saw men mowed down, thousands killed in what seemed mere moments. If not harmed themselves, certainly many tended to the grievously wounded or aided with burying the ever-growing number of dead. Still, with these images fresh in their minds, on the farms and fields of Gettysburg they again shouldered muskets and faced the enemy. On Cemetery Ridge, along the low stone row, men in blue gazed across the mile wide stretch of gently rolling fields, knowing what was to come. Standing now on the same ground, envisioning the long gray lines moving irresistibly in their direction, one cannot avoid wondering what drove men to risk never again seeing their wives, children, parents, and friends. By braving a hailstorm of deadly lead and exploding iron, they offered to forever sacrifice their hopes, dreams, and futures.

While the grisly depictions of battle ring familiar, how many dare to truly consider what these men faced? Most soldiers had seen first hand the devastation wrought by artillery rounds moving at over 1,000 feet per second. Solid shot continues through any man it hits. No mercy. No second chance. What just one ball touches, it shatters. As one soldier aptly stated, "The truth is, when bullets are whacking against tree trunks and solid shot are cracking skulls like eggshells, the consuming passion in the breast of the average man is to get out of the way." Shell and case shot, iron projectiles filled with gunpowder and iron balls, exploded in the ranks when burning fuses touched the powder inside or when percussion caps slammed violently into the ground. Iron flew in all directions, mangling anything in its path. When oncoming soldiers closed to within range, canister replaced long-range ammunition. Small iron balls packed in tin cans converted lines of cannon into a formidable array of massive shotguns. Soldiers described rows of men simply vanishing when a cannoneer unleashed canister, leaving only a faint red mist to drift away in the grim foul air of the now christened battlefield.

When considering Pickett’s Charge from the Southern point of view, if the men in gray survived the hell of the artillery fire, several thousand muskets leveled at the advancing line awaited only a target. An ounce of lead fired from a rifled musket shattered bones and tore flesh. Soldiers wounded by shot, shell, or ball that had first hit a man in their front at times needed to have pieces of that person removed from their own wounds. The soldiers with both Lee's and Meade’s army knew this, and yet they marched forward.

As the Confederates advanced, the waiting Union soldiers knew they faced perhaps the largest most successful army on the planet. Prior to the Civil War, the entire United States Army counted only about 16,000 soldiers in its ranks. Lee’s army would number about 75,000 with some 12,500 marching towards them in several lines, muskets loaded, eyes forward. In one year, Lee’s soldiers won victories on the Peninsula, Manassas, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. Still the Federals held their ground, determined to fight.

The question "why" frequently echoes in my head as I wonder about these men and ask how similar in capacity might we prove ourselves if in like circumstances. The soldiers of both armies came from the people of the land, laborers, farmers, professionals, lawyers, teachers, printers, writers, politicians, professional soldiers, landowners, and immigrants. They had families and futures. If for just a moment you could look into their eyes, grip their hands, you would see a person, no different from the people of any era including ours. The crude pictures and period clothes make distancing ourselves from them both simple and at times convenient. Yet still we ask, could we have braved the fatal fire? Would we have killed on such a horrific scale? Would we prove capable of the same gallantry, bravery, and brutality?

Looking past the horror of the battlefield, we easily find other possible parallels to our own time. The men of the army suspected treachery in the government. They missed home. Political parties created smear campaigns, spinning stories and using the media to attack their opponents. The country had massive war debt. The President sacrificed civil liberties on the altar of national security and victory in war. Common people came together to support the soldiers, even if they disapproved of the war. People of all quarters sacrificed. Riots erupted to protest perceived unfair treatment. In these instances, we know of our capacity to do the same.

Along with these issues, there remain countless relevant questions when considering the Civil War. What does it take for one human to consider enslaving another? Why would someone risk dismemberment or gruesome death to keep someone else’s slave in chains or likewise to shatter those shackles and set them free? How did this one massive battle with its 50,000 casualties impact the rest of the war and the country? How did the families cope with such overwhelming loss and sorrow? How did the war change our country? How did we overcome the intense animosity between the north and south, black and white, immigrant and citizen, republican and democrat? Did this war give birth to a strong centralized federal government? If so, what did we gain and what did we lose? How did we cope with the suspension of civil rights? How did we resolve the problems stemming from the tremendous war debt? What lessons could we learn from reconstruction? How did Lincoln benefit from assembling a cabinet comprised of members of both political parties, three of whom had run against him for President? Without the ability to study our history, we cannot answer these questions and apply the knowledge gained to current similar situations. In short, we could not learn from our past and would most certainly repeat the same mistakes while trying to gain what others had already achieved.

Despite the obvious benefits from pursuing these issues, several questions continue rise above the others. How could these men repeatedly face death? Do we all have the same capacity for such bravery? Likewise, how could men, who would typically never have considered such acts, riot, ransack, and plunder? Again, do we all have a similar capacity? Do we have within us what they had?

My quest to understand the American Civil War began serendipitously when by sheer good fortune I found and read the book Killer Angels. Within days I drove several hours to see Gettysburg and the fields where such unbelievable deeds transpired. I walked slowly onto the field of Pickett’s Charge and stood breathlessly looking out over the mile wide stretch of ground traversed by thousands, and defended by thousands more. Without the battlefield to inspire, without the firsthand opportunity to learn and ponder, not only would I not have the opportunity to seek the answers, I likely would not have asked the questions. If we do not learn from what our ancestors have done, for better or worse, we will make many of their mistakes again much to the detriment of the people with us today as well as those yet to come.

"Forget the past, and the future may now allow us time to repeat it. History is never antiquated, because humanity is always fundamentally the same." - Walter Rauschenbusch

Sincerely,

Randy

Please visit my primary site at www.brotherswar.com

All original material Copyright © 2006. All Rights Reserved

Commentary: The Malevolent Dark Shadow

When I was young and found myself with extra change, I often scurried downtown to visit Grants 5 & 10 Cent Store. Although a frequent visitor, a renewed joy always accompanied each jaunt into the old store, sustained by the oddly comforting creaks of the worn, uneven wooden floors. My eyes darted in constant search of some small treasure hidden inside an old ragged box somewhere on those magical shelves. Eventually emerging from the store and heading home, I passed a small unremarkable, seemingly abandoned, stone building. The dirty façade held a curious sign with initials whose meaning remained foreign to me. Despite the familiarity of its simple lettering, with each passing, I re-read the sign and wondered.

Decades later, long after Grant’s store lived only in memory, I would learn the significance of the three letters on that nearby building that told of the structure’s past importance. At the time, “GAR Post” only lent a vague sense that this building and those who entered under that banner held an importance that had long since, perhaps unjustly, faded. Each glance at the timeworn façade evoked a curious feeling of mournful loss, a sense whose validity I never doubted but whose origins I could not discern. The dirty windows, chipped paint, and worn door handle whispered yet of a past glory increasingly suppressed by present decay.

Not many years ago, when touched by a passion for the American Civil War, I would learn what I should have known then. Union veterans of the War of the Rebellion had joined the popular fraternal organization, the Grand Army of the Republic, and met in this place or countless other like it. The men of so many terrible campaigns past, and later their successive generations, would speak of the conflict, politics, the fallen, and of how to honor those taken by the war.

As a youth, I had seen those three letters elsewhere during my many exploratory excursions around my then small world. In the local church cemeteries, intermittent gravesites had as an added adornment a small bronze star with the letters GAR hovering above the numbers 1861 and 1865. On occasions progressively less frequent, that star also held a small American flag. Like the old building, most of these modestly sized stars had succumbed to the relentless effects of weather and neglect as the decades inevitably marched past. Few if any held any remnant of their original luster. Like many of the old cannons in surrounding town squares, oxidation had painted the markers with splashes of discoloring green, the remaining bronze now a deep brown.

A new sadness accompanies the full understanding of the significance of these stars and of that old building now gone. Sprinkled throughout northern cemeteries, each tiny shield silently marks the grave of a man who fought in the war that most defined our country. Each man had given a piece of himself, sometimes literally, to shape this nation. The piece the nation gave in return now struggles against decay. The realization that these men drift further into obscurity, all but forgotten, sustains the sadness.

Alongside the remaining stars, many gravestones lay broken or covered with weeds, their letters worn into illegibility. These men gave of themselves to build what we now have. They earned in return indifference and neglect.

"Not true!" some may indignantly protest. "We have beautiful grand memorials such as Gettysburg, Chancellorsville, Manassas, Harpers Ferry, and other parks serving as permanent reminders of brave deeds past." However, as we have left many a veteran’s grave to decay, so now this preventable tragedy spreads as we ignore the fate of even our most majestic monuments and battlefields. The Chancellorsville Battlefield and those who love their grounds continue their battle against disfiguring, explosive development. Harpers Ferry has joined this fight struggling to hold an encroaching 3,400-unit development at bay. Manassas Battlefield suffers from ever-expanding traffic and the constant threat of the loss of park grounds to widened highways. Perhaps as tragic as any of these, Gettysburg now rests in the malevolent dark shadow of a looming casino, positioned to exploit the deeds of the men North and South who died in unheard of numbers on those scarred, threatened grounds.

Much of Fredericksburg Battlefield is gone. The same fate has befallen Franklin Tennessee and many other fields. The Civil War Preservation Trust, the largest and perhaps most respected American Civil War preservation organization, lists Gettysburg, the Wilderness, and the Shenandoah Valley in the top 10 of the most endangered battlefields in the country. They also mention continuing serious threats to Chancellorsville, Manassas, Kennesaw Mountain, and Cedar Mountain, among others.

The 620,000 men who died during this war, and the hundreds of thousands more who emerged from battle no longer whole, deserve a better fate. So do the men who gathered in the GAR hall whose door I can never again pass. I ask with all possible respect that each person do what they can to preserve these historic grounds and not allow the continued indifference displayed towards the deaths and sacrifices of so many of our country’s veterans to threaten that which we must preserve.

In a cemetery near to my home, local people have volunteered their time to restore some of the former luster and dignity to the old stones and GAR markers. New flags ripple in the breeze that gently caresses the old soldiers’ graves. Placards note the names of the deceased where gravestone lettering has surrendered to time. In that same northern cemetery, a Confederate veteran’s grave now bears a new star revealing a shared respect for all life lost. So too can we work to preserve and maintain the fields where our ancestors fought, bled, and died, while laying the stones in the foundation upon which we now live. So too can we preserve and honor their contributions and their memory. Perhaps by doing as much, one less youngster walking through town will wonder at the mysterious meaning of the lives now past and the sacrifices all too often forgotten.

Respectfully,

Randy

Please visit my primary site at www.brotherswar.com

All original material Copyright © 2006. All Rights Reserved

For more information concerning the proposed Gettysburg casino:

More Opposition to Proposed Casino

A Casino in Gettysburg - The Danger, The Truth

Outrage at Harpers Ferry

According to the articles that I have read thus far, this outrageous act of greed and self-serving desecration has lead to neither an investigation nor arrests.

National Park Conservation Association Press Releases

For Immediate Release: August 23, 2006

Contact:
Joy Oakes, National Parks Conservation Association, 202-454-3386
Jim Campi, Civil War Preservation Trust, 202-277-8560

DEVELOPERS ILLEGALLY BULLDOZE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE LAND AT HARPERS FERRY
Historic School House Ridge Battlefield at Harpers Ferry Violated This Weekend

(Harpers Ferry, W.Va.) – The Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT) and the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) issued a statement today in response to the illegal bulldozing of a portion of the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park this past weekend by a handful of local developers. Purposely and without permission, the developers dug a deep trench through historic land owned by the National Park Service and the American people.

"Beginning on the morning of August 19, 2006, a group of local developers moved heavy machinery and work crews onto the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park and proceeded to lay water and sewer pipes on historic land where Stonewall Jackson launched one of the most brilliant tactical triumphs of the Civil War," said CWPT President James Lighthizer. "The developers had neither authority nor the permits necessary to do this."

The purpose of the water and sewer line is to facilitate a planned development of approximately 3,400 houses proposed for construction both inside and adjacent to the Park Service boundary. To date, the developers have not received any local approvals necessary for this development to proceed.

"These developers knowingly and defiantly ignored federal laws regarding construction on public land," said Joy Oakes, Senior NPCA Mid-Atlantic Regional Director. "Americans have a right to expect that land protected by the Park Service cannot be bulldozed outside of an orderly and legal review. We encourage federal and state law enforcement officials to pursue these violators to the fullest extent of the law."

For several years, CWPT and NPCA have been leaders in an extraordinary and successful effort to protect historic lands at Harpers Ferry. With the support of local business owners, civil rights leaders, conservationists, history buffs, recreation enthusiasts, heritage tourism interests, and elected officials, Congress expanded the park’s boundary in 2004. Millions in federal grants as well as private funds have been raised to purchase land from willing sellers to add to the national park.

"We are horrified at this premeditated and unprecedented desecration of School House Ridge," said Lighthizer. "For several years, CWPT and NPCA have been working with federal and state officials to protect this property. Last year CWPT appealed to our members to help raise the $1.5 million needed to acquire the site bulldozed this weekend for preservation. We are outraged, and expect immediate restitution from these developers."

As the developers were running their bulldozers last weekend, hundreds gathered from across the country to participate in a National Park Service-hosted commemoration of the centennial of a meeting at Harpers Ferry in 1906 that laid the cornerstone of the modern-day civil rights movement.

CWPT is a 75,000-member nonprofit battlefield preservation organization. Its mission is to preserve our nation’s endangered Civil War sites and promote appreciation of these hallowed grounds. Over the years, CWPT has saved more than 23,000 acres of hallowed ground, including 325 acres on the Harpers Ferry Battlefield.

Since 1919, the nonpartisan National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) has been the leading voice of the American people in protecting and enhancing our National Park System. NPCA, its 325,000 members, and partners work together to protect the park system and preserve our nation’s natural, historical, and cultural heritage for generations to come.

Respectfully,

Randy

Please visit my primary site at www.brotherswar.com

All original material Copyright © 2006. All Rights Reserved

For more information, please visit:

National Parks Conservation Association Media Center

Civil War Preservation Trust Newsroom

To express your outrage at this blatant desecration:

Harpers Ferry Local Government (Click on Town Council)

Governor Joseph Manchin

US Senators - West Virginia

US House of Representatives - West Virginia

West Virginia Government

Changes for History

In my travels to the Eastern Theater Battlefields this past year, I was very pleasantly surprised at the many changes I encountered.

Consistent among the battlefields are the new interpretive markers whose existence we owe to the mandate to include slavery in National Park Service educational materials. Five years ago, National Park Service Battlefield Managers recommended that the Secretary of the Interior “…encourage Civil War battle sites to recognize and include in all of their public displays and multimedia educational presentations the unique role that the institution of slavery played in causing the Civil War and its role, if any, at the individual battle sites.”

Along with the markers, several of the Eastern Theater Battlefields have made significant acquisitions and changes. Despite the asphyxiating development that continues to threaten the Chancellorsville Battlefield with strangulation, the National Park Service has added to the parks lands. Along McLaws Drive is a section of land where Confederate Lafayette McLaws’ men positioned themselves to help drive General Hooker’s troops from the field on May 3rd. Although part of the Wilderness in 1863, the ground now is clear of the younger trees that choked the ground and made maneuvering so difficult.

The Park Service established a walking trail and offers free of charge interpretive materials to carry with you as you walk. Included in that material, a southern soldier describes an encounter with a Confederate icon.

"Artilleryman J. B. Minor remembered that on May 2, as Lee stood under a tree with McLaws, “a 10-pound shell cut the tree square off just about a yard above their heads. I could not see that [Lee] noticed it, although General McLaws ducked a little.” A few minutes later, Minor recalled, “a shell burst immediately in front of old Traveler, who reared up and stood as straight as ever I saw a man. Captain [Edward S.] McCarthy then ran to General Lee, and I heard him say: ‘General, we can’t spare you, go back under the hill.’ He rode away, and in a few minutes there was a lull just in front of us; but there was heavy fighting some three hundred yards to our right…and whom did we see sitting on his horse calmly watching the fight but General Lee!”

A newly acquired tract of land west of the Wilderness Church allows the visitor to walk the ground of Jackson’s flank attack. Previously, the only avenue to do likewise involved carefully and courteously walking through the headstones of a private cemetery to view Jackson’s starting point. This parcel of ground renders that tactic thankfully unnecessary.

Nearby on the grounds of the Wilderness Battlefield, NPS staff continue to oversee the complete renovation of the Lacy House. A short walk from the home which served as headquarters to Major General Gouverneur K. Warren during the fighting in early May 1864, the Reverend Beverly Tucker Lacy buried the amputated arm of Lieutenant General Thomas Jackson in the family cemetery.

To the Northwest, Antietam National Battlefield has added a walking trail over the grounds where General Burnside’s troops advanced and then were repulsed by A.P. Hill’s Light Division after his 17 mile forced march from Harper’s Ferry. Even with no knowledge of what occurred on these fields, the near two mile trail meanders through beautiful terrain and allows views of the magnificent hills and valleys. Once experienced, the typically undulating, steep, rocky, uneven ground speaks volumes concerning the difficulties commanders would encounter organizing and directing their men. With few modern intrusions, the trail leads you back 140 years to the counterattack that saved the Confederate Army for future battles.

Of course, the Gettysburg Battlefield continues its journey towards its former 1863 appearance. Most significant has been the clearing of the ground just north of Little Round Top along the Cemetery Ridge line. Minus the concealing cover of trees and brush, a commanding knoll once again thrusts itself from the shadow of the more famous rises to its south. This protruding ground reinvigorates to the question concerning Sickles’ deployment of his troops further to the west. Ringed with artillery and his veteran troops, the Butternuts would have struggled mightily to dislodge their Northern protagonists from this high ground.

A few miles north, Oak Ridge will soon appear more like its name as young oak trees planted below the observation tower take root and reach for the sun. The 13th Massachusetts monument now shares its place of honor with trees that will help recreate the vista their men encountered July 1st 1863.

The Peach Orchard also is experiencing a rebirth. The darkness before the dawn began in October when the NPS removed all 89 existing trees planted 26 years ago and suffering from a parasitic infection. After two years, new trees will call the Sherfy Peach Orchard their home.

You can find more information on the above at:

http://www.nps.gov/gett/news.htm
http://www.nps.gov/frsp/whtsnew.htm

Sincerely,

Randy

Please visit my primary site at www.brotherswar.com.

All original material Copyright © 2005. All Rights Reserved

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References for this article:

1. Interpretation at Civil War Sites, A Report to Congress, March 2000
   
2. National Park Service: Gettysburg
   

Historical Landscape & Preservation ArtistJeff Fioravanti

In July of this year, I posted a blog entry concerning award winning historical landscape and preservation artist Jeff Fioravanti, his work, and his efforts to help preserve historical sites. With equal pleasure, I post below a press release concerning an article about Jeff's work in the November issue of American Artist magazine. This issue will be available very soon so please, pick up a copy and have a look.

If you would like to see the blog entry about Jeff Fioravanti and his work, on the right, you will find a link entitled "Featured Post, Jeff Fioravanti: Painting the Soul of America". I also very much encourage you to visit his web site, http://www.fioravanti-fineart.com, to see for yourself the beautiful works that Jeff has created thus far.

If you will be in the Gettysburg area on October 8, 2005, between 12noon and 4pm, you can enjoy the additional pleasure of meeting Jeff. He will be showing and discussing his work with visitors at the Rupp House at 451 Baltimore Street, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. You can find more information about the Rupp House by visiting the Friends of the National Parks at Gettysburg web site.

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Press Release:

November issue of American Artist magazine to include feature on historic landscape artist Jeff Fioravanti

New York, New York (September 17, 2005) - "Painting today, to preserve the past, for tomorrow" It is the mission and inspiration that drives artist Jeff Fioravanti to create tangible pieces of art that showcase not just the deep, physical beauty of America, but art that tells the story of our nation, our people, our struggles and our triumphs. A member of several highly respected art associations, Fioravanti's artwork, and dedication toward helping to preserve our storied lands, will soon be featured in an upcoming edition, November 2005, of American Artist magazine.

"From an early age, I was encouraged and supported by my parents and family in my interests and pursuits in art and history," said Fioravanti. "Today, I'm trying to build upon their teachings; to give something back. To use my art and love of American history to connect people to these treasured lands, upon which great sacrifice occurred, to found our nation and keep that nation whole, before they are lost forever," continued the artist.

Despite many challenges, Fioravanti's "giving back" has met with some solid results upon which the artist hopes to continue to build. In the past two plus years, the artist, through a series of programs, initiatives and fundraisers, has helped raise nearly $20,000 for historic preservation, for organizations and museums in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and his home state of Massachusetts.

"These properties are living classrooms," stated Jeff, "precious not just for their historical significance, but also for the plants, and wildlife that can be found there, and for their recreational value too. These are assets that were earned through blood and sweat by our ancestors. They are shared entities that belong to all of us. As such, is it not then the responsibility of each of us to make certain they remain intact, accessible for all, and for future generations to enjoy? I'm just trying to do my part," concluded the artist.

Since 1937, American Artist magazine has been a leading monthly magazine showcasing representational and figurative artists involved in the North American art scene. A subsidiary of VNU publications, the magazine boasts a circulation over 100,000 and has been a resource of inspiration and information for artists, collectors and others interested in the visual arts. It is available at fine art stores, booksellers and newsstands nationwide. For more information about the magazine, please visit www.myamericanartist.com, or contact the editorial department at American Artist (646) 654-5506 or via email at mail@myamericanartist.com.

"Painting today, to preserve the past, for tomorrow" is the mission under which the artist's banner flies, and which, through artwork, the artist attempts to attract attention to the plight of the historic lands, properties, and artifacts of America. To learn more about this mission, and artist Jeff Fioravanti, please visit his web site at http://www.fioravanti-fineart.com or contact him at (781) 595-5961.

Sincerely,

Randy

Please visit my primary site at www.brotherswar.com.

All original material Copyright © 2005. All Rights Reserved

The Smothering Mantle of Irrelevancy

Despite thousands of books, articles, columns, web sites, and various productions concerning this segment of our history, one question lingers like a specter eternally lurking maliciously in the shadows. It feasts on controversy such as that enveloping the current proposal to establish a casino just outside of the Gettysburg Battlefields. With this conflict to fuel its fire, the question springs forward as someone queries aloud, "Why do these grounds matter?" Relishing its power, the inquiry bears its sinister, toothy grin as it lunges again with, "Do the lands bordering Gettysburg, or any battlefield, significantly impact the life of those I love?"

As you might guess, I would argue strenuously in the affirmative. But that was not always the case.

Until recently, I did not care much for this particular period in our history, considering its study hardly useful. However, about five years ago, I found myself pacing impatiently in a bookstore, lamenting my inability to find a satisfactory read. But, as discussed in a previous entry, I happened upon the Pulitzer Prize winning novel, "Killer Angels". Moving with increasing eagerness through its unexpectedly enthralling pages, I found that I had stumbled into an undiscovered world where men held dear seemingly antiquated qualities such as duty and honor. These citizens turned soldiers willingly and repeatedly endured hardships surpassing current standards of acceptability for little identifiable gain. Men became hardened to marching twenty or more miles daily, over rough, stony roads, frequently without shoes or adequate food and water. They did so both in the sweltering unforgiving heat of summer and the icy biting cold of winter. Week upon monotonous week passed drilling, marching, or doing nothing while trying to maintain some measure of morale and desperately missing home. Woven in-between the months of grinding tedium, soldiers encountered threads of savage conflict which destroyed countless lives, families, and at times, entire communities.

Currier and Ives' pictorial interpretations, gracing the pages of the illustrated papers, influenced how many citizens of that day pictured battles both great and small. Usually including one or two obligatory wounded, the images, especially early in the conflict, depicted lines of perfectly aligned men, dutifully advancing into battle courageously lead by a chivalrous mounted sword-wielding commander. Glory and fame awaited the majority who, these renderings implied, would survive this magnificent scene. Sadly though, the elegant images captured little of the real tragedy of war.

Officers frequently led men into battle in Napoleonic formations, often ignorant of both the position and number of the enemy in their front as well as the danger awaiting them. At Antietam for example, Union Major General Joseph Mansfield, proudly assuming his first field command, perished when shot by a foe he believed was elsewhere on the field. Just to the South, Union Major General William French's men advanced valiantly forward over the rolling hills of the Roulette Farm, marching in perfect formation unknowingly towards a solid gray line sheltered in a sunken farm road. Cresting a small rise, the bluecoats earned for their advance the reward of cold death and unspeakable pain as the Confederates opened fire. Irish and German immigrants, along with thousands of American citizen volunteers, whole just seconds before, would suffer the bone crushing impact of the violent hailstorm of lead balls filling the air from a massed array of carefully aimed muskets. The crash of the musketry merged with the agonized cries of the wounded to smother the commands of any officers still standing. Smoke from the hundreds of guns fired would obscure vision. Lacking a clearing breeze, formations crumbled as unsympathetic projectiles whirling towards them mowed down men standing out in the open, firing bravely at their sheltered foes.

The cornfield just hours earlier held similar scenes of horror. Union Major Rufus R. Dawes, writing of this fighting reported, "As we appeared at the edge of the corn, a long line of men in butternut and gray rose up from the ground. Simultaneously, the hostile battle lines opened a tremendous fire upon each other. Men, I cannot say fell; they were knocked out of the ranks by the dozens." George Smalley, a correspondent for the New York Tribune also wrote of this day, "The field and its ghastly harvest which the reaper had gathered in those fatal hours remained finally with us..….The dead are strewn so thickly that as you ride over it you cannot guide your horse's steps too carefully. Pale and bloody faces are everywhere upturned. They are sad and terrible but there is nothing which makes one's heart beat so quickly as the imploring look of sorely wounded men who beckon wearily for help which you cannot stay to give." [1]

Soft lead bullets and the iron fired from relentless artillery swept these fields tearing flesh and shattering bones. The wounded lay among the dead on the unforgiving, unsheltered ground, unsure whether aid or death would find them first. The figure of 23,000 casualties for one day's fighting remains grim enough on its own. But many more suffered slower, lingering deaths from wounds, disease, or the aftereffects of amputation and crude surgeries. The citizenry would endure trials as well as contagious, untreatable diseases ravaged many families who offered their homes, resources, and energy to help save those mangled by the unfeeling hand of battle.

Countless pages could be filled with equally horrid descriptions of such savagery. Mentioning such underscores that these labors, once survived, destroyed most illusions of the glory of war. Those who fought these battles knew the brutality that would tirelessly seek them out. Those who fought at Antietam would, less than one year later, fight, struggle, and die on the fields in and around Gettysburg. That they knew the dangers awaiting them is without question. One Southern soldier, moving northward in 1863 would write home to his family, "I have been this morning over the old Sharpsburg Battlefield and have witnessed the most horrible sights that my eyes ever beheld. I saw the dead in any number just lying on top of the ground, their bones bleaching and they by the many hundreds. Oh what a horrible sight for human beings to look upon." [2] Witness to the unprecedented killing of Antietam, the merciless slaughter of Fredericksburg, and the carnage of Chancellorsville, with thousands of dead killed by there sides, these men marched onward towards the inevitable collision at Gettysburg.

Walking the fields of Gettysburg, most appearing as they once did, you begin to comprehend. Certainly, countless books offer vivid depictions of what these men did, especially when concerning Gettysburg, the best-known battle of the four-year war. However, to stand on Seminary Ridge, at the foot General Lee's watchful eye atop the Virginia Monument, next to the now silent cannon, and begin the slow mile long walk towards the Union line on Cemetery Ridge, lends to a level of understanding which no printed page can attain. As the vegetation crunches under your feet, you marvel at their relentless advance into the face of the enemy, knowing that they understood what lay before them. You involuntarily sense relief when dipping into the occasional sheltering swale that mercifully offered fleeting but welcome concealment from the punishing artillery fire. About halfway through your walk, when you reach the Emittsburg Road, you enter within musket range of the men in your front. As you step forward from behind the post and rail fences and advance into the ever widening line of what was thousands of waiting primed muskets, the growing sense of awe sears itself into your soul.

Gleaning this from the undulating terrain of the field of Pickett's Charge, we owe this lesson to the preservation of the fields on which men fought, bled, and died some 140 years past. Books, articles, and publications hold the potential to inspire. Photographs or video can grip or tear at the heart. Yet lacking the ability to touch all of the senses, those inspirations sadly fade with the turning of the final page or the switching of the channel. But, some hot July afternoon, walk the fields at Gettysburg. Feel the rough ground under foot as you endure the wearing heat. See the distance traveled and the barriers overcome. Taste the dust kicked up from the dry ground as you walk along with the increasingly desperate determination as with each unwavering step you close on the Union lines. After such an experience, understanding what these men knew as they advanced, no heart can remain unchanged or forget the deeds which laid another brick in the foundation of our nation.

In a time when fleeting, disposable, and impermanent describe much of our society, our shared heritage remains one of the few enduring treasured constants. When disregarding the lessons of our past, we allow ourselves to remain susceptible to the pitfalls of political intrigue, manipulation, greed, barbarism, and the undesirable facets of many periods in our country's storied history. However, the valorous deeds of the common citizen turned soldier offer an inspiration that seeps into the soul to rekindle an awareness of the better angels of our shared identity.

These fields alone complete that lesson. The grounds where great deeds occurred offer a nourishing fragment of the spirit of those who marched, fought, and sacrificed here. Left unthreatened and unchanged, they hold the same potential for touching and inspiring generations yet to come.

With this, the question of the relevance of these sacred grounds shrinks back into the shifting shadows, surrendering its former ferocity to the smothering mantle of irrelevancy.

Sincerely,

Randy

If you would like further information regarding the concerns with the proposal to establish a casino near the battlefield, please visit www.nocasinogettysburg.com.

All original material Copyright © 2005. All Rights Reserved

Sources
[1] www.military.com
[2] Antietam: A Documentary Film. Media Magic Productions Historical Films Group

Jeff Fioravanti: Painting the Soul of America

Always a welcome site, a good friend's June 30th e-mail heralded an eventful weekend. The invitation to join him and some friends for a guided battlefield walk during Gettysburg's anniversary observance offered the chance to visit portions of the field not typically seen. Meeting people with a similar fondness for the 19th Century only added to the day's potential rewards. After a hearty breakfast at my friend's favorite eatery, we proceeded to the walk's starting point fittingly set at the Conewago Church, a Civil War hospital site in Hunterstown, Pennsylvania.

During the usual mulling around before such an event, my friend introduced me to a fellow participant, a polite, unassuming man, who like the others in our little band possessed and shared a similar love for history. As the day's activities commenced, Troy Harman, a National Park Service Ranger, historian, and one of two featured guides for the day, took a moment to introduce to the gathered crowd Jeff Fioravanti, an award winning historical landscape and preservation artist; my new acquaintance.

As the tour progressed, we spoke some as we strolled over the gently undulating terrain, enjoying along the way the many comments and conversations. The unspoiled ground, the guides' stories, and the rustic homes and barns effortlessly spanned the 142 years standing between us and the events of July 1863. As we hiked the three plus miles, Mr. Harman and his associate, a Licensed Battlefield Guide, spoke reverently but enthusiastically of the sacrifices made during the actions which took place where we stood.

Later that evening, we renewed friendships old and new, and the day's earlier conversations, during a gathering at the home of my good friend and his wife, enjoying their hospitality and an abundance of delicious food to the fullest. At this gathering, I enjoyed the good fortune of spending a good deal of time talking with Mr. Fioravanti. As we spoke, I learned that Jeff not only possessed a passion for our country's past but also devoted a good deal of energy towards ensuring that our heritage endures. My admiration grew as I discovered that through the sale of his art, he contributes to the preservation of the grounds upon which our ancestors struggled, our nation grew, and we had walked earlier in the day. With an obvious love and devotion, he spoke of his efforts to help save these treasured lands. Time passed quickly as I conversed with this quiet but driven artist. However, the hour grew late, and grateful to my hosts for a terrific day with so many good people, I began the long drive home.

Upon arriving home, invigorated by my new artist friend's earlier conversation and his infectious enthusiasm for the preservation of battlefields, I fired up the computer, eagerly searching the Internet for images of Mr. Fioravanti's work. Not knowing what I might find, I hoped for something special. I was not disappointed.

Locating his web site, my eyes fell upon vivid thumbnails of his art cradled by the page's eloquent title, “Fioravanti Fine Art: Painting the Soul of America.” Exploring his site further, I came upon a page entitled "Historical Landscape Gallery." Confident I'd soon encounter the battlefields' familiar sites, I panned down the page. But this was not to be. Although familiar, the images were quite unexpected yet still extremely pleasing. Minus the modern intrusions, Jeff had created views of portions of eastern theater battlefields as we might walk and see them today, giving them a feel as they likely appeared so many decades ago. Some depicted simple scenes such as a grouping of virgin trees on a shallow ridge. Another held the image of a distant pastoral homestead, seemingly chaste but rich with the memory of the swirling conflict that stained the ground now so beautifully rendered before me. Unexpectedly still, a few had images of solitary cannons on tranquil fields, lone sentries to the memory of the deeds past.

His work possessed an unspoiled beauty, a purity juxtaposed with the knowledge of the terrible suffering now gone from those fields. Each view offered a glimpse of the former innocence once held by these now sacred grounds. None of his work offered the sensational ghastly images of lives shattered but instead affords the viewer a small window into a life that once was and perhaps could again be. Intimate portraits each, they speak of a respect and love for these grounds and of the country that they and we call home.

Eager to speak of my reaction, I wrote to Mr. Fioravanti and offered my compliments for such inspirational work well done. As humble as he is talented, he graciously thanked me for my words and spoke of his desire to give back to his country and those who came before. In one of our correspondences, Jeff relayed, "My work is created to entice people to pause and reflect. They are about remembrance, peace and tranquility, innocence and sacrifice." He added further, "If through my feeble hands I can capture the pristine lands of our nation, and connect people to the history of those lands, to help them realize that these lands belong to all of us, and that once under concrete, tar, and development, those lands, our lands, our history, is lost forever, then I have succeeded." His dreams, he said, are to "…reconnect people of all interests, civil war buff and non buff alike, to our heritage, and through that connection to help protect and save it."

Reading the artist's brochure, I realized I was not alone in my admiration of Jeff’s work, noting that he has touched the hearts of many throughout the civil war and preservation community. These include such notables as Pennsylvania State Representative Harry Readshaw, himself a tireless preservationist, who asserts that Jeff's efforts, "… enable historical treasures to continue to speak silently and eloquently to future generations."

The late Brian C. Pohanka, a highly respected author and Civil War historian offered, "Jeff Fioravanti's paintings evoke an almost tangible sense of place; not in the hills and streams, the fields and forests alone, but in the still greater sense of the heroism and sacrifice that transpired there. The landscape itself is a timeless memorial to those heroes in blue and gray, and Fioravanti has created a lasting tribute to that Hallowed Ground."

And Troy Harman, our guide for the battlefield walk earlier in the day said, "Jeff Fioravanti has applied his extraordinary gift for art to the preservation of our nations' historic treasures and is quickly becoming recognized as one of the very best in the field. His intuitive feel for how historic scenes and settings can best affect one's senses and emotions is truly special."

In 1889, at the dedication of the 20th Maine's monument on the Gettysburg Battlefield, Union General Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain spoke poignantly of the sacrifices made and of what was yet to come. Of us, he said, “…And reverent men and women from afar, and generations that know us not and that we know not of, heart-drawn to see where and by whom great things were suffered and done for them, shall come to this deathless field to ponder and dream; and lo! the shadow of a mighty presence shall wrap them in its bosom, and the power of the vision pass into their souls." Jeff Fioravanti's art captures that vision, relaying the essence of the land and fields he loves. His works touch the lives of those who have experienced his art and his efforts to preserve our heritage. He allows us each to ponder and dream while protecting the fields to inspire those who have seen them not and those who are still yet to come.

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Since its inception in 2003, Jeff’s labors have helped to generate close to $20,000 for various preservation groups and museums via the sale of his artwork. American Artist Magazine, will be running a feature on Jeff in their November 2005 issue, (on sale nationally in late September/early October) and an exhibit of his work will be on display at the Lynn Museum & Historical Society October 2, 2005 – January 2, 2006. (In keeping with Jeff’s dedication to preservation a portion of any sales from this exhibit will benefit the museum, their programs and operation) If you would like to enjoy the work of this dedicated artist, learn more about him and his efforts to preserve the historic lands of our nation please visit:
Fioravanti Fine Art: Painting the Soul of America.
www.fioravanti-fineart.com

Sincerely,

Randy

All original material Copyright © 2005. All Rights Reserved
Both images "New Day Dawning, East Cavalry Field, Gettysburg, PA" & "The Ball is Open, McPherson Barn, Gettysburg, PA" Copyright © 2005 Fioravanti. All Rights Reserved

A Vision Place of Souls

Several years ago after finishing my first book on the Civil War, despite the six-hour round trip, I decided that I needed to see one of the sites where these events took place. Having read about one battle, I could picture the conflict's beginning, the fighting on the second day, and the final, ultimately doomed assault. I had in my mind a vision of those terrible struggles. To form this vision, I needed only to recreate this world, 140 years distant, that the author had so vividly painted. I held certain that he could not have missed a detail, no subtle nuance and no deafening boom. The sulfurous smell of gunpowder, the mind numbing roar of the cannons, the fear and exhilaration of battle, the decisions made by commanders and by others who would lead by example if not by position, all emerged from the pages. Each filled in a number on the mental canvas as the picture formed.

Venturing out to the fields was not a necessity. The conjured images were vivid, powerful and alive, complete with the needed details and facts. But something yet unidentified remained elusively absent. Not sure what I would find, I drove to this sacred place. Following the brown park signs to the Visitor's Center, I noticed a few weather worn monuments along the rolling country road, peppered with a cannon or two here and there. The granite carving in a restaurant's driveway looked interesting if not overly impressive. The marker noting past deeds in a homeowner's front yard seemed an oddly placed curiosity but not much more.

Relieved at successfully finding the parking area, now came the question of what exactly to do or where to go. Looking around with some confusion at the unfamiliar setting, I thought of walking up the hill to the Visitor's Center, a common enough looking building which held the promise of dioramas and other routine displays, but at least a map or two for a first time guest. Taking in the surroundings, my eyes caught a glimpse of the southwestern corner of the lot, a lighter open area beyond, and a few more monuments. That must be the direction to go.

Walking along what I later discovered was Cemetery Ridge, an impressive row of numerous monuments welcomed me, announcing my official arrival on the Battlefield at Gettysburg. Each had a regimental designation, a list of casualties, and odd seemingly out-of-place symbols such as three leaf clovers, crescent moons, and circles. Moving along the hot macadam surface, I took pictures of the monuments, despite my uncertainty of their significance, and progressed south along the ridge. Still unsure of my location and wondering what all this meant, the reassuring presence of the monuments at least left me satisfied of my presence in the right place.

Then I saw it. Likely the least impressive of the adornments, it none the less made my heart stop. The National Park Service marker calmly noted that I stood near the Confederate High Water mark. Another marker, lower to the ground, clarified that I had stumbled upon the focal point of the Pickett / Pettigrew Charge. Raising my head to look in the direction noted by the map, my eyes widened in shocked amazement. I knew the story. But it no longer seemed to fit so clearly. According to the NPS interpretive display, across the nearly mile long stretch of open fields to my front, 12,500 Confederates marched into massed guns, ferocious artillery, and historical immortality. Reading about what occurred on that day, July 3, 1863, did not prepare me for this sight. Standing behind the low stone wall that sheltered the men in blue, I stared without blinking across the rolling fields in awestruck amazement.

Questions swirled. How could they have done this? What could have possessed these men to do what must have seemed unthinkable? Each man in butternut or gray had to find the courage to stand in line and march forward across these open grounds into the malevolent hailstorm of deadly lead and iron. Each man in blue would have to hold his ground as he watched the many times victorious Army of Northern Virginia irresistibly swell towards them. With one glance over these now peacefully serene fields, I began to sense the enormity of what happened here. I began to understand.

Needing now to see more, I visited as many other battlefields as time and expense would allow. The experiences mirrored this. Nothing compares to the feeling of walking on the Old Mountain Road where men of the Southern Army mistakenly shot Lieutenant General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson or of silently standing in the room at Guinea Station where Jackson's time on this earth would end. Like Cemetery Ridge, today the curious can still stand at the Bloody Angle in Spotsylvania or walk the path out of the woods at Manassas where Stonewall Jackson emerged to join the battle and earn his name. Anyone can walk the same grounds in the Wilderness where General Lee thought to personally lead his men forward while his brave Texans demanded he go to the rear.

Sadly though, no one can stand behind the stone wall below Marye's Heights at Fredericksburg and truly understand the sacrifice of thousands of Union soldiers. Knowing all too well the danger, they did their duty. Brigades of men in blue battered themselves against a Confederate wall of lead which denied them the victory at the stone wall beyond. The fields are gone. Only a small section of the wall remains. Never again will anyone peer out over the fields below the wall and completely fathom the valor required to brave those charges. Eager enthusiasts find other fields equally threatened. Encroaching development and the ever-increasing rush of traffic threaten the Manassas Battlefield. Chancellorsville continues to fight to hold back the tide of building and "progress" as well. While the National Park Service progresses with restoring the Gettysburg Battlefield to its 1863 appearance, hard-hearted investors seek to cash in on the brand name and bring casinos to the area.

These are some of the most well known and cherished battlefields from the United States' shared past. That even these hallowed grounds are threatened speaks to the fate of lesser known but equally important historic fields. Many of these fields are simply gone.

By studying our history, we discover who we are and how we came to the place we currently occupy. More importantly, we learn what we can yet be. Without the courage to preserve such places for our generation and those yet to come, true understanding of the men who made this nation and of why we went to war with ourselves will remain elusively out of reach.

Union General Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain understood. Over a century ago, considering those who would come, at the dedication of the monument to the 20th Maine at Gettysburg, he spoke these words. "In great deeds something abides. On great fields something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear, but spirits linger, to consecrate ground for the vision-place of souls. And reverent men and women from afar, and generations that know us not and that we know not of, heart-drawn to see where and by whom great things were suffered and done for them, shall come to this deathless field to ponder and dream; And lo! the shadow of a mighty presence shall wrap them in its bosom, and the power of the vision pass into their souls."

For more information on battlefield preservation, please visit the Preservation of Battlefields section of my web site.

Respectfully,

Randy

All original material Copyright © 2005. All Rights Reserved