Hide Article Text (OCR)
View from Little Round TopThe first three days of July 1863 would find this small rural section of Pennsylvania transformed into the site of the bloodiest battle of the war. over 51.000 casualties, that split the nation apart. The terrified inhabitants of this crossroad's town were the only northerners to feel the impact of an enormous battle fought on their land.Today Gettysburg still bears the marks of the past: Can* non shots imbedded in the walls of homes and buildings: monuments to the soldiers who fought in their streets Abraham Lincoln's few appropriate remarks at the Soldiers' National Cemetery, as it was designated, would be the most famous address of his life Immediately after the battle, several local men launched an idea that would eventually result in the park we know today.David Wills, a local lawyer, was responsible for bringing Andrew Curtin. Governor of Pennsylvania, to Gettysburg to witness the horrors of the battlefield. Later in July. Wills submitted to the Governor a plan for the establishment of a National Cemetery as a final resting place for the Union dead. He then contacted Governors from other northern slates who applauded the work, all pledging financial support. Land was purchased for the cemetery-, and title was made to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. A congressional resolution passed several years later, in 1870. transferred Gettysburg's National Cemetery from the state to the federal governmentAnother Gettysburg attorney. David McConaughy. who unsuccessfully fought to incorporate the Union dead into the existing Evergreen Cemetery played a more important role in preserving portions of the battlefield. Using his own funds McConaughy purchased: McKnight's Hill i Stevens KnoH : Raffensberger's Hill lt;East Cemetery Hill i: part of Culp's Hill: west face of Little Round Top: part of Big Round Top. McConaughy and other leading citizens raised the concept of memorializing the battleground, and in April. 1864 they persuaded the Pennsylvania Legislature to incorporate the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association.The organization would hold and preserve the battlegrounds of Gettysburg with the natural and artificial defenses. as they were at the time of the said battle, and by such perpetuation, and such memorial structures as a generous and patriotic people may aid to erect, to commemorate the heroic deeds, the struggles and the triumphs of their brave defenders.” Veterans' groups would erect memorial structures to mark their presence at Gettysburg in the years following the battle. A marble marker on Little Round Top. placed to designate the area where Union Colonel Strong Vincent fatally fell on the second day of the battle, was among the first of today's 1.320 monuments and markers which grace this field of warThe w ork of the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association would eventually culminate in the establishment of a National Park to preserve the historic battlefield On February 11. 1895. President Grover Cleveland signed H.R. 8096. the act establishing Gettysburg National Military- Park, which would be administered by the War Department.The park saw many developments in the next 88 years: Two major reunions of the surviving veterans: Supreme Court decision to allow the condemnation of land to preserve historic sites; training and staging area for the United States Army, civilian work's project site in the depression years, even a prisoner of w ar camp during World War II. This year the National Park Service celebrates its 50th year of administering the great battlegroundPark Ranger Ravmond W Morns
Newspaper Details
Gettysburg Times
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, US
Tue, Mar 29, 1983
Page 10
Full Page
Clipped by
Sara B.
NA, 10 Feb 2022
Other Publications Near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Gettysburg Times
Gettysburg Star and Republican Banner
Republican Banner
Gettysburg Gazette
Gettysburg Compiler
