Opinion---Will Gettysburg's Camp Letterman Be Rescued?

Gettysburg Casino Hoopla Overshadows Real Preservation Challenges, Jay Purdy, Saturday, December 18, 2010.

It's all over except the decision from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. For the second time in five years, Gettysburg has been subjected to a pitched PR battle over the location of a gaming business. The first was a proposed full-sized casino at routes 15 and 30, across the street from a cluster of hotels and soon to be joined by a superstore on the west side of U.S. Route 15. The current proposal, much smaller in size, would involve the already-existing Eisenhower Inn and Conference Center a half-mile beyond the southern boundary of Gettysburg National Military Park.

The two sites have a couple of aspects in common: neither was involved in fighting or significant action in the epic battle of 1863, but both were fought voraciously by opponents of gambling. Meanwhile, the real preservation needs of Gettysburg have been lost in the controversy; the imminent threat to land that was directly involved in the battle, especially its aftermath.

The Camp Letterman Field Hospital off York Road held more than 20,000 wounded and dying soldiers from the North and South who received equal care, the first such combined hospital of the war. Despite the best medical care available at the time and the compassion of civilian volunteers, scores of soldiers among the sea of tents suffered and died on the site.

There was amputation, bleeding, death and burial on the property. There might still be remains beneath the ground that were missed in the exhumation of graves through the years after the battle for removal to cemeteries in the North, to the Gettysburg National Military Cemetery or to Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond. Some of what was Camp Letterman has already been lost to commercial and residential development. Most of the remainder is now up for sale for additional development ? more box stores, restaurants, condos and asphalt to covering actual hallowed ground.

There are indications that Camp Letterman's periphery extended further to the south and east than previously believed. The precise boundaries remain unclear because there has never been a definitive archaeological study of the site. For more than 10 years, the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association has sought to draw public attention to the Letterman dilemma. At one point we spearheaded a successful drive to dissuade a large chain store from developing on a remaining portion of the property.

At the same time, GBPA successfully negotiated with developers of a proposed residential area on another part of the property to expand archaeological studies of its property, preserve lots where significant Letterman features were uncovered and develop walking trails and observation points.

The downturn in the economy torpedoed those development plans and the site investigations. Other aspects of the cooperative progress of 2008 also might be in jeopardy. Our work to save Letterman through the last 10 years has been an all-volunteer effort as has been our success at preserving the 145-acre Daniel Lady Farm and meticulously restoring its historic house and barn.

The opponents of the casino proposals have mustered considerable resources for their cause, including billboards and television ads. Several people in the effort directly attacked the GBPA for its stance in support of the Mason-Dixon proposal at the Eisenhower. Would such a crusade been directed toward the real threat to the land of Camp Letterman?

Agree with it or not, though, that is water over the dam. The GBPA is prepared to work in concert for a new phase of the Camp Letterman legacy. No matter what the outcome of the casino application or their position on the issue, we invite all organizations and individuals truly committed to preserving the precious hallowed ground of Gettysburg to join us in a comprehensive campaign to acquire and properly investigate the Camp Letterman site and preserve it undeveloped into perpetuity in remembrance of the Americans of the North and South who suffered and died there.

In 1959, the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association was founded as part of a national campaign to prevent development from further encroaching on the battlefield. Through the last 51 years, that has resulted in the acquisition and preservation of one-third of the current Gettysburg National Military Park.

Preserving what is left of Camp Letterman will take teamwork of those who have been pro-casino, anti-casino or somewhere in between; a dedication of nonprofit preservation and education organizations, private business and a small army of volunteers.

After the first of the year, the GBPA and others of like mind will initiate a call to rally resources to save Camp Letterman. Watch for it. We start things off by challenging The Patriot-News to play an appropriate role. After all, in 1959, Parade magazine, which is part of the hefty Patriot-News every Sunday, was instrumental in organizing the national campaign that created the GBPA and led to turning the tide of development of the hallowed ground of Gettysburg. The tide has been turned, but the struggle is not over.

Jay Purdy is a member and on the board of directors for the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association.

Text Source: Harrisburg Patriot-News,

Images' Source: Gettysburg Daily

CWL--Remembrance Day, Gettysburg, 2010

November 20, 2010, Remembrance Day, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Lieutenant Nick Griffey and Color Sargent Rea Andrew Redd [Civil War Librarian]. Taken immediately after the Remembrance Day Parade and immediate before the Ninth Pennsylvania Reserves, Company A, forms a column to march from Ziegler's Grove to the south side of Little Round Top where the Ninth's Monument is located.

New and Noteworthy----So You Think You Know Gettysburg?

So You Think You Know Gettysburg? : The Stories Behind The Monuments And The Men Who Fought One of America's Epic Battles, James and Suzanne Gindelsperger, J. F. Blair Publishing, index, heavily illustrated, 2010, $18.95.

Yes I do. I've taken the Gettysburg Battlefield Licenced Guide (GLBG) test twice and expect to in December 2010, like in 2008, add 6 percentage points to my first year's score. The Gindlesperger's book is a welcomed addition to my bookshelf. With 200+ entries that are illustrated with recent photographs, So You Think is a fine immersion into the battle's and the park's significant stories.

Comparing the table of contents to possible GLBG exam questions, there is a high correlation between the topics covered and the 200+ exam questions. In eleven chapters, each having its own map, So You Think is organized as both a 'ready reference' guide and tour guide book. Important sites that are usually skipped over but are in the book are the Alms House Cemetery, the Letterman hospital site, David Acheson's grave, Signal Rock, and Timber's Farm. Fortunately, there are no ghost stories and Sach's Bridge merits only a mention that if you visit it in the evening you may find ghosts hunters. Also, the comments on the Triangular Field does not mention ghosts.

Of course, So You Think is not exhaustive. The material on Iverson's Pits does not include that Gettysburg's first airport was built on the North Carolinians' assault path. But the Camp Colt marker on the left flank of the Pickett-Pettigrew-Trimble assault path is noted. The Kuhn's Brickyard mural is shown; Jennie Wade's birthplace and the house where she was killed are both presented. Flank markers, building plaques, hospital signs, headquarters' upturned cannon barrels and the variety of markers and tables for corps, brigades and batteries are discussed. Not available from the text are the names of the sculptors of Confederate and Lincoln monuments; they are questions on the GLBG exam.

Blessedly, the Gindelspergers include the battlefield's farms which nearly always receive little recognition. Eleven farms are covered but somehow the Slyder Farm that offered cover to Federal sharpshooters in the path of the Longstreet's assault on the Round Tops. Overall, So You Think is an attractive addition to the bookshelves of those visiting the park or studying for the exam. On the GLBG exam there are 20 black and white photocopies of monuments. They are the bane of this test taker. I suspect that the majority of those monuments that are used for the exam can be found in So You Think.

News---Gettysburg NMP, Woodhaven Development In Talks Over July 1 Heth's Division Assault Path

Park Service Committed To Protecting Country Club, Andrew Scot Pitzer, Gettysburg Times, April 26, 2010.

Even though the Gettysburg Country Club was recently sold to a private developer, the National Park Service is continuing its fight to protect the 120-acre property.According to Gettysburg National Military Park Supt. Bob Kirby, the park is in discussions with the property's new owner, Woodhaven Building & Development LLC, of Maryland. Previous attempts by the park to acquire the land west of Gettysburg were unsuccessful, since the closure of the 60-year-old Country Club in 2008. "It's an item of great important to the park," said Kirby, adding that the park is "considering its options."

The property, along Chambersburg Road, is within the park's 6,000-acre boundary, but is not owned by the Park Service. There are about 690 acres of land within the park's boundary that are privately-owned, such as the Country Club. "We don't have any federal protection on it right now. That's what we're trying to do: acquire it by fee - buying it outright from the owner - or acquiring an easement which would protect it from further development or subdivision," explained GNMP spokeswoman Katie Lawhon. "Right now, we don't have either one," she said. "We've been directed to do something about it," concluded Lawhon, noting that the site is listed as a "high priority" in the park's land protection plan of 1993.

Both Lawhon and Kirby noted that real estate negotiations involving the park are private, so they were unable to divulge specific information. The 120-acre site is often referred to by the park as the "field of Pickett's Charge on the First Day" of the three-day Battle of Gettysburg, in 1863. "It's renowned for being a costly part of the battle, with those wounded and captured," said Lawhon.

The club went bankrupt and has remained closed since May 2008. A sheriff's sale in Jan. 2009 failed to produce any significant offer. The Maryland based Woodhaven Building & Development obtained the property for $1.45 million from Susquehanna Bank in March. The club sits on the site of the historic Abraham Spangler and Harmon farms, where Confederate soldiers advanced and retreated during the Civil War battle. Now, the property includes a nine-hole golf course, tennis courts, a swimming pool, other recreational areas, including a renovated clubhouse.

Text Source: Gettysburg Times

Image Source: GNMP

News: Medal of Honor for Federal Canoneer at Gettysburg?

1st Lt. Alonzo Cushing Is One Step Closer to the Medal of Honor

Civil War hero from Delafield in line for Medal of Honor, Meg Jones, Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Online, March 23, 2010.

In the hell that was the battle of Gettysburg, in the hailstorm of shells and shrapnel that extinguished so many lives on a hot July day, one bullet struck a blue-clad soldier from Delafield, Wis., in the head. A shell fragment already had pierced Alonzo Cushing's shoulder and shrapnel tore through his abdomen before the shot that felled the 1861 West Point graduate. Cushing died July 3, 1863, during Pickett's Charge at Cemetery Ridge next to the artillery guns he refused to leave. It was the third and final day of the Gettysburg battle. Cushing was just 22.

The 1st lieutenant's body was returned to his family and buried at West Point beneath a headstone inscribed "Faithful until death." Cushing's name didn't fade away - it graces a park in Delafield, and a white obelisk monument was dedicated there in 1915. However, a small but dedicated group wanted more for Cushing; they wanted his heroism recognized with the nation's highest military honor. Now, it appears that Cushing will be awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on that Pennsylvania battlefield 147 years ago.

The secretary of the Army has approved the request, which must go through a few more hurdles before it can be signed by the president. Then the military will present the Medal of Honor to Cushing's family during a ceremony. "He's definitely my hero," said Phil Shapiro, 27, who started a "Give Alonzo Cushing the Medal of Honor" Facebook page in early February. "I always felt he deserved the Medal of Honor." The quest to recognize Cushing's valor began in the 1980s, first with then-Sen. William Proxmire and later with Sen. Russ Feingold, who eventually shepherded the request through military and congressional channels.

Margaret Zerwekh, 90, who belonged to the auxiliary of Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, has three inch-thick folders of paperwork relating to the effort. Normally, a recommendation for the Medal of Honor must be made within two to three years of the heroic action, and the medal must be awarded within three to five years. The length of time varies depending on the military branch, said Victoria Kueck, director of operations for the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. It takes an act of Congress to waive the time limits, which was done in Cushing's case.

The Medal of Honor dates to the Civil War. Of the 3,468 Medals of Honor awarded to U.S. military members, 1,522 were given out during the Civil War, though back then only a handful were conferred posthumously. It's possible Cushing was never recognized for his bravery because so many men valiantly lost their lives at Gettysburg or because so few Medals of Honor were awarded posthumously during the Civil War. Whatever the cause, Zerwekh believes Cushing is due.

"When Alonzo and his (three) brothers went off to the Navy and Army, their mother told them, 'Die my boys, but no dishonor.' That was probably one of the things he was thinking when he stood there at his last gun," said Zerwekh, who lives on property in Delafield once owned by Alonzo Cushing's father, Milton. Barbara Gruwell's father, Robert Cushing, who died this month at the age of 80, was part of the effort to recognize his ancestor. Gruwell, who is Alonzo Cushing's sixth cousin four times removed, was able to tell her father the good news before he died. "He was honored to know Alonzo had been recognized," said Gruwell, of Lodi.

Before Gettysburg, Cushing fought at Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville as well as the Battle of Bull Run. Historic accounts of the Gettysburg battle place Cushing and his men of Battery A, 4th U.S. Artillery near a small grove of trees in a confined spot known as "the Angle" because of a stone fence used by Union troops during the third day of the battle.

This was the area of Pickett's Charge. Before that desperate and ultimately disastrous gamble, Confederate artillery launched a ferocious bombardment that decimated Cushing's unit. When the Confederate cannonade stopped, Cushing had only two working cannons and a few soldiers left. Despite being told by his superiors to seek medical attention, Cushing refused to leave the front line or disband what remained of his battery. He had been wounded in the shoulder and was holding in his intestines with his hand after shrapnel ripped through his abdomen and groin.

Battery A moved the two remaining guns to the stone wall and blasted away at the charging Confederates. Cushing was seen firing one of the cannons into the mass of Pickett's soldiers as they drew close to the stone wall. A few seconds after he yelled "I will give them one more shot," Cushing was struck in the mouth by a bullet that killed him instantly.

The location of Pickett's Charge and the Angle are among the most heavily visited places by tourists and re-enactors journeying to Gettysburg. A stone marker dedicated to Cushing was erected at the site in 1887. It's still there, right next to two cannons. "Many of the stories that surround Alonzo Cushing may seem like tall tales, but they're steeped in fact of his bravery on the battlefield," said Kirsten Lee Villegas, executive director of the Waukesha County Historical Society, which has numerous documents relating to Cushing in its archives. Cushing is mentioned in the Civil War exhibit at the historical society, which was responsible for the Cushing monument in Delafield in 1915.

Shapiro, the creator of the Facebook page dedicated to Cushing, learned of the Wisconsin hero when his father took him to Civil War battlefields as a boy. He wrote papers on Cushing for high school and college classes and bought two small crossed cannon pins similar to those worn by artillerymen such as Cushing. On a visit to Cushing's grave at West Point more than a decade ago, Shapiro left one of the cannon pins on the headstone. The other pin he keeps close.

Shapiro is an Air Force C-130 pilot based at Little Rock Air Force Base. He recently returned from missions in support of Haitian earthquake victims and last year was deployed to Iraq, where he flew cargo and passengers throughout the war zone. He's expecting to be deployed overseas again later this year. Shapiro wears the artillery pin fastened to the underside of his hat. "Sometimes if I get in a situation I'm nervous about, I look at it and touch it and try to remember I have courage. I've never been in a situation anything close to what Alonzo did, but if you could be 22 years old and do what he did, I can certainly put up with anything," Shapiro said.

Bottom Image Caption: First Lt. Alonzo Cushing of Delafield (middle, standing) was among Union officers at Antietam in 1862. At Gettysburg the next year, a wounded Cushing refused to abandon his post and was killed. A group has been pushing to honor him.

Sources:
Portrait Image:Cushing's Battery
Medal Image: Medal of Honor
Text and Bottom Image: Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Online

Touring Gettysburg Battlefield--- Under The Feet of the Troops: The Geology of the Battlefield (and yes there are dinosaur footprints in the park)

Geology of the Gettysburg Battlefield: How Mesozoic Events and Processes Impacted American History, Roger J. Cuffey et al., Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, 16pp., bibliography, 2006. Downloadable PDF.

The Battle of Gettysburg in south-central Pennsylvania was the largest ever fought on American soil and one of the most significant in its consequences. Moreover, more clearly than most, it demonstrates the roles which underlying geology and surface topography can play in military actions. Early Mesozoic happenings produced the rocks underlying and shaping the Gettysburg landscape, which influenced the flow of the battle and thereby impacted the course of American history. Integration of the battlefield’s geological and military aspects, however, has not yet been adequately presented in concise field-guide format, and so doing that is the intent of the present article.

Inspired by Brown’s (1962) brief summary of the geology of the Gettysburg battlefield, the present co-authors recently wrote a lengthy guidebook and reissued it for a 2006 Geological Society of America Annual Meeting field trip. A shorter field guide was also needed for that trip that could be used by many other geologists afterwards; therefore, Cuffey condensed the long guidebook into the article here, assisted particularly by Inners and Fleeger, but drawing on all of the authors’contributions as well.

CWL: The tour consists of 13 stops with 17 sites. The contents of the report consists of a one page summary of the battle, a two page summary of the geology, a ten page tour descriptions with travel directions and stop descriptions. A bibliography and twenty charts, maps, and photographs is included. Seems perfect for an integrated social studies curriculum for home, private or public schools grades 8 and up. Study focuses: July 1 Railroad Cuts and McPherson's two stone quarries, Culp's Hill, the landscape of the Pickett/Pettigrew/Trimble Charge, The Peach Orchard, the view of South Mountain from the Longstreet Observation Tower, the course of Plum Run, Stoney Knoll/Houck's Ridge/Devil's Den, and the Round Tops.

Report and Tour Source: Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection

Image Source: Gettysburg Daily

New and Noteworthy-- Louisiana Tigers in The Gettysburg Campaign

The Louisiana Tigers in the Gettysburg Campaign, June-July 1863, Scott Mingus, Louisiana State University Press, 352 pages, 8 maps, notes, bibliography, index, $34.95

Certainly The Louisiana Tigers in the Gettysburg Campaign, June-July 1863 will be one of the highlights of both the Battle of Gettysburg and Civil War literature in 2009. Mingus' work advances both the history of the Louisiana Tigers and the history of the 1863 Pennsylvania Campaign. Reminiscent of the best brigade histories, such as Nolan's Iron Brigade, Roberston's Stonewall Brigade and Wert's dual history of the Stonewall and the Iron brigades, Mingus relies heavily on the soldiers' accounts of their travels and travails.

Wheat's Tigers, the predecessor of the Louisiana Tigers, is acknowledged in the first pages of the book. In 1861 Company B (The Tigers) of the 1st Louisiana Special Battalion took the nickname in New Orleans and fought in Wheat's Louisiana Battalion at the First Manassas. In the spring of 1862 the battalion was brigaded with the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th Louisiana regiments. This brigade became the First Louisiana Brigade (Louisiana Tigers) on the Peninsula when the battalion was decimated and Wheat killed.

One of the strengths of Mingus' book is that it balances the Pennsylvania campaign's history with the brigade's history. The author describes the campaign to the extent that the brigade is fully in context at all times. Mingus never gives the reader more than is needed regarding the campaign. Having read Trudeau's, Sears' or Coddington's campaign histories, a reader will have enough background information to enjoy The Louisiana Tigers in the Gettysburg Campaign.

In Mingus' book, the Louisiana Tigers never operate in a vacuum. When finishing the work, the reader will have a good understanding of the Tigers' opponents also. The march of the Tigers from Chancellorsville to the Potomac is succinctly covered. The Battle of Second Winchester is thoroughly described with Milroy and his weary Federal boys fully depicted. Mingus cites participants' recollection that of all the battles of the Army of Northern Virginia, Second Winchester was the best planned and executed of them all.

Mingus does not limit his account to the testimony of the Louisianians regarding themselves. The testimony of the civilian witnesses and the Federal soldiers who negotiated with and fought against the Tigers is regularly offered by Mingus. These primary sources are among the best descriptions in the book. The accounts of the Louisiana sharpshooter in the McCreary house, the death of the 8th Louisiana flag bearer whose canteen carried whiskey laced with gunpowder, the escape of a Louisiana deserter through a Rebel picket line on July 3, the lonely death of a sick and worn out campaigner in in the care of a Gettysburg doctor in an Adams County farm house are among the many anecdotes that lift The Louisiana Tigers in the Gettysburg Campaign, June-July 1863 above the plethora of Gettysburg books that appear every year.

CWL appreciates Mingus' attention to the calendar and the clock throughout the story. Another strength are the appendices: order of battle, official reports, casualties, weather, chronology. The eight maps show the advance of the brigade from the Mason Dixon line to York, Pennsylvania and then to Heidlersburg, Adams County. Unfortunately other maps showing the fighting on July 1 and 2, the street fighting of July 2 and 3, and the retreat routes are not offered. In particular the July 2nd assault path of the First Louisiana Brigade from Winebrenner's Run to the east slope of East Cemetery Hill needs a map. Owners of Trudeau's Gettysburg: A Testing of Courage will have sufficient maps. Also the McElfresh watercolor map with the crops and fence lines of East Cemetery Hill is very helpful. There are no photographs or illustrations in the book. Portraits of Harry T. Hays, the rank and file soldiers, or civilian structures though not necessary are always helpful to a reader.

Image: The Samuel McCreary House taken from Baltimore Street. Lefever Street (known at the time as Winebrenner Alley) is running from right to left. The fence has bullet holes in it. This view was taken facing southeast sometime in the morning circa 1890. This photograph was taken by William H. Tipton and is in the files of Gettysburg National Military Park.
Image Source: Gettysburg Daily

Novel---Seen the Glory: A Novel of The Battle of Gettysburg

Seen the Glory: A Novel of the Battle of Gettysburg, John Hough Jr., Simon & Schuster, 432 pp., $25.00.

Hough manages to balance a front rank story and and a home front story. Characters such as young soldiers from Martha's Vineyard Massachusetts, runaway slaves, and freedmen in Adams County Pennsylvania are well developed but at times seem to move to the dictates of the plot and not of their own will. Blending civilian and military history, Hough writes with a novelist's drive. Luke and Thomas Chandler enlist as privates in the 20th Massachusetts Regiment and leave their father with a black female servant who is assaulted by Vineyard roughs.

Exhaustion, hunger, illness are endured by the Chambers brothers whose relationship is strained due to a secret love affair with the black servant and visits to 'soiled doves' in Virginia. Generally accurate in most military details, Hough pushes the likely limits of accuracy in race relations, black resistance, and the Army of Northern Virginia in its Pennsylvania Campaign. Seen the Glory: A Novel of the Battle of Gettysburg is unlike Killer Angels. Shaara's work is more like Hemingway's (Old Man and the Sea), Foote's (Shiloh)and Crane's (Red Badge of Courage)naturalism and reticence of language. Hough's work is more effusive in descriptive language and more complex in using family and community relations.

Is Seen The Glory a novel of the Battle of Gettysburg. No. The climaxes occur at the battlefield and the battlefield park. What convinced CWL to make the purchase was not the backcover blurbs of James M. McPherson (blurb meister)or Scott Hartwig (well appreciated GNMP ranger) but Lee Smith a fine contemporary Southern author. Coming to it as a novel set in the Civil War, CWL finished Seen The Glory satisfied.

News---Spangler amd McAllister Farms' Tree Removal Reveals Rebels' Artillery Hell

Tree Cutting Resumes At Spangler’s Spring, Scot Andrew Pitzer, Gettysburg Times, July 10, 2009

When soldiers fought at the base of Culp’s Hill during the Battle of Gettysburg, there were no trees or shrubbery impeding the 1/4 of a mile between Spangler’s Spring and the Baltimore Pike. Today, that is no longer the case. The area is now covered with woodland and vegetation, disrupting the interpretive experience for battlefield visitors.

“You can’t identify the significance of this position with those trees,” said Gettysburg National Military Park historian John Heiser. That will chance soon, as the park continues its battlefield rehab program, sometime around July 15. Six acres of non-historic trees are scheduled to be cut in the Spangler’s Spring area of Culp’s Hill, restoring that land to its Civil War era appearance.

“I’ve been here almost 30 years now, and I’m always asked, is this how it looked in 1863?” said Heiser. “Hopefully, in a couple of months, we can say that about Spangler’s Spring. The goal is to open the vista back up to give visitors that historical view.” The project is part of a multi-year plan to transform the 6,000-acre Gettysburg Battlefield to its 1863 shape. Park records show that in 1863, there were 898 acres of battlefield woodland, compared to 1993, when 1,974 wooded acres covered the park.

“This is going to do wonders for the interpretive value of this area,” said Jim Johnson, GNMP Chief of Resource Planning. The park is now in its ninth year of the landscape rehab program, subsidized by federal funding. Overall, the program aims to remove 576 acres of trees, at a total cost of about $2.3 million. “We’re about halfway through our wood removal,” said Johnson. “We’re probably looking at another four more years.”

Culp’s Hill was a key strategic position during the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3 in 1863, hosting battle action on the second and third day of the clash. Confederate General George Steuart called the area “artillery hell,” because of its openness and lack of tree cover. Steuart’s brigade was pounded in that field, by Union cannon from nearby Powers Hill. “Now, you can’t understand why Steuart’s men called it artillery hell,” said Heiser. “Anyone who traversed across that field was an easy target. That area was completely open in 1863 — it’s just grown up over the years.”

When asked why the park waited 146 years to clear the Spangler’s Spring growth, Johnson replied: “Time, budget and money.” “It’s a major undertaking with expense,” Johnson added. Pennington Tree Company of Orrtanna was awarded a multi-year contract to perform the work in 2003, at a value of $569,675. Tree cutting is expected to begin in mid-July and continue through March 2010, depending on weather conditions. The park is also cutting trees in the area of East Cemetery Hill toward West Confederate Avenue, to open up that historic view-shed to tourists. “We have to do it when the ground is fairly dry or frozen, to minimize impact on the soil,” explained GNMP spokeswoman Katie Lawhon.

Additionally, park crews are prohibited from cutting trees during bird nesting season. Johnson said that birds are “mostly done nesting” now. The project includes planting new trees too, replacing the historic trees that are now missing. Johnson guessed that the planting would begin sometime in the fall, and conclude next spring. In the 146 years since the battle, hundreds of trees died near Spangler’s Spring from lead poisoning. “It’s another component of our General Management Plan, along with historic orchards,” Johnson said.

Witness trees, those present during the battle, are not cut, although Johnson doubts that any such trees are present in the six acres of land that separate Spangler’s Spring from the Baltimore Pike. The Baltimore Pike site, previously dubbed the Welcome Traveler Campground, was the Civil War era farm of James McAllister. The property was a privately owned camping area, until acquired by the Park Service in May 2009. Tree removal on that site is one stage of a three-phase project, including woodland to the south and west of nearby Spangler’s Spring, as well as trees on the eastern slope of Powers Hill.

CWL: Huzzah!!

Text and Image Source: Gettysburg Times, Caption: Jim Johnson, chief of resource planning

CWL---"... can never be whipped," Lewis Armistead, July 5 1863

"Trust In God and Fear Nothing": General Lewis A. Armistead, CSA, Wayne E. Motts, Farnsworth House Military, 5 photographs, 2 maps, notes, bibliography, 64 pages, 1994, $4.95.

Gettysburg, the 1993 film, had just followed James McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedomand Ken Burns' The Civil War when I got into reenacting with the Ninth Pennsylvania Reserves. Gettysburg Pennsylvania was a wonderland of book stores, reenactment supply vendors and art galleries. It was a time before ghosts and the Farnsworth House had a large gallery and bookstore. Now the gallery has vanished and half the bookstore is a seance room. Farnsworth house in 1993 began publishing monographs on the primary characters of the battle. "Trust In God and Fear Nothing": General Lewis A. Armistead, CSA was the first in a short series that included Buford, Pickett, Reynolds, and Meade. All were reasonably price at $4.95 and still are at the American History Store at the corner of Steinwehr Avenue and Baltimore Pike.

Wayne Motts, currently the director of the Adams County Historical Society, produced a clear, concise and well cited monograph on Lewis Armistead, brigade commander in Pickett's division. Not overloaded with tangential photographs and maps, Wayne Motts used the 64 pages to provide the relevant stories of Armistead's life, career and death. There is not pretense of chapters in this booklet; CWL frequently finds these days that booklets, such as the McWhiney Foundation's series, have nearly as much white space as narrative. Motts has covered in detail Armistead's lineage, childhood, unfinished West Point education, military experiences in the Seminole War, the Mexican War and the Civil War; each page is full and only the few photographs don't fill a complete page. CWL will note that typesetting and layout was markedly different back in the early 90s; thank you Adobe Acrobat. The 52 pages of text have 96 bibliographic notes, generally from primary sources.

The Battle of Gettysburg does not overwhelm Motts presentation of Armistead's career. His Mexican War experiences, the death of his wife, and his farewell to Hancock, are presented with the primary sources left by the participants and those present. Poignant but not overwrought is Mott's telling of Armistead's charge, wounding, and death a the Spangler Farm field hospital. Mott sticks very close to the sources which are sufficient in this instance. Indeed, Mott provides a fine, well edited example of historical scholarship that would serve an advanced high school student or an undergaduate well as a model of what historians do.

Bottom Two Photos: The George Spangler Farm which became the 11th Corps' field hospital at Gettysburg. In this summer kitchen Lewis Armistead died, more from exhaustion than his wounds, concludes Waynes Motts from an eyewitness account. In the summer of 2008, the Gettysburg Foundation bought the farm and the first rehabilitation occurred in April 2009. See the April 24 entry on Civil War Librarian for the event. (Photograph: Rea Andrew Redd, April 2009)

News: At Auction, Gettysburg's First Day Battlefield Gets No Bids; Banks Needs $7 Million

The following are three reports (January 9 post auction,, January 9 before auction, January 8).

Bank Retains Gettysburg Country Club, Evening Sun Oline, January 9, 2009

Susquehanna Banks will likely take steps to sell the 120-acre club, said Eugene Pepinsky, the bank's attorney. "Banks don't operate golf courses," he said. No bids were made on the 120-acre club, though several dozen people attended the auction.

Gettysburg Country Club Comes With Debt Hazard, Erin James, Evening Sun, January 9, 2009.

Whoever buys the Gettysburg Country Club today will be acquiring more than a nine-hole golf course. After falling into financial distress last year, the 60-year-old country club racked up a total of more than $3.6 million in debt. The debts range from tax liens to municipal liens to unpaid bank mortgages.

The 120-acre property is being auctioned off at a sheriff's sale this morning for a minimum of $2.9 million. "I suspect it will probably be in excess of that in order to get all the costs involved," said Deputy Michael Cook at the Adams County Sheriff's Office, which is facilitating the auction.

That's because the buyer will be responsible for all of the country club's outstanding expenses, meaning the country club could ultimately cost no less than $6.5 million. A large portion of the debts the Gettysburg Country Club has incurred likely stem from a significant renovation in 2006 that included the building of a conference room that seats 70, a ballroom that hosts 250 and a pub that holds 60.

Tennis courts, pools and other facilities were also added, and the members-only club reopened in spring 2007. For example, the club owes the Gettysburg Construction Company $45,120. That's pocket change, however, compared to the debt owed to Susquehanna Banks, which foreclosed on the property. Gettysburg Country Club owes the bank at least $2.9 million. Other debts include $48,784 to the IRS, $11,687 to the Cumberland Township

Authority, $26,661 to Sysco Food Services, $105,998 to Vend Lease Company, $217,890 to the Baltimore Savings Bank, $55,318 to C.E. Williams Sons, $58,977 to the Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company, $17,506 to the Gettysburg Municipal Authority and $85,658 to VGM Financial Services. Gettysburg Country Club is located within the boundaries of Gettysburg National Military Park and was the site of significant action during the Battle of Gettysburg.

Cook said the country club's buyer will need to provide 20 percent of the property's price at the auction and the balance within a few weeks. The auction is scheduled for 10 a.m. today at the Adams County Sheriff's Office.

Battlefield Not A Buyer For Country Club, Erin James, Evening Sun, January 8, 2009.

Bank retains Gettysburg Country ClubGettysburg Country club comes with debt hazard
For sale: A historic war zone, where some of the Battle of Gettysburg's "bloodiest" fighting took place. The 120-acre property comes complete with a nine-hole golf course, new clubhouse and a legacy rivaled only by the battlefield's more famous areas.

At least one party is interested in the Gettysburg Country Club, which after falling into financial distress last year will be auctioned off at 10 a.m. Friday at the Adams County Sheriff's Office. But Gettysburg National Military Park won't be placing any bids on the property.

Though it is within the park's Congressionally designated 6,000-acre boundary, Gettysburg Country Club is privately owned - which means the park has virtually no say over what the current or new owner does with the land. Park officials had been in discussions with owners of the Gettysburg Country Club, 730 Chambersburg Road, about purchasing a conservation easement on the property that would protect it from future development, park spokeswoman Katie Lawhon said.

But those conversations went nowhere, and the park abandoned its efforts to secure an easement through the property's current owners. Assuming that a third party purchases the Gettysburg Country Club Friday, Lawhon said the park would revisit the possibility of an easement.

"We would be interested in talking to new owners about it as well," she said. Because of its significance to the battle, the club's 120 acres are named a "high priority" on a list of potential land acquisitions compiled by the Park Service in 1993. "Quite a bit happened out there," said Scott Hartwig, supervisory historian at Gettysburg National Military Park.

On the morning of July 1, 1863, Union Brig. Gen. John Buford's cavalry moved across the area that is now the Gettysburg Country Club and dismounted on Herr's Ridge. Confederate infantry under Gen. Henry Heth drove Buford's cavalry off Herr's Ridge and back across the golf course property to McPherson's Ridge. Later in the day, in pursuit of Buford's retreating cavalry, 1,100 Confederate infantrymen under Gen. James Archer were advancing across golf course property when they were attacked by the famed Iron Brigade. "They were surprised because they didn't anticipate to run into any Union infantry," Hartwig said. It was there that Archer became the first Confederate general captured by Union forces since Robert E. Lee took command of the Army of Northern Virginia.

"Archer is probably captured near where some of the buildings associated with some of the country club are today," Hartwig said. By the late morning or early afternoon, the Iron Brigade fell back to a defensive position in Herbst Woods on the west bank of Willoughby Run, along McPherson's Ridge. Meanwhile, on the other side of the country club property, Confederate forces of Gen. Heth's division were forming a strong battle line in preparation for an afternoon attack.

What happened next bears similarities to the infamous Pickett's Charge attack that essentially annihilated Confederate forces in Gettysburg. "In a sense, this is the same thing on a much smaller scale," Hartwig said.

With some 3,000 men, Confederate Gen. James Pettigrew's North Carolina brigade advanced across the country club property and attacked the Iron Brigade. The North Carolinians came under heavy fire before they reached Willoughby Run, suffering heavy casualties on present country club property. They fought their way across the creek to ground that is now part of the national park and eventually drove the Iron Brigade back.

"That fighting there is man for man, probably the bloodiest fighting in the Battle of Gettysburg," Hartwig said. When the fighting was over, the Iron Brigade had lost 1,200 of 1,800 men. Pettigrew's brigade lost close to 1,100. Tomorrow's auction is open to the public. Susquehanna Banks, which foreclosed on the property, is asking for a minimum of $2.9 million.

Source for all text: Evening Sun newspaper

Source for Images: Gettysburg NMP

CWL---Who Saved Little Round Top?

They Saved The Union At Little Round Top: Gettysburg July 2, 1863, Ken Dicorfano, Thomas Publications, 128 pp., maps, b/w photographs, notes, index, bibliography, 2002, $11.95.

Ken Discorfano in this book expands the popular one word answer to the question 'Who Saved Little Round Top?' Chamberlain plays his part but Discorfano sets Chamberlain and the 20th Maine among the other generals, colonels, and enlisted men who were there that day. Of course, Brigadier General Warren's and Colone Vincent's actions are described; Colonel O'Rourke of the 140th New York plays a major part as does, Colonel Rice of the 44th New York, Private Oliver Norton who was Vincent's bugler,Color Sergeant Andrew Tozier of the 20th Maine, and even Lieutenant Colonel Norval Welch of the 16th Michigan a very small unit that was inadvertently withdrawn during the fight.

The author does not limit his story to the 20th Maine on Little Round Top. The 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters' stands on the Slyder Farm, Big Round Top and Plume Run is viewed a setting up the conditions for the Union success on Little Round Top. Company B is credited with drawing 15th and 44th Alabama regiments away from the assault on the west slope of Little Round Top and up onto Big Round Top. Discorfano speculates that the addition of the two Alabama assault to the Confederate on the 16th Michigan, 44th New York, and 83rd Pennsylvania of Vincent's Brigade may have forced the Federal troops of the little mountain. Discorfano describes Company F as troubling the left flank of the 4th Texas during its assault on the west slope of Little Round Top. Discorfano sees Companies A and E as drawing the 44th and 48th Alabama into an weakened assault on Devil's Den. The author also provide satisfactory evidence that the 15th Alabama's canteens were captured by Company B on the southwest slope of Big Round Top.

To his credit, Discorfano spends a significant amount of space describing the Confederate leadership, enlisted men and their movements as the Army of Northern Virgina attempts to wrestle the Round Tops from the Federal weak grip. Throughout the book, Discorfano supplies primary sources witness' accounts of combat. The maps have a degree of precision and clarity that always mark the work of NPS Ranger John Heiser. The author refreshingly adds antebellum and postbellum descriptions of the major characters and their wives. O'Rourke's wife became a nun; Vincent's child born two months after the battle dies before its first birthday; Tozier marries after the war and he and his wife become domestic servants in Maine. In the final chapter Discorfano summarizes answers to questions such as 'Where did Vincent Fall?', 'Did Welch's 16th Michigan run or retreat in good order?' and 'Why didn't the 15th Alabama get a monument on Little Round Top?' among several other issues.
A quibble: a brief discussion of the monuments on the Round Tops, the Slyder Farm and Plum Run would have been helpful. A slight quibble: John Chamberlain in the text is stated as being a member of the Sanitary Commission and in his picture's caption he stated as being in the Christian Commission. The picture caption is correct.

For CWL They Saved The Union At Little Round Top: Gettysburg July 2, 1863, is essential for both the Gettysburg buff and the Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide exam. A 2008 exam question: What regiment was on the right flank of the 15th Alabama during its assault on Little Round Top? Answer: 47th Alabama. A 2006 exam question: How many monuments does the 20th Maine have on the battlefield and where are the location(s)? Answer: There is one monument on each of the Round Tops.

CWL---Pettigrew and His Men At Gettysburg

James Johnston Pettigrew and His Men at Gettysburg: The Most Promising Young Man of the South, Clyde N. Wilson, McWhiney Publications, 96pp, maps, photographs, 1998, index, selected bibliography,appendix, $12.95.

"How I got the nerve to write about Gettysburg . . . I don't know except that my good friend . . . made me do it," the author states in a note at the end of the book. CWL read the note before starting the book and though 'woops, oh no'. Though quickly gleaning the pre-war career of Pettigrew from the book, CWL found that the first 40 pages had been read and there were only 36 more pages to go. Possibly the publisher should have dropped the words 'at Gettysburg' from the title.

Wilson, author of Carolina Cavalier: The Life and Mind of James Johnston Pettigrew, adequate condenses Pettigrew's ante-bellum career and supports the reference in the book's title to Pettigrew being among the South's best and brightest young generals. Would that Wilson would have devoted at least another 50 pages to his brigade and his division at Gettysburg. Instead, the book uses 12 pages to cover 1861 to June 29, 1863 and 25 pages from June 30 to July 17. With wide margins, chapters' first paragraphs starting in the middle of the page, and some final pages in chapters having only three lines of text on them, the book has as many as 8 blanks pages which is 10% of the pages in the text portion of the book. The introduction starts on page 13!

The text has no notes so readers can only guess where professor Wilson found his information. With the amount of scholarship, even previous to 1998 when the book was published, available on first and third days of the Battle of Gettysburg, CWL wonders why some of the white space in the book was not devoted to text. This reader came away with information and insight on Pettigrew from the book but became disenchanted with it due to the meager information on Pettigrew and his men at Gettysburg. CWL would recommend this book as background reading for high school Advanced Placement U.S. History students but buffs and LBG exam students should invest the two hours it takes to read this book by reading portions of Larry Tagg's Generals of Gettysburg and Bradley Gottfried's Brigades of Gettysburg.

Image Source: McWhiney Publications

Key Moments & Commanders at Gettyburg, January-March 2009

Key Moments and Commanders of the Gettysburg Campaign, Gettysburg National Military Park, Museum and Visitor Center, Saturdays and Sundays, 1:30p, January thourgh mid-March, 2009

Saturday, January 10
Key Moments: Longstreet Tries to Flank the Round Tops on July 3 – Troy Harman

Sunday, January 11
Commanders: General Alexander Hays and the Repulse of Longstreet's Assault - Karlton Smith

Saturday, January 17
Commanders: Alexander Webb, Norman Hall, & Alonzo Cushing: Profiles of Successful Leaders – D. Scott Hartwig

Saturday, January 24
Commanders: Daniel Sickles: The Colorful and Controversial Commander of Gettysburg -- Matt Atkinson

Sunday, January 25
Key Moments: "A Final Resting Place:” The Establishment of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery -- Eric A. Campbell

Saturday, January 31
Commanders: Strong Vincent and the Battle for Little Round Top – Tom Holbrook

Saturday, February 7
Key Moments: Crisis at the Union Center – The Second Corps Front on July 2 - John Heiser

Sunday, February 8
Key Moments: "We drop a comrade’s tears" The 2nd New Hampshire at the Peach Orchard – Karlton Smith

Saturday, February 14
Commanders: Opportunity, Possibility, and Liability: Lee, E. P. Alexander, William Pendleton and the Great Cannonade of July 3 – Bert Barnett

Sunday, February 15
Commanders: “Day was now breaking and it was too late for any change of place;” Richard Ewell, Cemetery Hill & Memory - Angie Atkinson

Saturday, February 21
Key Moments: “Take that hill if practicable” – Cemetery Hill and the End of the First Day’s Battle -- Tom Holbrook

Sunday, February 22
Commanders: July 1, 1863 – Surprise or Surmise – Bill Hewitt

Saturday, February 28
Key Moments: The 1st Minnesota Infantry on July 2 – Matt Atkinson

Sunday, March 1
Commanders: From “Forever Free” to “A New Birth of Freedom:” Abraham Lincoln in 1863" – Eric A. Campbell

Saturday, March 7
Key Moments: “I Have Never Seen the Like Before” - The July 1 Battle for Herbst Woods - D. Scott Hartwig

Sunday, March 8
Commanders: "Much oppressed with a sense of responsibility:" George G. Meade Takes Command of the Army of the Potomac – Charles Teague

Saturday, March 14
Commanders: Did Meade Begin a Counteroffensive after Pickett's Charge? - Troy Harman

Sunday, March 15
Key Moments: Hancock Takes Command – July 1 – Angie Atkinson

Image Source: Gettysburg365 is among the very best photographers of the battlefield

CWL---Gettysburg Battlewalks: The 13th Vermont on July 3rd at Gettysburg

The 13th Vermont Infantry: Gettysburg Battlewalks, Scott Hartwig and the Mifflin Gaurd, Pennsylvania Cable Network, dvd, 70 minutes, 2004.

Gettysburg National Park Ranger Scott Hartwig conducts the movements of the Mifflin Guard, a Civil War reenactment unit, in the footsteps of the 13th Vermont Infantry. On July 3rd,the 13th and 16th Vermont Infantry units flanked Kemper's Brigade as to marched from the Spangler Farm, through the Cordori Farm and to the Copse of Trees at the Angle. The ranger, about 200 members of the reenactment unit and about 200 park visitors, proceed from the Vermont Brigade monument and march toward the Cordori Farm buildings and then wheel right by companies and march toward the Copse of trees.

Hartwig begins his presentation with the 4:30a Union artillery assault on the Confederates ensconced on lower Culp's Hill and the ensuing battle until 11:00a. Longstreet's troops depositions during the dawn hours are presented in light of Lee's visit to Longstreet and his dismissal of Longstreet's suggestion to move the Confederate First Corps further to the right. The Grand Assault is briefly presented by Hartwig with special attention to Kemper's Brigade.

He describes the Vermont Brigade and in particular the 13th Vermont, nine month volunteers whose only battle was Gettysburg. Hartwig relies on the words of the men of the 13th Vermont as found in letters and post-war memoirs. He imparts a sense of immediacy during the tour as the words of the soldiers are presented in the footsteps of the soldiers. The 13th Vermont was much larger than most Union Regiments on the field; the regiments 650 soldiers made it twice the size of the majority of the Federal fighting units.

This particular Battlewalk relies heavily on the the tactical movements and manual of arms that are reenacted by the Mifflin Gaurd. For those viewers who are familar with the fields covered by the Vermont Brigade, the reenactment unit's size with the addition of the park visitors, accurately show movements of a regiment. Hartwig has both the reenactors and the park visitors lie down behind the breastwork that was built by the 13th Vermont on the Cordori Knoll, then rise up, march forward and deliver several volleys toward the Cordori Farm. Overall, this Gettysburg Battlewalk is consistently interesting for the information it gives, the tactical movements that are shown, and the visuals of having a nearly accurately-sized Federal regiment in the right spot at the right time to repel The Grand Assault.

CWL---New: Gettysburg Companion, A Gem With Flaws

The Gettysburg Companion: A Guide to the Most Famous Battle of the Civil War, Mark Adkin, 544 pages, Stackpole Books, $69.95.

Scott Hartwig, supervisory historian of Gettysburg National Military Park, states on the front inside flap of the cover, that "This is the Gettysburg book that students and aficionados of the battle have dreamed about . . . . The Gettysburg Campanion is quite absolute gem." So it appears but CWL sees that many of the books strengths are also its weaknesses.

Open the book at page 429: There is a nice modern color photograph taken six feet above the ground of the terrain over which 'Kershaw's Brigade Attacks From the Millerstown Road'. The Millerstown Road is on the horizon not the foreground or so it appears from the title of the photograph. On the photograph are the key sites: Rose Farm and Biesecker's Woods in the distance; three orange arrows flow from the horizon and over the ground showing the path of Confederate troops towards the photographer. The photograph looks sharp and the graphics are crisp. The problem is that the author does not show on a map the position on the battlefield where the photographer stood. Though in the caption a description is given regarding the the photographer's position as being from the position of Bigelow's battery. If that is the case and it does appear so, then the title of the photograph is wrong. Kemper does not attack from the Millerstown (Wheatfield) Road but towards the Millerstown Road.

Now turn to panorama photographs on page 434 and 435. 'The View from Bigelow's Final Battery Position Looking Toward the Rebel Attack'. In this case the title matches the position of the photographer and the movement of the Confederate troops. CWL sees that Akins should have asked Stackpole Publishing for a few sharp-eyed, licensed battlefield guides to actually read everything in the book.

Adkin has invested a major effort into The Gettysburg Companion but he leaves CWL grasping in vain for explicit guideposts for the sources he consulted. CWL also has complaints that the citations are inadequate for convenient source checking. The bibliography of consulted sources is too small to substantiate the immense amount of material the author discusses. This leads CWL to consider the charges which J.D. Petruzzi levels in his Amazon.com review and his remarks on online The Gettysburg Discussion Group forum against Gettysburg Companion; specific quotations were used from diary and letter sources that can be found only in others scholarship. Also, Petruzzi states that the William Frassinito, acknowledged as the expert on Gettysburg photography, quickly found misidentified illustrations.

It appears that Adkin is a subscriber to both North and South Magazine and Gettysburg Magazine. In the acknowledgments, Adkin thanks Tom Desjardins and the Friends of the National Parks at Gettysburg for allowing him to use their map as a base from which he adds enhancements. Yet it appears that some information is taken from North and South Magazine and Gettysburg Magazine without attribution. As enjoyable as The Gettysburg Companion can be, CWL winces at the lapse of acknowledgement by Adkin of the many, many historians who have mined primary sources and published their work with bibliographic citations. If Gettysburg Companion is intended to be a coffee table book which looks nice on display and a satisfying book through which to browse, then the meager citations are not an issue. But if Adkin hoped his work would stand alongside the work of scholars, then the Gettysburg Companion will not be on the bookshelf but stay on the coffee table.

New In October From Savas Beatie---The Iron Brigade at Gettysburg

Those Damned Black Hats! The Iron Brigade in the Gettysburg Campaign, Lance Herdegen, Savas Beatie Publishing, $32.95.

The Iron Brigade--an all-Western outfit famously branded as The Iron Brigade of the West--served out their enlistments entirely in the Eastern Theater. Hardy men were these soldiers from Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michigan, who waged war beneath their unique black Hardee Hats on many fields, from Brawner's Farm during the Second Bull Run Campaign all the way to Appomattox. In between were memorable combats at South Mountain, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Mine Run, the Overland Campaign, and the grueling fighting around Petersburg. None of these battles compared with the "four long hours" of July 1, 1863, at Gettysburg, where the Iron Brigade was all but wrecked.

Lance Herdegen's Those Damned Black Hats! The Iron Brigade in the Gettysburg Campaign is the first book-length account of their remarkable experiences in Pennsylvania during that fateful summer of 1863. Drawing upon a wealth of sources, including dozens of previously unpublished or unused accounts, Herdegen details for the first time the exploits of the 2nd, 6th, 7th Wisconsin, 19th Indiana, and 24th Michigan regiments during the entire campaign. On July 1, the Western troops stood line-to-line and often face-to-face with their Confederate adversaries, who later referred to them as "those damned Black Hats." With the help of other stalwart comrades, the Hoosiers, Badgers, and Wolverines shed copious amounts of blood to save the Army of the Potomac's defensive position west of town. Their heroics above Willoughby Run, along the Chambersburg Pike, and at the Railroad Cut helped define the opposing lines for the rest of the battle and, perhaps, won the battle that helped preserve the Union.

Herdegen's account is much more than a battle study. The story of the fighting at the "Bloody Railroad Cut" is well known, but the attack and defense of McPherson's Ridge, the final stand at Seminary Ridge, the occupation of Culp's Hill, and the final pursuit of the Confederate Army has never been explored in sufficient depth or with such story telling ability. Herdegen completes the journey of the Black Hats with an account of the reconciliation at the 50th Anniversary Reunion and the Iron Brigade's place in Civil War history.

"Where has the firmness of the Iron Brigade at Gettysburg been surpassed in history?" asked Rufus Dawes of the 6th Wisconsin. Indeed, it was a fair question. The brigade marched to Gettysburg with 1,883 men in ranks and by nightfall on July 1, only 671 men were still to be counted. It would fight on to the end of the Civil War, and do so without its all-Western makeup, but never again was it a major force in battle.

Some 150 years after the last member of the Iron Brigade laid down his life for his country, the complete story of what the Black Hats did at Gettysburg and how they remembered it is finally available.

Text From Publisher.

CWL: Certainly, one of the keys to understanding the battle is what exactly did happen on the first day that caused Lee to commit to fighting at Gettysburg on the second day. Gallagher gets at this issue in his The First Day at Gettysburg: Essays on Confederate and Union Leadership. The stand of the Iron Brigade was underestimated by Confederate commanders. In the many tales of Yankee valor at Gettysburg, the Iron Brigades' July 1 combat story is probably among the top five turning points for the Union Army in the battle.

Publisher's Update---Savas Beatties' Gettysburg Encyclopedia In Two Years

The Gettysburg Encyclopedia, Ted Savas and Bradley Gottfried, editors, Savas Beattie Publishing.

Text from Publisher:
Nearly three years ago we revealed that author Brad Gottfried (Maps of Gettysburg and a host of other Gettysburg-related titles) and I had begun work on a large single-volume Gettysburg encyclopedia. We receive a steady stream of emails and calls asking about the status of this project. Here is a brief update . . .

We are both happy to announce that content-wise, the volume is about 85% complete. Scores of contributors from all walks of life (from licensed Gettysburg battlefield guides to college professors, from freelance writers to amateur historians who have amassed immense knowledge on particular slices of the Gettysburg story) are being edited now, or are ready to go. I believe Brad is still seeking contributors for a few remaining entries. We would like to complete this aspect of pre-production by January 1, 2009. (That might be a bit optimistic.)

We anticipate this single volume will run about 800 pages (including lots of original maps) in a 7 x 10 hardcover double-column format. We have not yet determined a retail price. The date of publication has not been set, but we are hoping for June 2010. In the near future we will republish the Gettysburg Encyclopedia web page, and include a list of the individual entries, a brief bio of each contributor, excerpts, and much more. If there is something in particular you would like to see on this web page, please send us an email and let us know.

One of the issues we will be dealing with is whether to sell this title into the main book trade (chains, Amazon, etc.) or make it available only through Savas Beatie. Your thoughts on this are also welcome. As always, we look forward to any suggestions you have that might make this project a better book. It is a true (and expensive) labor of love, and we want it to stand the test of time and functionality.

Source: The Savas Beattie Publishing Newsletter, July 22, 2008

News---Preservation: Blood On A Battlefield Farm

In the autumn of 2006 The Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association received an unusual donation: the services of Detective Lt. Nicholas A. Paonessa and a Rofin Polilight 500. The Niagara Falls, NY policeman worked the scene of a Confederate hospital located on the Daniel Lady farm located on the Hanover Pike east of Gettysburg.

Twice September and November Paomessa investigated the 180 year old farmstead which is owned by the GBPA. In the parlor of the farm's stone house, Paonessa located the device's blue light and found blood stains. The shape of a body, from the knees up to the head was found on the floor to the wall. A small framed man had sat there bleeding; he left four bloody finger prints on the floor beside his hip. In the other half of the parlor, there were enough blood stains for Kathi Shue, president of the GBPA, to believe that it was used as a surgery. The blood appears to have channeled the the floor boards' joints and dripped into the basement. There is the possibility that a blood sample could be removed from between the floorboards and its DNA studied. Even at some point a descendant could be found. Previously, Paonessa had worked in the Schriver house on Baltimore Street; he confirmed the possibility that Confederate sharpshooters died in the home's attic.

In the spring of 2007, CWL spent a day on the Lady Farm with Kathi Shue and friends of the GBPA. Not only has the house and barn been preserved but a careful examination of the pastures and woods reveal Confederate artillery redoubts and infantry encampments. The GBPA researchers conclude that the redoubts were constructed during the afternoon July 3rd and the morning of July 4th; there was an expectation of a Federal counter assualt after the repulses of Ewell's divisions at Culp's Hills and Longstreets divisions at Cemetery Ridge.

Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association reports on its www site:

The GBPA was founded in 1959 as the first public/private partnership at Gettysburg. Over the years, the GBPA played a continuous role in purchasing endangered battlefield land. Such properties, like the Meals farm, Timbers farm, Wolf farm, Taney farm, the Colgrove tract, the Willoughby Run tract, the East Cavalry field tract, and other parcels have been saved from urban development and commercialism. President Eisenhower was among the early members who was concerned about this historic shrine. The General stated, "I am emphatic in my approval of what the GBPA is doing ... the battlefield should be preserved as a remembrance of the sacrifices made by men who fought for the things in which they believed." Today, the all volunteer Board and membership continues this preservation legacy. However, public support is yet needed.

Founders set the goals: conserve the historic battlefield, preserve the monuments, educate the public. For forty years, the GBPA has continuously worked to protect the battlefield from moden development. The site of the decisive battle should be preserved for future generations, so that they can understand the sacrifices made by common men and women for freedom's sake. The greatest number of monuments in the world on a battlefield were erected at Gettysburg. These "icons of freedom" commemorate the heroic deeds of the soldiers. By lectures, publications, seminars, and living history programs, the GBPA is informing the public of our unique American heritage.

Online Album---The Art of William Bretzger

For those who appreciate the art of photography, William Bretzger has posted his work at http://gettysburg365.blogspot.com/

There are many who take pictures of Gettysburg and there are the few whose photographs become art. Chris Heisey's photographs come to CWL's mind as an example ones that should be framed and hung in a gallery. William Bretzger's online album achieves that level also. At some point, when you are walking the streets of downtown Gettysburg and your eye is skimming over the original art displayed in the windows of retail stores, you may find yourself stopping for a more concentrated focus on a photograph. William Bretzger's photographs have an evocative clarity that startles the viewer. The outdoor sculpture of Gettysburg can be overly familiar; Bretzger's work opens the viewer's imagination. Sunlight, colors, shadows and perspective blend to tell a new story.

The website, Gettysburg365, is updated weekly and has only Gettysburg photographs displayed. Bretzger, CWL suspects, lives close enough to the battlefield that dawn, full sun, twilight, clouds, snow, and rain are on his photographic palette; his wwwsite has a variety that others don't have. His art is copyrighted; CWL hopes that it will be for sale at some point.