Gettysburg: Remembrance, Collective Memory, and the Space-Time Continuum

Please forgive your host for veering off of home turf, but allow me to take you on a field trip.
As I write, Gettysburg’s Remembrance Day is fast approaching, and with it the one hundred and forty-eighth anniversary of the Gettysburg Address. On the day it was delivered, November 19, 1863, it fell short for many who personally witnessed Lincoln’s presentation. It had been eclipsed by the oration of Edward Everett which went on for over two hours. Lincoln’s remarks came in at a little over two minutes, yet have become one of America’s masterpieces of ceremonial speeches.

Gettysburg itself became an immediate Mecca for memorializing, the dead and the living, almost as soon as the guns fell silent on July 3, 1863. Within twenty-five years of the battle, veteran organizations had begun dotting the landscape with what have now become approximately 1328 markers, monuments and memorials. Millions of visitors continue to make the pilgrimage each year, to walk the fields and climb the hills where over 35,000 men fell killed or wounded. Over eleven thousand more were captured or reported missing.

The Borough of Gettysburg, and the surrounding landscape, continues to evolve as man and nature make their impressions. The town has transformed into a tourist destination with all the trappings, both good and bad that come with that industry. One’s attitude towards that evolution can see it as inevitable or intrusive. Life must go on for those that make Gettysburg their home, and debates of appropriateness follow every step.

Baltimore Street in Gettysburg, as the procession makes its way

to the National Cemetery Dedication site. November 19, 1863.

The same view in March of 2009.

Out on the battlefield, the explorations of the annual visitors create numerous concerns for the caretakers of the site, the National Park Service. Erosion of the soil from constant foot traffic wears away at popular tour stops. Even the giant, diabase boulders of Little Round Top and Devil’s Den show the effects of time.

Visitors to Devil's Den -1909, from my personal collection

My wife and I emulate their experience - 2006

A veteran of the Federal Sixth Corps and his family, also visiting

Devil's Den. From my personal collection.

I attempt to walk in his footsteps, but will never fill his shoes.

November 2006, my wife and I emulate the countless visiting

veterans and their families who came to Gettysburg in November 1863,

and throughout the years, until none remained to return.

My personal journeys to Gettysburg began in the summer of 1969 with what became for many years a family tradition over the 4th of July holiday, my mother’s birthday. Throughout my childhood there grew many more excuses to visit the battlefield, supplemented by my own excursions as I became a freewheeling young adult. Now, at fifty, I continue my over forty year relationship with the most famous site of our nation’s defining struggle. I reflect on my own experiences, and those who have gone before me. I have watched many changes over the years, improvements and disappointments. It has become a place not only of national significance, but also a place of my own fond memories. Gettysburg is, as photo historian William Frassanito so aptly titled his first book, “A Journey In Time”.

In Review - Looking at This Blog's Five Most Popular Posts, Thus Far

From time to time we can all benefit from reflecting on what we have done with ourselves up to our present condition. How have we come to where we are today? Unfortunately, most of our personal life experiences do not have solid analytical data to reflect upon. Hosts of blogs such as this do however, have statistics available we can review to judge our performance as publishers so to speak. In looking back over the statistical history of this blog, I can determine what the most popular posts have been and examine the Internet traffic that brought my visitors to the site. This can help to shape future postings, by having an idea of what my audience seems to find interesting. That's my job, and in the next twelve months we shall see how that shakes out. I hope my current and future audience will find it beneficial.

The following are the current, five most viewed postings at Spotsylvania Civil War Blog, with most views happening within the past year as our traffic has increased with growing exposure and popularity of the overall subject. This first year of the Civil War Sesquicentennial Commemoration has been a large factor in our growing popularity. Overall traffic to Civil War sites on the Internet has grown and referrals from other blogs and websites has increased exponentially.

1. Related Lands - Andersonville Prison, Macon and Sumter Counties, Georgia: Posted Oct. 9, 2010


2. Placing Some of the Dead at Widow Alsop's: Posted March 24, 2011 


3. Grave Torn Open In Freak Storm - Fredericksburg, July 16: Posted July 20, 2010


4. Gross! What Are They Doing? Latrine at the Fredericksburg Power Canal? A Not So Pleasant       Consideration: Posted July 1, 2011
 
5. Is This The Widow Susan Alsop? A treasure from the attic: Posted April 5, 2011

I hope my longtime viewers, and new visitors, will enjoy this look back. Thank you for stopping in.

Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

Spotsylvania's Homegrown, 23rd USCT, Attends 96th Annual ASALH Meeting in Richmond, VA

The reorganized 23rd Regiment of United States Colored Troops were proud participants October 5, at the 96th Annual Meeting of the Association For The Study Of African American Life and History (ASALH). This year's meeting agenda was based on the theme of African Americans and the Civil War. The five day gathering consists of panel and paper sessions, receptions and tours of the area battlefields and historic sites. Visit their website by clicking here, for more information on the conference.

Members of the 23rd USCT, Steward Henderson and Kevin Williams assisted in the unveiling of commemorative art prints by artist Charles Bibbs. Seen here are at left, James Stewart, President of ASALH; Steward Henderson; Kevin Williams; Sylvia Y. Cyrus, Executive Director of ASALH; and artist Charles Bibbs.

One of the earlier panel discussions featured from left, Kate Clifford Larson of Simmons College and a biographer of Harriet Tubman; John W. Franklin of the National Museum of African American History & Culture; Robert Stanton, Senior Advisor to the Secretary of the Interior; Alan Spears, of the National Parks Conservation Association; and Barbara Tagger, of the National Park Service.

 Also in attendance were members of the 3rd USCT and the 54th Massachusetts Infantry regiments.

Later in the evening, the re-enactors provided living history demonstrations for attendees during a special tour of the American Civil War Center and Historic Tredegar Iron Works. The modern Richmond skyline contrasts starkly against the historic cultural landscape.

"The Angel of Maryre's Heights" Plays to Family Weekend Crowd at the University of Mary Washington

A year after its official release in July of 2010, the short documentary, The Angel of Marye's Heights continues to draw appreciative audiences at screenings across the country. This past weekend, on September 24, the University of Mary Washington offered two showings as part of the annual Family Weekend event on the campus. Current students, family members, and alumni gathered to share the rich history and life that is UMW. For the Angel film, this was the second year as an offering, this time held at the Jepson Alumni Center, across from Brompton, the home of University President Richard Hurley, and a historic treasure itself, having endured two Civil War battles in 1862 and 1863. Below Brompton, along the Sunken Road, stands the monument to Richard Kirkland, the legendary subject of the film.

Storyteller Megan Hicks and historian John Cummings

introduced the documentary in the Jepson Alumni Center Ballroom.

Photo by James Anderson

The first of two audiences at the Jepson Alumni Center.

Photo by James Anderson

President of the UMW, Richard V. Hurley and his wife, were presented

a copy of the documentary at their home Brompton, after the public viewings.

 Left to right, James Anderson, treasurer of Friends of the Fredericksburg Area

Battlefields, President Hurley and his wife Rose, and John Cummings, chair of

Friends of the Fredericksburg Area Battlefields.

Photo by kind assistance of Abbie McGhee, UMW staff.

Click here to visit the movie website for more information and ordering.

Blog host, John Cummings, filmed at the Civil War Life Museum, provides

commentary throughout the documentary, along with other historians.

Clint Ross, Michael Aubrecht and crew, shown during filming in Fredericksburg.

Photo by Mike Morones, The Free Lance-Star

Storyteller Megan Hicks provided a special dimension to the film.

She is seen here at the Stone Wall, with the Kirkland Memorial behind.

23rd USCT Reborn Where It Came To Glory, in Spotsylvania County

As announced earlier this year here, the 23rd Regiment of the United States Colored Troops is actively reforming for Sesquicentennial commemorative events. It is with great pride that the reformed unit derives from Spotsylvania County, home to many of the historic regiment's rank and file, as well as the location of its first battle with the Army of Northern Virginia, on May 15, 1864.

This weekend, September 17 and 18, the 23rd Regiment will be on hand at the annual "Yankees In Falmouth" event, details of which can be found at the link provided here.

We hope to meet some potential recruits, and share our story with the public.

Some members of the 23rd gathered at the John J. Wright Museum on

September 8, 2011 for that facility's First Anniversary Event.

Left to right are Hashmel Turner, James Anderson, Steward Henderson,

Kevin Williams, and Jimmy Price. Your humble host of this blog

attempts to get in the scene below. Facebook anyone? LOL.

At the 23rd's first public presentation seen below, during the Spotsylvania County battle re-enactment in May 2011, members present invited a unit of Confederate cavalrymen to join in an historic photo op.

It was Confederate cavalry under command of General Rosser with which the 23rd USCT first engaged in battle around 12:30 PM, May 15, 1864. A detailed account of that engagement can be found here, written by National Park Service historian, Noel Harrison.

Photo by James Anderson.

Irene's Effects Temporarily Closed Spotsylvania Unit For Clean Up. Site Reopened August 30.

The Spotsylvania Unit of the F&SNMP temporarily closed during clean up of storm damage from the heavy winds and rain brought in the wake of hurricane Irene on Saturday, August 27. Damage was fortunately limited, and consisted primarily of road obstructions from fallen limbs and debris.

A drive through the park late on Tuesday, along with a pedestrian survey along the Bloody Angle, showed no adverse effects from the thorough soaking the region received over the weekend. 

Cannon at Spotsylvania as rain sets in on Saturday, August 27, 2011, around 12:30 PM.

The park closed later that afternoon at 3:00 PM.

View looks north west from Anderson Drive, inside the Mule Shoe Salient.

The Fitzhugh Mansion - Sherwood Forest - In and Out, June 2008

On Friday August 19, our friends at the National Park Service conducted a tour of the grounds of the Fitzhugh Mansion in Stafford County. Known as "Sherwood Forest", the estate is now awaiting its fate at the hands of the current owner, a large development firm with plans of building a mixed-use subdivision. Whether the mansion will find its way into the plans as a restored relic of our regional heritage or succumb to the bulldozers is something we will have to see. The site was recently included in Preserve Virginia's list of most endangered sites. The history of the estate, and an account of the NPS conducted tour, can be found by clicking this link and this link. The house had sat unoccupied for many years and was last used as apartments for local college students.

In June of 2008, I had the opportunity to visit the mansion during a building stabilization project. The former owners had contracted with Spear Builders to tackle the job.

The west front of the main house, looking northeast, early in the project.

The north end of the main house, looking southeast from

the kitchen building. The attached porch seen here was

later removed. It probably dated to the 1920s. A servant

entrance can be seen at the extreme left of the wall.

The rear or east face of the main house, looking southwest, before

removal of rampant vegetation along a garden pathway.

Some months later, the same approximate view as seen above.

The central entrance hall, looking northeast from the front doorway.

Continuing down the hall, this is the furthest entry to the south end room

on the main floor. This view is looking toward the east.

Turning to the right, this is the southwest view of the same room as above.

Crossing the main hall again, this view is of the north room which was once the

dining room of the mansion. This view looks to the northwest.

Upstairs, this is one of the bedrooms, looking north.

A view of the vast estate property, looking southeast. Land destined for development.

Another view of the acreage, looking east, toward an abandoned rail line along the distant woods.

1887 Gathering Appears to Have Been at East Angle

In his August 16, 2011 blog posting at Mysteries and Conundrums, NPS historian Eric Mink presented a fascinating group of images taken during a visit to the Fredericksburg Area Battlefields by veterans of the 57^th and 59^th Massachusetts regiments. The May 1887 trip included a visit to the Mule Shoe Salient at Spotsylvania. The back of the original image has a hand written notation identifying it as:

 "May 1887 - Bloody Angle Spotsylvania May 12, 1864, and near the Bullet Splintered tree." 

My own inquisitiveness, and further prompting by mutual blog reader Todd Berkoff, brought me out to the field yesterday to examine the terrain and see how the current appearance of the landscape matched up with that of 1887. Following the north face of the salient from the Bloody Angle toward the east, I came to find that the image appears to have been taken much closer to the "East Angle", about 220 yards beyond the "Bloody Angle", and the fabled "22 inch" tree felled by small arms fire. In the modern view below, the bridge in the middle distance is the recently rebuilt bridge over the Confederate works, just before they begin to turn to form the east face of the salient. The direction is roughly 97 degrees south east. Click on both images to enlarge.  Notice the man at center in the dark coat and light colored hat looks to be holding a plate or canteen half, along with a discarded musket ramrod, probable relics found nearby.

The approximate, modern view above, was taken around 5:30 PM, on August 17, 2011.

Post-war Image Reveals Pre-monument View at Bloody Angle

In his August 4, 2011 blog submission at Mysteries and Conundrums, F&SNMP chief historian John Hennessy included a "postwar view of the Landram Farm". The original source of this photograph is at this moment mislaid, but is very likely from a veteran or regimental memoir, and will surface soon or be recognized by one of our readers here.

The image itself is quite intriguing, illustrating the southern border of the Landram property as is runs along a roughly 230 yard straight stretch of the Mule Shoe Salient. The camera position is in the field directly in front of the obtuse "Bloody Angle" formed by an extension of the Union line as it hugged the outer wall of the Confederate parapet. The fence atop the earthwork served as a border between the Landram farm and that of the McCoull family. Imagining the likelihood that the property was similarly fenced when the armies arrived in May 1864, provides an explanation as to how the Confederates commenced building a line that did not follow the usual textbook prerequisite along a "military crest". At least in this section, a fence line bordering a heavy wood seemed more practicable.

An additional value of this image is that it allows a view of the ground before the placement of two Union monuments in 1902 and 1909. Check back at Mysteries and Conundrums soon for a new posting by historian Eric Mink which will examine another series of post-war images and visiting veterans.

Below, find a then and now comparison, looking roughly 69 degrees north east. Click on the images to enlarge.

Modern view taken August 11, 2011 at 5:40 PM

Then & Gone - When the Will to Preserve Fails

The following images are of a home which stood at 1407 Caroline Street in Fredericksburg, but it was demolished by the current property owner this past June. By law, the owner was within his right to tear it down as there was a standing code violation issued to the previous owner, deeming it an unsafe structure, unfit for human habitation. Much interest and concern had existed toward this structure for over a decade, yet no serious efforts were mounted to protect or purchase it for restoration, a project that would have carried a sizable price tag.The first solid date that can be given to at least a good portion of this building is approximately 1790. Damage claims filed by Robert Hart after the Civil War indicate the building had been severely damaged during the Battle of Fredericksburg. Tax records show the structure had been brought to a value of $0, and by 1867 extensively rebuilt or repaired. There are no known images of this building that provide an indication of its wartime appearance. All the well known photographs  of the upper pontoon crossing, showing buildings along upper Sophia and Caroline Streets from the Stafford County shore, are unfortunately angled in such a way that this address is out of view. The same goes for sketches by period newspaper artists such as Alfred Waud.

This is the Caroline Street front of the house, as seen in a April 2010 photograph. Despite suggestions otherwise, the home had not been a total loss when damaged by Union artillery fire in December 1862. Information gathered from former residents of the house speak of visible shell damage within the superstructure and small arms projectiles lodged in exterior woodwork. Knowledgeable historical architects attest to many interior elements of the house appeared to be original to the supposed date of construction. Despite the need for obvious repairs and exacerbating damage by mysterious fires in its final days, witnesses who had gained access to tour the interior claim it was surprisingly sound and not altogether worthy of mandatory demolition.

The same approximate view as seen within days of its demolition, in June 2011.

Two mysterious fires damaged the house over the last winter of its existence,

some of which is seen in this view of the rear taken in April 2011.

The same approximate view below, after demolition.

Here (click link) is a letter (heavily edited) that was submitted to the City and various media outlets, by Marilynn Deane Mendell, who resigned as chair of the Architectural Review Board after the demolition of this house.

 Above is a detail from a stereo view image taken by Timothy O'Sullivan in March 1863. Please click on the image to enlarge. Note the approximate position of the south east property corner for 1407 Caroline Street as it rests on Sophia Street. The house itself is unfortunately obscured by the tree foliage on the right edge.

An aerial map of the area around 1407 Caroline Street, oriented in a similar fashion to the photograph above. Click to enlarge. Hawke Street is indicated by the bordering red lines as it comes up the slope from the pontoon boat landing. Note the south east property corner in relation to the location of the house.