Tredegar Iron Works

A trip to Richmond, Virginia last year gave witness to one of the wonders of the Confederacy. Tredegar Iron Works, situated along the James River and now the home to the National Park Service Visitor's Center, turned out about 1,000 cannon during the war, nearly half of that produced in the south. I've included a few pictures below. If you are interested, the National Park Service has a nice, brief summary of the role played by Tredegar on their web site at Tredegar Iron Works: An Introduction.

In a few of the pictures, I edited out signs or other modern intrusions. Enjoy.












Sincerely,

Randy

Please visit my primary site at www.brotherswar.com

All original material Copyright © 2006. All Rights Reserved

More Opposition to Proposed Gettysburg Casino

This article speaks for itself.

"Trust's Report Assails Casino Application"

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Update: April 19, 2006

I re-checked the above link today and noticed the link is now broken. Since the Evening Sun apparently does not archive their articles for more than a few weeks, I have included below a copy of the article from the Civil War Preservation Trust web site.

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"For Immediate Release: 4/4/2006
Contact: Jim Campi, 202-367-1861
NEW GETTYSBURG CASINO STUDY REVEALS SERIOUS PROBLEMS IN CHANCE IMPACT REPORT

Independent report finds that a Gettysburg slots parlor poses risk to hundreds of local businesses

Gettysburg, Pa. - The Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT) today released an independent report on the impact of a large casino on Gettysburg and the surrounding region. The report, entitled The Impact of a Large Casino on the Gettysburg Area – A Realistic Assessment, found that Chance Enterprises, the investment group behind the proposed Gettysburg Gaming Resort and Spa (renamed Crossroads Gaming Resort and Spa to obscure its location just one mile from the battlefield), greatly exaggerates the benefits their venture would bring to the community and ignores the serious negative consequences to existing businesses and the battlefield.

“We have long suspected that Chance Enterprises was vastly overstating the benefits of a Gettysburg slots parlor,” observed CWPT President James Lighthizer. “Now we have the facts to support that view. The new report confirms that a casino in Gettysburg is not just bad for history, it is also bad business.”

Most of Chance’s claims were first made public in the group’s local impact report (LIR), a formal piece of their legally required application released in December 2005. Mr. Michael Siegel, the author of A Realistic Assessment, found the Chance LIR to be unreliable and misleading in several critical aspects. Siegel, the principal of Public and Environmental Finance Associates, is a 28-year veteran in the field of public and environmental finance and impact analysis. Based on his analysis of the LIR, Siegel concludes, “It would be difficult to find an area in Pennsylvania that is more vulnerable to the adverse effect of a large casino. The Gettysburg area’s economy is too large to escape the proposed casino’s adverse impacts, but not nearly large enough for them to be of relatively little consequence.”

VICKSBURG’S POST CASINO EXPERIENCE: THE MODEL FOR GETTYSBURG?

Chance’s LIR relies in large part on Vicksburg as a model of how its casino would affect Gettysburg and the surrounding area. One of Chance’s key assertions is that visitation to Vicksburg National Military Park (NMP) was unaffected by the introduction of gambling to the area. This is not the case. In 1994, the first full calendar year after the opening of Vicksburg’s first casinos, visitation to Vicksburg NMP fell 21 percent. Through 2004 there were only two years when visitation to the park equaled or slightly exceeded the 1993 level, when gambling first came to town. In the five years previous to the casinos’ introduction, Vicksburg’s visitation had been growing an average of five percent per year.

In contrast, visitation to Gettysburg National Military Park has increased by 21 percent over the same time period. Given the importance of tourists to Adams County and the Borough of Gettysburg, this misleading portrayal of Vicksburg’s visitation numbers is of utmost concern. As the Realistic Assessment notes, “people’s wallets usually accompany them.”

The LIR’s economic analysis is based on the odd proposition that if it omits spending by existing visitors and residents at the casino in its calculations, then none of Gettysburg’s existing business will be hurt when this money goes elsewhere. As the Realistic Assessment points out, this poses a real and serious adverse impact to the Gettysburg area. In Warren County (Vicksburg), Mississippi, nonmanufacturing wage and salary employment fell by several hundred jobs following the opening of its four casinos. Not only did these casinos fail to generate a single net new nonmanufacturing wage job outside the gambling establishments themselves, they may have actually destroyed such jobs. Together with the Vicksburg Battlefield’s visitation data, this strongly suggests that tens of millions of dollars of economic activity was transferred and diverted from existing Vicksburg-area businesses to its casinos.

Chance also uses Vicksburg for its assertion that the proposed casino would have no adverse social impacts. In reality, the crime rate in Warren County, Mississippi after the introduction of casinos, increased at a far greater rate than it did in Mississippi overall. While Warren County’s crime rate was soaring, the national crime rate was also falling.

MORE MISREPRESENTATIONS IN THE LIR

A Realistic Assessment details numerous other serious deficiencies in the Chance LIR. Among them:

Damage to Existing Businesses: The Chance LIR fails to address the damage the casino will cause to existing businesses by the diversion and transfer of local resident and existing visitor expenditures to the casino. Siegel’s report roughly estimates that about $60 million of spending by existing visitors and residents would be diverted and transferred from existing establishments to the proposed casino. This represents a sizable share of Adams County’s service and retail sector spending..

Job Creation and Overnight Stays: The LIR assumes half a million or more new overnight visitors who cannot be reasonably accounted for. The level of overnight stays presumed by the report is only achieved by two mega-resort gambling destinations: Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Reputable industry studies indicate that no more than between four and eight percent of the casino’s visitors from within two hours drive time will stay overnight in Adams County. In Charles Town, W.V. (home to a similarly sized slots facility) only about five percent do so.

Failure to Fully Consider Competitive Disadvantages: A Gettysburg casino would have a disadvantaged location relative to the three other casinos it will have to compete with for market share. The three competitors are within a two-hour drive from Gettysburg. As the Realistic Assessment points out, drive times to Gettysburg from the large population centers in the Washington–Baltimore area are significantly longer than to other competing casinos. A University of Massachusetts study on visitation patterns to the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos in Connecticut found that a 10–15-minute travel difference caused three to four times as many Rhode Islanders to pick the closer location. Because Chance omits key data and assumptions about its market study, it does not appear that they have given proper consideration to this effect.

Tourism to Gettysburg: With approximately 1.7 million visitors annually, Gettysburg is one of the top overall tourist destinations in Pennsylvania. Its location makes it a gateway to visitors from across the nation. Locating a casino in Gettysburg amounts to brand pollution and will have negative consequences for Pennsylvania that will not be confined to the Gettysburg area. Leisure tourism is Pennsylvania’s second-largest industry, and heritage tourists tend to be the biggest spenders among leisure visitors.

With findings this dramatic on these and related topics, the Realistic Assessment should be carefully read and considered by those seeking to fully understand the potential impacts that a casino would have on the region, according to Rodney Cromeans of the coalition Businesses Against the Casino in Adams County. Believing that the information presented in the Realistic Assessment is a vital part of the dialogue and must be fully heard, Businesses Against the Casino has invited its author to present his findings on the organization’s behalf during the Gaming Control Board’s public hearings. “The data in this report are crucial for a full understanding of the issues at stake with this casino. As a Gettysburg businessman, I can truly relate to what these numbers mean for my bottom line,” Cromeans said.

With 75,000 members, CWPT is the largest nonprofit battlefield preservation organization in the United States. Its mission is to preserve our nation’s remaining Civil War battlefields. Since 1987, the organization has saved more than 22,300 acres of hallowed ground, including 591 acres at Gettysburg. Most recently, CWPT partnered with the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association to protect the Daniel Lady Farm at Gettysburg. CWPT’s website is located at www.civilwar.org.

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(A copy of A Realistic Assessment is available online at http://www.civilwar.org/news/realistic_assessment.pdf )"

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Sincerely,

Randy

Please visit my primary site at www.brotherswar.com

All original material Copyright © 2006. All Rights Reserved

About the Trees

This last Wednesday, I found myself once again happily tramping across the fields of the Gettysburg Battlefield, eager to see the National Park Service’s most recent restorative efforts. Their unrelenting determination continuously moves the park’s sacred grounds towards their 1863 appearance. Having read of the most recent works, I enthusiastically moved from Seminary Ridge towards a particular point of interest. The Peach Orchard, for years reliably home to a small collection of fruit trees, revealed the most dramatic changes. The fields, meticulously plowed and tilled, now housed not one tree.


Monument to the 68th Pennsylvania Infantry
framed by the now empty Peach Orchard
Captivated by the vegetative vacuum, I walked slowly around the edges of the barren field, careful to avoid stepping on what seemed a still tender portion of the now wounded battlefield. With anticipatory delight, each step inspired visions of how these same grounds would appear just two years hence when fresh, healthy trees reached again towards the sun. Strong, healthy peach trees would soon proudly take the place of those which had so steadily adorned these fields for decades. Camera in hand, I snapped as many pictures from as many angles as the evasive, cloud shrouded sunlight would allow. After collecting a sufficient number of photos, I walked back towards my car expecting no further surprises.

Then I walked out onto the Emmitsburg Road. Stopping to investigate an old isolated marble obelisk, I took the time to read the fading inscription worn by a century of snow, wind, and rain. The sounds of the highway behind me, the bite of the still chilling spring winds, and the visions of the surrounding fields melted away. The marble carved words held my complete attention.

ERECTED BY THE SURVIVORS
OF THE 68TH REGT. P. V.
SCOTT LEGION
COL. A. H. TIPPIN COMMANDING
1ST BRIGADE 1ST DIVISION
3RD ARMY CORPS
IN MEMORY OF
183 OF OUR COMRADES
WHO FELL ON THIS FIELD
JULY 2ND AND 3RD 1863.
This silent stone sentry spoke clearly of what I should have known all along. I came here to see the restorations as the grounds steadily regressed to their condition 142 years past. But neither the stark changes to the landscape nor the crisp, nurtured beauty of the battlefield could ease the gut wrenching feeling produced by a few small words. The inscription said, “183 of our Comrades”. The men of this battle still spoke. They say to those who would pause to listen, “It never was about the trees“.

Sincerely,

Randy

Please visit my primary site at www.brotherswar.com

All original material Copyright © 2006. All Rights Reserved

The Gettysburg Casino Hearings

On Wednesday, April 5, I had the privilege of testifying at the initial Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board hearing concerning the proposal to build a casino near the Gettysburg Battlefield. I left feeling cautiously upbeat after hearing a majority of presenters express their displeasure with the idea. Twenty-four hours later, that day's optimism became tainted with dismay as I both read and heard how the news media portrayed the proceedings. The straightforward hearing format allowed those seeking the casino license to testify first, followed by governmental officials, non-profit and private organizations, followed by individual citizens. I witnessed the entire hearing, took pages of notes, and heard each presenter.

Chance Enterprises and their CEO David Levan spoke first, stating their position that the casino would benefit the local economy, would not negatively impact the battlefield, and would not rest on any "hallowed ground". When they finished, various governmental representatives spoke with the numbers for and against the proposal about evenly distributed. The private and non-profit groups spoke next, all of whom voiced their strenuous objections to the proposal with the noted exception of the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association. My surprise at their declaration of support faded somewhat as I heard talk that they allegedly had received significant contributions from Mr. Levan.

Of the 33 individuals who spoke, all area residents except two, 29 stated their opposition including a descendent of the family of Major General John Fulton Reynolds and one of Miles Standish. Groups who sent representative to this hearing who also objected to the proposal included:

The Friends of the National Parks at Gettysburg
Concerned Citizens of Straban Township
No Casino Gettysburg
Gettysburg College Parents Advisory Board
The Civil War Club of Gettysburg College
Gettysburg College Faculty

The gentleman who spoke for the Gettysburg College Parents Advisory Board, currently numbering 62 parents, emphasized that the vote against the casino was not just by majority but unanimous.

Despite the above, thus far, both televised and print media concerning this hearing seem to imply or represent that those testifying presented an equivalent number of positions both in opposition and in support. I have seen no mention of the 60,000+ petition signatures offered by the Civil War Preservation Trust and the group No Casino Gettysburg which publicly document both local and national opposition. In the reports I have seen, the print and broadcast media mentioned views in support of the casino prior to noting any specific objections, if they noted any at all. At the risk of painting myself with cynicism, I can only guess that these media outlets, all local to Pennsylvania, seek the advertising revenue a casino might offer.

As for my testimony, below I include a copy of the text from which I read excluding the specific contact information I provided to the Board.

"I was born, raised, and still live in Pennsylvania. I visit Gettysburg frequently, have friends here, and had family who fought here.

On June 28, 1865, Union Major General George Gordon Meade said farewell to the Army of the Potomac. A man of comparatively few words, he would say to the survivors of this war, "It is unnecessary to enumerate here all that has occurred in these two eventful years, from the grand and decisive Battle of Gettysburg, the turning point of the war, to the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House. Suffice it to say that history will do you justice, a grateful country will honor the living, cherish and support the disabled, and sincerely mourn the dead."

It pains me to consider that this country may not be as grateful as it once was. Today we debate this plan by a few to exploit the name and sacrifice of Gettysburg for their own ends. Those who seek to build this casino would not do so at such a cherished site but for the millions who travel to Gettysburg every year to remember the men and women who gave so much for this country. A casino so close to the battlefield, the sacred grounds where our ancestors decided the fate of this nation, seeks only to profit from those who journey here to ponder and remember.

I wish now to state in the strongest possible terms that this cannot, this must not happen. The casino, if it sees the light of day, will scar the very fields we seek to protect.

But even without the increase in crime and costs to the community, building a casino near this battlefield remains as unconscionable a decision as building an amusement park at Pearl Harbor. The men who died here and their descendents deserve far better.

The great state of Pennsylvania along with people from all over this country will soon join in celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. We will proudly remember that, on those three fateful days, tens of thousands of Americans, including 35,000 Pennsylvanians, saved our nation. I say to you today, do not soil their memory by allowing this blatant exploitation of their sacrifice. We owe them. In those three days, thousands of men gave their lives that this nation, our nation, might live. Tens of thousands of others emerged from this conflict broken and shattered, their bodies no longer whole, their legacy forever written in blood in the book of honor.

Ladies and gentlemen of this board, how will we repay these men? Who speaks for the dead of Gettysburg?"

Sincerely,

Randy

Please visit my primary site at www.brotherswar.com

All original material Copyright © 2006. All Rights Reserved

Civil War Medicine

Surfing the web for something interesting, I found these fascinating excerpts from the journal of J. S. Billings, a Civil War surgeon who served the men fighting around Petersburg in 1864. Nothing further need be said. His words speak clearly even from 142 years past.

"... The character of the surgery performed in the field hospitals during the campaign has been unprecedently good. The majority of cases have been properly dressed, and operated on, before being sent to the rear, and, for this reason, the number of primary operations has been very great. The great majority of wounds have been caused by the conoidal ball, but a few wounds from grape or canister have been observed. The treatment of flesh wounds has been simple and uniform, consisting of a small piece of wet lint placed on the wound, or wounds, and retained in position by a turn of bandage, or a slip of plaster ..." - Billings, J.S., Asst. Surg., USA, Army of the Potomac, near Petersburg, VA."

"Setting Up A Hospital
Page #1
June 17, 1864
I do not believe that my work at hospitals will ever end. I almost feel the same about this war. I arrived at City Point on an afternoon in mid-June, as the steamers were being unloaded with medical supplies. The General had moved our army yet again, crossing the James River to target Petersburg. Of course, we moved when the army did, and now we worked to get another hospital ready for the soldiers already fighting near the city.

Page #2
Two days later, the first 500 wounded soldiers arrived at the hospital before we were even ready for them. Before that day was over, more than 3,500 patients were seen by the staff. I think I saw a couple hundred myself. So many faces, I can’t recall. The following days were much the same, so there was little time for us to rest.

Page #3
Hardly a day passed, when we did not hear the roar of the cannons from the Petersburg front. Even when there was no report of battle, soldiers arrived at the hospital by the train load. I tried to help the men who poured into the hospital day after day, many suffering terrible wounds. Under the knife, I operated on so many misshapen bodies, knowing that these men would never be the same again. Afterwards, I rested, while watching the nurses wash the blood-stained floors of the operating room. Even after three years of war, I still found it difficult to deal with the horror of it all.

Page #4
I always felt rewarded when I saw a wounded soldier slowly healing from his surgery and gaining their strength. They were fortunate to be in a hospital that was so well supplied. I was pleased to be finally working in a hospital where the patients had a clean bed to lay their head, good food, and experienced doctors and nurses to care for them. This was not the only change I noticed in hospital care by this time in the war. The Medical Department had made some changes to hospital care, and one was the addition of women nurses, who seemed to take great care with the patients, even so far as hanging colored papers over the walls, the windows, and doors to make this depressing place a bit more cheerful for its occupants. Our patients really appreciated these small gestures of kindness.

Field Station
Page #1
The army was planning a big battle near the end of July, so I was one of the surgeons who volunteered to go to the front line for a few days. I had some experience working in the field dressing stations, so I traveled down to the front line with some assistant surgeons. I had no idea what a disastrous day it would be for our men.

Page #2
How many wounded men passed through my shelter that day, I could not possibly recall. The battle had started before daybreak with the sound of a big explosion followed by artillery fire across our lines. Thankfully, I was safely behind the lines, waiting for the confusion to begin. I prepared my station for all of the wounded that would be arriving once the battle began. The image of the wounded still stands out in my mind.

Page #3
The wounded never stopped coming through my tent, located just a few hundred yards behind the Union lines. Equipped with a pile of bandages and some bottles of medicine, the first aid tent was barely more than shelter with blankets scattered on the ground. Men continually carried the soldiers off the battlefield behind our lines to the dressing station. There it was my job to give these men quick care before they were taken on to the Field Depot Hospital near Grant's Headquarters. There were others there to help me, but there were so many wounded that we could not take care of them all.

Page #4
I gave the men who had been shot in the leg, the arm, or the stomach, opium to numb their pain. I tried to clean and wrap as many wounds as I could, before many of the soldiers took their trip to the hospital. There was little I could do to comfort them. Most of the fighting was up the hill on the other side of our trench. We were behind the dirt walls, where we had pretty good protection, though an occasional bullet sometimes whizzed past. As the hours passed, my hands grew tired from the care I gave to hundreds of wounded that day. Fortunately, most of them would make the trip to City Point, where they would get much better care in our hospital. Still, a few breathed their last under my tent that day.

Ambulance
Page #1
From Battlefield to Hospital
A few days after the terrible battle, I received orders to head back to the main hospital at City Point. I made the trip with the latest group of soldiers wounded on the front lines. There was a lot of confusion, as I watched ambulance workers load the wounded onto the horse and carriages that would carry us the short distance to our railroad.

Page #2
Once the ambulance delivered us to the railroad depot, I boarded the railroad train with the wounded, to try to assist them in some way. We were packed very tightly on these railroad cars, so that the bed of hay offered no comfort. Men screamed in pain as their mangled bodies constantly knocked against one another from the jolting of the railroad car. Blood was everywhere, as I sit among the men and the smells were almost unbearable. Thankfully, the trip to the hospital was a short one. I was quite relieved when the train finally pulled up to the center of the hospital tents, and I worked quickly to help the severely wounded to the operation area.

Surgery
Page #1
I worked late into the night performing surgery after surgery on the wounded who streamed into the hospital. There was no end to the trainloads of wounded who continued to arrive at the hospital throughout this long day. I really just wanted a few minutes to sit down and rest, to get away from the depressing scene of thousands of young, wounded soldiers whose lives would never be the same again.

Page #2
My tired hands were getting stiff from the chill in the air as the evening slowly passed. I could hardly look at the faces of these men whose bones were splintered by bullets and whose bandages were soaked with blood. I had to block out the shrieks and moans of those who still lay in the field waiting for their turn to come to the surgeon's table. It was how I got through the horror of it all. ‘

Page #3
I ignored the pile of arms and legs that sat in the corner of the operating room. When I became a doctor, I had never imagined performing so many surgeries at once. The truth be told, before the war, I had only operated on one person who was injured from a gunshot wound. I had to learn quickly how to amputate an arm or leg. On nights such as this, I moved from patient to patient hardly washing my hands and instruments I used to perform the amputations.

Page #4
Finally, the last wounded soldier of the day was brought to my table. He had already been given medicine to put him to sleep for his surgery, and he lay on the table white and still. When I looked down at his young face, I hesitated a moment. He looked so much like my own brother who was somewhere else fighting. As I was about to remove his leg, it made me sad to think this young boy would live his life a shattered wreck. I trembled for a moment to think that he could easily have been my brother, and somewhere a family had no idea what was about to happen to him. I picked up my saw and got to work."

To read more excerpts from journals about medical care and other aspects of life during the war, please click here.

Sincerely:

Randy

Please visit my primary site at www.brotherswar.com

All original material Copyright © 2006. All Rights Reserved

Sources:

Views of the National Parks.

The Remaining Damage

The pictures included below show some of the remaining damage left to the two as yet unrestored monuments. Although the US National Park Service can likely replace the destroyed sections of each monument, the original pieces are now lost forever.

Above each picture of the damage, I have reposted pictures of each of the monuments prior to their desecration. These sad pictures tell the story all too well.


The 4th New York Artillery Monument and cannons.
Summer of 2005


Closer view of the 4th New York Artillery Monument.
Summer of 2005


The 4th New York monument's pedestal minus the damaged statue.
Notice the hole in the pavement where
the monument landed when toppled by vandals.
Courtesy of the Philadelphia Inquirer


National Park Staff examining the headless 4th NY Artillery statue.
Notice also the missing rammer from the statue's right hand.
Courtesy of the Gettysburg National Military Park


The 11th Massachusetts Monument.
Summer of 2005


The 11th MA monument immediately after the vandalism.
Notice the shattered pieces at its base.
Courtesy of the Gettysburg National Military Park


Close up of one destroyed segment of the monument.
Courtesy of the Philadelphia Inquirer

Sincerely:

Randy

Please visit my primary site at www.brotherswar.com

All original material Copyright © 2006. All Rights Reserved

Pictures courtesy of the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Gettysburg National Military Park