Gettysburg NMP preservation and rehabilitation continues through pandemic

from Gettysburg Times

The ruins of the Rose Barn were recently rehabilitated.

Gettysburg National Military Park and Eisenhower National Historic Site began 2020 with high expectations. New permanent leadership had arrived, park staff were optimistic, and a host of dormant projects were given renewed energy and attention. Anticipating record visitation levels, we were eagerly working with our partners on a slate of new programming and park experiences for students, educators, and travelers. However, as we all know too well, we quickly found ourselves navigating the challenges presented by a global pandemic.

Despite the unprecedented nature of 2020, the National Park Service achieved many successes. At Gettysburg NMP, historic park structures received much-needed preservation and rehabilitation work. These include the Pennsylvania Memorial, the ruins of the Rose Barn, and perhaps most notably, the complete rehabilitation of the James Warfield house, home to a member of Gettysburg’s African American community. To better tell the story of the battle and battlefield, over 90 new interpretive waysides were created and are now beginning to be installed throughout the park. With updated text, new graphics and improved accessibility, these interpretive waysides will help a new generation of park visitors explore the history of the battle and introduce them to new stories, individuals, and locations on the field. At Eisenhower NHS, a temporary parking lot was opened, enabling visitors to explore the site while ensuring social distancing.

Because of COVID, in-person park programming was cancelled, and longstanding and popular park events had to be reimagined. Almost immediately the teams at Eisenhower and Gettysburg switched to an all virtual model. Thousands of students learning from home connected with Park Educators via Facebook, Zoom, and Skype. World War II weekend and the Battle Anniversary events found new audiences online. By working with valued partners and volunteers we were able to expand the traditional boundaries of both parks. In one of the ironies of 2020, park staff reached more visitors virtually than would have ever attended these events in-person.

If the month of January is any indication, the new year appears to be one of promise and progress. Already the parks have released an immersive 3D experience, offering virtual visitors unprecedented access to some of the iconic structures in the park, including the David Wills House and the Eisenhower Home. Virtual ranger programming is scheduled to continue with robust social media content, the popular Winter Lecture series, and education programming. We are eager to build on our successes of last year with continued work alongside Adams County Historical Society, Civil War Trails, the Gettysburg Black History Museum, the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College, the Eisenhower Society, the American Battlefield Trust and the Gettysburg Foundation.

Across the Gettysburg battlefield and Eisenhower farm, work is underway that will transform and improve the visitor experience, while also ensuring these singular places remain preserved for future generations. On Culp’s Hill 18 acres of battlefield will be rehabilitated to its 1863 appearance. New trails, an improved cultural and natural landscape, and enhanced interpretation will give new relevancy to one of the most historically significant areas on the battlefield. At the Eisenhower home, a new air conditioning system will be installed to help protect the priceless artifacts on display. Soon a rehabilitated Reception Center, with new exhibitory, will welcome visitors to the farm of Mamie and Dwight. The long-awaited rehabilitation of Little Round Top is planned to begin in the late fall requiring the hill to be closed for 12-18 months. With nearly a million visitors exploring the hill each year, the fragile historic landscape of Little Round Top is being loved to death. This project will provide improved parking and an enhanced trail system. Gathering areas will allow visitors to safely explore the hill, while at the same time safeguarding the defensive works, monuments & memorials, and boulders that make a visit to Little Round Top an unforgettable experience.

In the Museum and Visitor Center, Gettysburg NMP and the Gettysburg Foundation are working collaboratively on a new exhibit slated to open in the Fall of 2021. Titled “Treasures of the Battlefield,” this exhibit will feature select artifacts from the collection of the Gettysburg Museum of the American Civil War that are seldom seen by the public, and offer a lens into the experiences of Civil War soldiers in camp and on campaign.

The themes that are at the heart of our two parks are uniquely American, and as 2020 demonstrated, perennially relevant. President Lincoln understood that we can’t simply rest on our nation’s Founding Principles in times of uncertainty but that we each have a responsibility to act, to do our part and to continue the unfinished work. Like that of the nation, the work of the National Park Service remains unfinished. We are grateful to the community and our partners for their support in helping us in the unending work of preserving and protecting these American treasures.

Jason Martz is the acting visual information specialist and public affairs officer for Gettysburg National Military Park.

The Future of Confederate Monuments

The Future Of Confederate Monuments

As the nation reckons with its racist history, legislation calling for the removal of Confederate commemorative works from national parkland is likely to be reconsidered this year. 

By Kim O'Connell
National Parks Traveler

R E Lee Statue at Gettysburg NMP

If you knew nothing about the U.S. Civil War and traveled to Gettysburg National Military Park, you might be forgiven for believing the South won, based on a reading of the monuments alone.

The statue of Southern commander Robert E. Lee on horseback, which also serves as the monument to the fighting sons of his home state of Virginia, stands at 41 feet tall, including both statue and pedestal. It’s more than double the height of the similar equestrian statue of Union Gen. George Gordon Meade that sits across the field, despite the fact that Meade was the victor at Gettysburg, helping to turn the tide of the war.

Lee’s prominence at Gettysburg, along with the estimated 1,700 Confederate commemorative works that still stand across the United States, is now under scrutiny. In recent years, the nation’s racist history has been debated and confronted in a variety of ways, with Confederate names and symbols being removed from public squares, schools, and flagpoles across the South and elsewhere. And yet, the Confederate battle flag is still hoisted aloft and visible in places like the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and at the U.S. Capitol insurrection last month, not to mention on countless car bumpers, t-shirts, and gift shop tables.

Last summer, Democratic lawmakers in the fiscal 2021 spending package included language that would have required the National Park Service to remove Confederate monuments from all National Park System sites within six months. Although that language didn’t make it into the final bill, it’s likely to be reintroduced this year.

The proposal is raising a debate not only between those who support Confederate symbols and those who say they prop up a legacy of hate, but between those who say the Park Service needs more time to inventory and consider these works and those who say the Confederacy has been given time enough. 

At issue, too, is the crusty legacy of the “Lost Cause,” the mythologizing of the Southern warriors that recast them as fighting not to support slavery but to maintain states’ rights (overlooking, of course, that those "rights" included enslaving other human beings). Most of the Confederate monuments erected on national parklands were placed there in the early 20th century, well after the war, during the height of Jim Crow segregation. They are not interpretive historical markers, opponents say, but symbols of white supremacy and oppression. 

The National Park Service was a willing participant in this effort, allowing groups like the United Daughters of the Confederacy to sponsor monuments on its battlefields that helped to elevate and equalize the losing side. Hence, the existence of the Lee monument at Gettysburg, erected in 1917, and the Robert E. Lee Memorial, as his former home in Arlington, Virginia, is designated — despite the fact that Lee was an often-brutal slaveowner who took up arms against his own government.

“This is not about erasing history or denying anyone’s heritage,” said U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, Democrat from Minnesota and a key advocate of the removal legislation, during a Congressional subcommittee debate last July. “This is about whether we’re willing to do the hard work needed to confront the truth of our history and to work to right past wrongs. In order to do that, it means ending the use of Confederate symbols which continue to be used today to intimidate and terrorize millions of our American citizens.”

McCollum isn’t sure yet what form the removal requirement might take, but she plans to support it, and she thinks the NPS is well positioned to move quickly. “As to whether or not I’ll do formal legislation, I’ll still be making sure I continue to work on removing these symbols of discrimination and oppression on public lands,” McCollum said in an interview with the Traveler. “People at the Park Service are smart enough and well-trained enough that they probably have a good idea what they have [in terms of Confederate monuments]. The people who work on our public lands -- they are professionals. I’m sure many have been thinking about it already.”

Other park advocates argue, however, that the Park Service needs far more time to consider the monuments and their specific roles in their particular landscapes, noting that some monuments might be historically significant in their own right, perhaps because of the artist who sculpted or designed them or some other reason. The ground disturbance from monument removal could also trigger federally required archaeological assessments or other studies to discern impacts on the historic landscape.

“This is not an issue to be resolved by an act of Congress,” says former NPS Director Jon Jarvis, now the chair of the board for UC-Berkeley’s Institute for Parks, People, and Biodiversity. “There are literally thousands of monuments to the soldiers of the North and the South on the various Civil War battlefields maintained by the NPS. Many are important because they mark a particular battle, a skirmish, victory or loss, on the actual ground where people died. These monuments are used by the NPS staff in their interpretation of the events and are often important for context. That is very different from a bronze guy on a horse in the middle of a traffic circle placed there to intimidate.”

Jarvis encourages President Biden to request that Congress commission a study, led by prominent and diverse historians, to evaluate the monuments against a set of agreed-upon standards to help determine which ones get removed or put in some other context, such as a museum or warehouse.

“A better symbolic measure by Congress would be to direct the Park Service to complete an analysis of its monuments and report back in two years and then they would get to work on it,” Jarvis says. “What is needed to respond to those who were disenfranchised during the Civil War and during Reconstruction is a reinterpretation of the Civil War, and we stated that during the sesquicentennial. Rather than focus on taking down this or that monument…provide the platform for the telling of a broader story and to not respond to a quick fix.”

Although the National Parks Conservation Association hasn’t released an official policy on this yet, the organization generally supports giving NPS the time and resources to assess its Confederate works. “We want the Park Service to have the opportunity to inventory their commemorative works,” says NPCA’s Mid-Atlantic Senior Regional Director Joy Oakes. “We want the professionals to have a thoughtful and informed process.”

NPCA Advisory Board member Edwin Fountain, a historic preservation expert, adds that some monuments, such as the Lee statue at Gettysburg, are more than 100 years old and are therefore considered “contributing features” on the historic landscape, to use preservation parlance. “So on what grounds do you just start saying, ‘Oh, we're going to start removing contributing features from national parks.’ I'm not saying that ends all debate, but it's got to be part of the debate.”

Others believe, however, that these symbols are keeping a significant segment of people away from these parks. It's worth noting that only an estimated 7 percent of national park visitors are Black.

“The Park Service needs to ask, ‘Who’s coming to your site and who’s not coming to your site?’” says Denise Meringolo, a professor of public history at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and author of Museums, Monuments, and National Parks: Toward a New Genealogy of Public History. “Those monuments are a barrier to significant portions of the audience, for whom they are not simply inaccurate or annoying. They are traumatizing.”

Meringolo says that people should reconsider the prevalent assumption that monuments are permanent. “If a goal of a monument is to represent some kind of civic culture that we believe is worth discussing, and if we want to put up these things to represent common values, when someone says, ‘This doesn’t represent the values we hold dear,’ maybe it’s time to take them down. They’re not doing the work that we think they are doing. A monument is always an assertion of power and authority. It’s staking a claim.”  

Historian and educator Kevin Levin, author of Searching for Black Confederates: The Civil War’s Most Persistent Myth, says it’s worth listening to those whose voices have long been silenced and to use this moment as an opportunity for more context and interpretation.

“Many of these monuments went up at a time when African Americans were simply disfranchised,” Levin says. “They were, for legal reasons, for political reasons, just unable to voice their own view about how the war should be commemorated in public spaces. And so I think for that reason alone, this has to be taken seriously. But at the same time, I draw a distinction between Park Service sites like Gettysburg and, say, Richmond's Monument Avenue.”

Whether all or just some of the monuments stay or go, Levin believes there is enough NPS battlefield land to provide additional context about the Confederate monuments so that visitors can get a more complete picture of how and why they got there, and what their existence says about who we are. 

“I do think there's an opportunity at places like Gettysburg, acknowledging that the Confederate monuments are problematic to many people,” Levin continues. “The Park Service has a responsibility to face that."

'The Black Civil War Soldier' by Philadelphia's Deborah Willis honors freedom fighters

Photos in ‘The Black Civil War Soldier’ by Deborah Willis remember a quest for freedom

The eminent scholar, who grew up in North Philadelphia, says Black soldiers’ Civil War photos were sending a message: “That there was and will be a Black future.”

by Cassie Owens
Philadelphia Inquirer
Published Feb 23, 2021

At a time when some monuments are falling, Deborah Willis is considering the statues that still haven’t been built.

The venerable artist, curator, and researcher of photographic history says her archival work for her new book, The Black Civil War Soldier: A Visual History of Conflict and Citizenship, has made her see monuments differently than some folks.

Alexander Herritage Newton (left) as a quartermaster sergeant with the 29th Connecticut Infantry, circa 1865. Standing next to him is Daniel S. Lathrop (1846-1924), who served at the same rank in the regiment.James Horace Wells and David C. Collins / Courtesy Yale University

“People were angry with me, thinking that ‘Oh, [monuments] should be torn down.’ I’m saying ‘No, we need more,’” Willis says. A monument to Alexander Herritage Newton, to name one.

A photograph of Newton is one of many slices of history Willis revives in the book. He was in his early 20s when the Civil War broke out, and at that point, it was illegal for Black men to enlist in the Union army. Newton found Brooklyn’s 13th Regiment and joined it regardless, later continuing his service with the 29th Connecticut Infantry.

A son of the South who’d been born free to a free mother and an enslaved father, Newton wrote letters to Black newspapers and eventually his own autobiography. “The way that he describes his experiences were just poetic and meaningful,” Willis says.

He later settled in Philadelphia and Camden and was a noteworthy abolitionist. He’s one of the many hidden figures with local ties in the book, something that gives Willis, who grew up in North Philadelphia, a lot of pride, she says. “We need to give this man a monument.”

Willis, department chair for photography and imaging at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, had noticed a dearth of images of Black servicemen from the era. For The Black Civil War Soldier, she pulled together photographs, letters, and diary entries to shed light on not only what Black servicemen were experiencing, but also what Black teachers, Black doctors, Black children, and other members of the community were. .

“The letters humanize the experience of war and personalize it in a way that guided me to focus on families. The experience of mothers writing a letter to Abraham Lincoln to say, you know, ‘I’m worried about my son, please…. CLICK HERE FOR THE LINK TO THE INQUIRER ARTICLE

Black History Month Commemorated at Gettysburg NMP and Eisenhower NHS

Black History Month Commemorated at Gettysburg NMP and Eisenhower NHS

News Release Date: February 18, 2021
Contact: Jason Martz

Basil Biggs and his family stand in front of their house along Taneytown Road.

To commemorate Black History Month, Gettysburg National Military Park and Eisenhower National Historic Site are highlighting history associated with the African American experience in Gettysburg. 

New interpretive waysides on the battlefield mark the homes of two of Gettysburg's African American families. At the Abraham Brian farm located on Cemetery Ridge, the wayside explains the challenges faced by black citizens during and after the Gettysburg Campaign. Along the Taneytown Road Trail, a wayside panel shares the story of Basil Biggs and his family. Biggs, a local veterinarian and alleged conductor on the Underground Railroad, was responsible for exhuming the bodies of slain Union soldiers following the battle and instrumental in the creation of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery.  

The park recently rehabilitated the exterior of the home of the Warfield family who were members of Gettysburg’s African American community. The entire restoration process is documented on the park’s website, including time lapse videos and photo albums that provide behind-the-scenes access through every phase of the project.  

The Eisenhower National Historic Site will highlight stories about the Civil Rights Movement with a specific focus on John and Delores Moaney. John Moaney served as an aide and valet to General Eisenhower during World War II and remained with him in various capacities throughout Eisenhower's presidency and until the president’s death in 1969. 

She was the first Black person freed by Lincoln, long before his presidency.

She was the first Black person freed by Lincoln, long before his presidency. Her grave was paved over and her story hardly known.
USA Today Feb 6, 2021
Link here to complete story

This paved area around 3915 SW Adams is believed to be the final resting place of Nance Legins-Costley of Pekin, Illinois, the first slave legally freed by Abraham Lincoln. The area was once known as Moffatt Cemetery before the city paved over it.

PEORIA, Ill. – The name of Nance Legins-Costley could resonate amid the likes of Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass and other abolitionist figures.

 But her story is hardly known. Not in Illinois, where – despite anti-slavery laws – she was born into bondage. Not in the city of Pekin, where – despite anti-Black attitudes – she became a beloved community figure. And certainly not in Peoria, where – despite her impressive life – she is buried in ignominy.

 Perhaps her story is more subtle than those of high-profile abolitionist leaders, yet her fortitude was astounding. Barely a teen, she first stood up for her civil rights in a court of law that was stacked against Black people. Even amid legal defeats, she kept seeking the most basic of rights: freedom.

 “She was a very impressive lady,” says Carl Adams, a historian who has spent more than a quarter-century researching the struggles of Nance Legins-Costley.

 She eventually won her freedom, thanks to Abraham Lincoln. But her victory came in 1841, long before the attorney became the nation’s president and more than 20 years before the Emancipation Proclamation.

 Thus, Nance Legins-Costley became the first Black person freed from bondage by Lincoln, to eventually be followed by 4 million others. Moreover, Adams and other historians say, the case pushed a theretofore ambivalent Lincoln toward an anti-slavery stance.

  “This was the first time Abraham Lincoln first gave serious thought to these conditions of slavery,” Adams says.

 And for all that, not only is her story relatively unknown – Nance Legins-Costley’s final resting place is marked with no honor. Rather, it's not marked at all. Decades ago, her graveyard in Peoria was paved over with asphalt.

 Nance Legins-Costley lies somewhere amid a muffler shop, union hall, auto garage and other commercial buildings, mostly forgotten by the march of progress, under a tombstone of asphalt.

 Illinois, the Land of Lincoln, was once the land of slavery.

 After losing the Revolutionary War, Britain ceded a vast chunk of land – including what would become Illinois – to the United States. Established in 1787, the Northwest Territory forbade slavery per the federal Northwest Ordinance. When Illinois became a state in 1818, its constitution prohibited slavery.

 But legislation is one thing. Reality is another. And slavery already had traction in Illinois.

 In 1752, when France ruled the area, Black slaves were held by 40% of Illinois households, according to The Randolph Society, a historical organization in Randolph County in southern Illinois.

 Despite the institution of the Northwest Ordinance, the territorial government did not enforce the slavery prohibition, nor did the state immediately after joining the union in 1818. What were known as “French slaves,” descendants of the area’s original slaves during the 1700s, were kept in subjugation into the mid-19th century. Meanwhile, slaves could legally be brought to Illinois from slave states for one-year (but renewable) work contracts.

 The territory and state also permitted a system of indentured servitude. The lengths of servitude varied by age but could extend as long as 99 years – essentially, a lifetime. Though the law implied the need for consent by the servant, the system was essentially slavery by another name. Indeed, indentured-servitude contracts (and thus the services of the servant) could be sold just like any sort of property, and without any consent necessary.

 Amid this era of bondage came the arrival of a baby who would grow up to be Nance Legins-Costley.

 To a large degree, her story remained unknown until the mid-1990s, when Adams first noticed a mention of her life. Adams, who recently lived in North Pekin, gradually unpeeled layers of her life, a process he continues today.

 "It is a short, simple story compared to most Lincoln books, but it has made a bigger impact than I ever imagined,” says Adams, who in 2016 published "Nance: Trials of the First Slave Freed by Abraham Lincoln."

 Nance was born in 1813 in Kaskaskia, which briefly served as Illinois' first capital. She likely was the daughter of Randall and Anachy Legins, who had been bought as indentured servants (along with two others) by Col. Tom Cox for $770.

 By laws of the time, Nance could be held (or sold) as an indentured servant until age 28.

 By 1820, Nance, 7, and sister Dice, 5, were already working at Cox’s Columbia Hotel. Though the state capital already had moved to Vandalia, boarders – including businessmen and other bigwig travelers – routinely would discuss issues of the day, including slavery.

 And Nance, though illiterate for a lack of schooling, listened intently.

 A Black girl's boldness

In 1822, the Cox household (including indentured servants) relocated to Springfield, which would not become the state capital until 1839. In 1827, with Cox awash in debt – thanks to bad land speculation fueled by drunkenness – a Sangamon County court ordered the sale of all of his possessions, including his indentured servants.

 In what amounted to the only legal slave auction in Illinois’ history, Dice was sold for $150 to a man named Taylor, while Nance was sold for a dollar more to Nathan Cromwell.

 Dice went quietly. Nance did not.

 “She did not want to leave the only household she ever had,” says…

 Click here to read the complete story from USA Today

WFMZ's History's Headlines: Captain Thomas Yeager and Allentown’s First Defenders

History's Headlines: Captain Thomas Yeager and Allentown’s First Defenders
Written by CWRT Board Member Frank Whelan Feb 6, 2021
WFMZ.com

“Now the capital was ringed by rebellion.”

- Margaret Leech, “Reveille in Washington 1860-1865”

By 1911 the Civil War had been over for a long time, almost 50 years in fact. But one issue still understandably rankled in the eyes of many local people. Everyone in the Lehigh Valley knew that it was militia units from eastern Pennsylvania, among them the Allen Infantry commanded by Allentown’s Major Thomas Yeager, that were the first to answer Lincoln’s call for troops to defend the capital in 1861. Those units had gone through a hellish mob of secession supporters in Baltimore and been housed in the unfinished Capitol building on their arrival. So, it rankled Yeager’s family members that year when it was being questioned by a New England regiment’s veteran in a newspaper that they were the first to reach Washington. Taking up his pen, Yeager’s nephew, Thomas P. Yeager, a retired U.S. army military man, was moved to note the facts:

“An anonymous writer to the New York Sun, who signs himself “Company K 6th Massachusetts Volunteers” is mistaken in his assertion when he says he saw the Pennsylvania First Defenders held up in Baltimore as Boston troops were fighting their way through the mob there, April 19, 1861. On that day the Pennsylvania First Defenders were already in Washington, having arrived the night before. What the Boston man saw was Colonel Small’s Philadelphia Regiment, which unfortunately did not get through the mob that day. To a Pennsylvanian, furthermore, the Boston soldier is laughably mixed up in his geography. He says the Pennsylvanian First Defenders he saw in Baltimore, 19 April 1861, were en route from “Philadelphia to Washington” whereas the truth of history is that the First Defenders went direct from Harrisburg to Baltimore and thence to Washington, on April 18, 1861, after having been sworn in at Camp Curtin.”

The letter writer went on to note that a letter that Major Yeager had written in 1861 showed the truth. But chances are good that if the anonymous man from Boston saw the reply to his letter in the Sun he wrote it off as just one of long series of skirmishes between the New England Yankees and those they regarded as the “dumb Dutch.” Even today it is possible to find historians of that war who confidently give pride of first place to the men from Boston.

Everyone in 1861 sort of knew it would come to this. If Abraham Lincoln was elected, the South would leave the Union. But like many people across the country, those in the Lehigh Valley had their own concerns. For local farmers spring meant the fields had to be plowed. Iron makers were looking for a good year of recovery as the effects of the Panic of 1857 had begun to fade. Investors in local real estate were pleased with the growth in downtown Allentown, especially around 7th and Hamilton Street. Among them was Thomas Yeager, a young merchant with impressive sideburns whose major project in the 1850s had been a row of handsome brick dwellings in the 500 block of Walnut Street known after him as Yeager’s Row. Brick homes were something relatively new for Allentown.

But the background noise from the rest of the country came into Allentown with the click of the telegraph key. And try as they might, no one could ignore it. In 1859, the year of John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry, Yeager formed a militia unit, the Allen Infantry. Most were Allentown citizens and Yeager had trained and drilled them to the best of his ability. But one of the men later admitted that they had little if any idea of what war meant. He noted most thought of it as some sort of excursion. One by one as southern states left…
 CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE ON WFMZ.COM

CROHL Presents USCT in Battle at New Market Heights on Sun Feb 28th at 3pm

We Fight for Our Rights, Liberty, Justice and Union: The Battle of New Market Heights

On September 29, 1864, the soldiers of United States Colored Troops 3rd Division, XVIII Corps, Army of the James, stepped off to do battle and stepped into history. During this engagement 14 African American soldiers and two white officers performed heroic acts that earned the Medal of Honor. This presentation will provide both an overview of the battle and share stories of some of the soldiers who fought there.

Presented by Tim Talbott. Tim is the Director of Education, Interpretation, Visitor Services and Collections at Pamplin Historical Park and the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier in Petersburg, Virginia. He is President of the Battle of New Market Heights Memorial and Education Association. He maintains the Random Thoughts on History blog and has published articles in both book and scholarly journal formats.

Dr. James Paradis will discuss a recent memorial gift given to the Camp William Penn Museum which relates to one of the 6th regiment USCT soldiers.

• When: Sunday, February 28, 2021 at 3:00 PM

This is a free Zoom event.

To reserve a virtual seat for this event, send an email to pt@usct.org and you will be sent a link with a password within 24 hours of the presentation, giving you access. We look forward to having you join us. For information call 215-885-2258.

This program is funded in part by the Jenkinstown Lyceum.

Gettysburg NMP & Gettysburg Foundation Joint Culp’s Hill Rehabilitation

News Release Date: January 28, 2021
Contact: Jason Martz

Contact: Elle Lamboy

Gettysburg National Military Park and the Gettysburg Foundation are partnering on a Culp’s Hill rehabilitation project. The project will improve the cultural and natural landscape of 18-acres of Culp’s Hill where key battle action occurred on July 2-3, 1863. Work will include the removal of brush and select understory (trees five inches or less in diameter) along the east side of Union earthworks from the Spangler’s Spring area to the summit of Culp’s Hill. Select larger diameter trees growing within the earthworks will be felled in place. In addition to the increased visibility within the woodlot, additional interpretive signage and improved visitor access will be provided to historically significant features along the battlelines.

Rehabilitation work is scheduled to start in early February and complete at the end of June with the help of the American Conservation Experience (ACE). ACE is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing rewarding environmental service opportunities for youth of all backgrounds to explore and improve public lands. The ACE crew will treat invasive woody trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants on all earthworks stretching from Spangler’s Spring to the summit of Culp’s Hill. ACE will also construct a new trail from near the 150th New York Infantry monument to Forbes Rock, a prominent landmark on the 1863 battlefield named after the artist and war correspondent, Edwin Forbes.

The Culp’s Hill project is made possible through the philanthropic partnership between the National Park Service and The Gettysburg Foundation and will include an endowment to cover the future cost of vegetation and trail maintenance needs. More information about the project funding is available on the Gettysburg Foundation’s website at: https://www.gettysburgfoundation.org/.

“We are honored and excited to work with Gettysburg National Military Park on this historic rehabilitation project,” said David Malgee, interim president of the Gettysburg Foundation. “The Culp’s Hill project will transform the visitor experience and open this historic ground to fresh interpretation and understanding. We are forever grateful to Cliff Bream, a longtime Friend of Gettysburg and member of the Gettysburg Foundation Board of Directors, for his vision and lead philanthropic gift that made this project possible,” added Malgee.

“Thanks to the work of our partners at the Gettysburg Foundation, we will be able to better interpret the actions of the soldiers who fought on this hallowed ground in a new and exciting way. Visitors will be able to better understand the actions of Union soldiers as they held off multiple Confederate assaults; assaults that took place over very steep and rough terrain that has been all but hidden in plain sight,” said Steven D. Sims, Superintendent of Gettysburg National Military Park and Eisenhower National Historic Site.

No roads are expected to be closed during this project but all visitors to the area will be required to remain a safe distance from the work area. Project updates will be posted on the Gettysburg National Military Park website at https://www.nps.gov/gett/learn/historyculture/culps-hill.  

Special Black History Month Presentation by Historian Brian Cheesboro via ZOOM Sun Feb 7 at 1pm

THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC CIVIL WAR MUSEUM

Presents a New Program via ZOOM

Sunday, February, 7, 2021 at 1:00 p.m..

Special Black History Month Presentation by Historian Brian Cheesboro

It’s been over 30 years since the popular movie Glory introduced the world to the fact that African American men were in the ranks as soldiers in the Civil War. But since that time, the expectation of that conversation on history has not moved much farther than the film’s subject- the 54th Massachusetts, who are usually mentioned whenever the subject turns to the United States Colored Troops.
Civil War historian Bryan Cheeseboro will present the story of the 1st United States Colored Infantry.

Bryan Cheeseboro works for the National Archives with the records of the Civil War. He is a reenactor with the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry; and a board member of the Alliance to Preserve the Civil War Defenses of Washington, DC. He has been featured on American Battlefield Trust’s Zoom Goes the History series and has written for the Emerging Civil War blog. His previous presentations have included the programs Outside of Lincoln's White House: Civil War Men and Women of the DC Metro Area; and The Grand Reviews of the Civil War.

Please send a request to reserve a virtual seat for this outstanding presentation by replying to this e-mail at

garmuslib1866@gmail.com

You will be sent a link with a password that will enable you to access the program within 24 hours of the start of the presentation.

As a lover of history, you know how critical it is to keep history alive, especially today! We very much appreciate your continued support for the GAR Civil War Museum.

A FREE virtual program online

GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC MUSEUM & LIBRARY
Historic Ruan House • 4278 Griscom Street• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19124 •
(215) 289-6484 • www.garmuslib.org

Improvements Have Come To Shiloh National Military Park

Improvements Have Come To Shiloh National Military Park

By NPT Staff - January 20th, 2021 1:30am
National Parks Traveler

  Visitor improvements recently made to Shiloh National Military Park in Tennessee and Mississippi include new signs along tour routes in the park and fruit trees added to orchards to recreate how the landscape appeared during the Civil War.

  At Tour Stop #16 (Tent Hospital Site) and Tour Stop #18 (Peach Orchard Site), fruit trees were planted on December 28 in the historic orchards by the Shiloh maintenance staff.

  In Larkin Bell Field, just south of the Tent Hospital site, a dozen new apple trees now occupy the historic orchard. Union Col. David Stuart’s regiments camped in this orchard before the Battle of Shiloh, and many of the soldiers left accounts of camping among the apple trees.

  In the historic Peach Orchard, dozens of three-year old peach trees of the June Gold variety were planted in the area.

  “In the past, we have planted younger trees, but they just were not surviving due to weather conditions and wildlife,” said Maintenance Chief Randy Martin. “We hope that by transplanting these older trees, we will have better results.”

  The Peach Orchard was the scene of severe fighting on both days of the Battle of Shiloh. Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, the commander of all Confederate forces in the Western Theater, would be among those killed on April 6, 1862, in this area of the battlefield.

  Features were added to the Shiloh Driving Tour in December, including two new stops and accompanying wayside exhibits. In addition, an updated park brochure is available to visitors in the visitor center.

  Tour stop #13 (Woolf Field) and Tour Stop #15 (Davis Wheat Field) are brand new additions to the driving tour that help further tell the story of the battle.

  “Our wayside exhibits not only explain the action which took place during the bloody fighting, they also give visitors a sense of place in the big picture of the two-day struggle in 1862,” said Shiloh Superintendent Allen Etheridge.

  Visitors will also notice that new signage has been erected at tour stop #5 (Shiloh Church) explains the story of both days of fighting in and around this iconic landmark. All tour stops include concrete pads and walkways to make these sites completely ADA accessible.