Gettysburg cannonball is beautifully engraved

It is just a fragment, but the engraving is critical to its importance. (TNS)

By Helaine Fendelman and Joe Rosson. Tribune News Service

Q: I found this in my parents’ basement and am not sure what we have here. It looks to be a portion of a cannonball with markings that say “Battle of Gettysburg.” Any information would be appreciated.

A: The Civil War battle of Gettysburg was horrific. Tens of thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers were killed or wounded, and many historians consider the battle the turning point of the war.

When the battle was over, the farms around the Pennsylvania town were strewn with bodies and bits and pieces of ordinance — cannonballs plus various kinds of shot and bullets. The battlefield was also strewn with objects such as uniform buttons, belt buckles, canteens and other accoutrements worn or carried by soldiers.

The partial cannonball in question is beautifully engraved. The top line, which we cannot quite make out, is a reference to Gen. George G. Meade. The rest of the inscription reads, “in command in the Battle of Gettysburg 1-2-3 July 1863.” We speculate that this piece of memorabilia might have been harvested near Meade’s first headquarters at the Leister Farm on Taneytown Road, or his second headquarters at the widow Pfeffer house on Baltimore Street.

After the titanic conflict, the battlefield became a sacred site and attracted both tourists and veterans. Various individuals and enterprises in Gettysburg went to the battlefield and gathered relics, which they assembled into trays or mounted as desk sets or other remembrances to sell as souvenirs.

Perhaps the most famous of the scavengers/assemblers was John Good, who was a cabinetmaker with a shop on Race Horse Alley. We have also seen such items attributed to J.A. Good, Gettysburg Battlefield Novelty Works located at 30 N. Washington St. These may be one and the same enterprise with different business addresses, but the information available is sketchy.

It is hard to tell in this case who might have salvaged this shard from the field, but we do believe it was once part of a larger collection of artifacts assembled and retailed as a grouping.

The engraving on the shard does look like Good’s work, which we have seen pictured on a much more complete cannonball that was said to have been engraved by Good in the 1870s. It is our understanding, however, that Good normally nailed his artifacts to boards, and the piece is today’s question appears to have been attached with a screw. We think the engraved fragment is authentic and of interest to collectors as well as to the Gettysburg History Museum.

Assigning a monetary value to this piece would be pure speculation, so we will refrain

Hi-tech research pinpoints where Lincoln stood while delivering his Gettysburg Address

From the Gettysburg Connection
November 20, 2022 by Leon Reed

Oakley (left) with Leon Reed at “the spot.”

Hundreds of people passing through the National Cemetery in Gettysburg at around 2:00 p.m. on Remembrance Day, 2022 (Nov.19) were curious what a small group of people were doing with a spool of red, white, and blue ribbon on both sides of the fence separating the National and Evergreen cemeteries.

As one member of the group explained to a group of curious Boy Scouts, “You are the first people since the day Mr. Lincoln gave his speech to see exactly where the president stood to deliver that speech.”

That insight is the result of a decade’s work by former Disney animator and Lincoln buff Christopher Oakley, his  “New Media” students at the University of North Carolina-Asheville, advanced software that allowed a fresh look at six photographs taken the day of Lincoln’s speech, a variety of high tech tools, and the street smarts of civil war, photography, and technology experts.

Oakley had announced his findings the previous day at the Lincoln Forum conference at the Wyndham Hotel. Previous “guesses” about the location included the site of the present-day Henry Bush Brown Lincoln monument near the rostrum, the site of the present-day Soldiers’ National Monument, and various locations in Evergreen Cemetery. In recent years, a rough consensus emerged that the speaker’s platform was located somewhere in Evergreen Cemetery, probably near the present-day fence.

Finding Lincoln’s location wasn’t the original goal of Oakley’s “Digital Lincoln Project,” which he started in 2013. His first project was to create a realistic digital Lincoln “and bring him to life reading the Gettysburg Address.” The effort to find the speaker’s platform spun out of this project.

“We started with the written record and then turned our attention to the six known photos of the event,” said Oakley. “They are rich with detail and lots of information,” said Oakley.

Then the team identified the exact location from which the photos were taken, to allow triangulation. Four were taken from two locations in the cemetery, one was taken from the second floor of the Evergreen Cemetery gatehouse, and the sixth was taken from the location where the Quality Inn is now located. Oakely said the research also involved 3-D modeling and some old fashioned sleuthing.

Oakley’s team concluded that the platform was much larger than prior researchers had thought, was shaped like a trapezoid, and straddled the boundary between the cemeteries, with most of the seats in Evergreen but with the speakers standing in the National Cemetery. They also concluded that the people on the platform sat in a semicircle, not straight rows.

Saturday’s walking expedition included myself, as well as Jennifer Schuessler, a New York Times reporter who wrote a front page article about Oakley’s announcement in her publication, an archivist from the Library of Congress, several of Oakley’s photo research collaborators, and a few conference attendees who were simply interested in the project.

The group set off from the Quality Inn and stopped at each of the photo locations to view the photo(s) taken from that spot and discuss how the information helped pin down the location. They wound up at the site of the platform and used the ribbon to mark its dimensions. Along with the few curious spectators who joined them, they then took turns posing at “the spot.”

When asked if it really mattered where Lincoln stood, Oakley described the experiences of his students.  “At first, almost none of them were interested in history; they joined the program for the technology. But as we got deeper into the project, they all became interested in history.”

“When we came to Gettysburg to familiarize everyone with the site and take reference photos, I noticed that as we got closer to the site, all the normal horsing around stopped. By the time we got to the site it was complete silence: the kids thought they were on hallowed ground. Knowing you are standing on the spot where Lincoln actually gave the speech ignites the imagination and transports you back.”

Gettysburg's Taneytown Road Entrance to Museum and Visitor Center to Close.

News Release Date: November 18, 2022.
Contact: Jason Martz

GETTYSBURG, PA. – Gettysburg National Military Park announces that the Museum and Visitor Center entrance road at Taneytown Road will close on Monday, November 28 for rehabilitation. The project will replace the degraded asphalt surface with a more durable concrete surface from the Taneytown entrance to the Museum and Visitor Center entrance road to Parking Lot 2.

Visitor and Delivery Traffic
All visitor traffic (automobiles and buses) and delivery vehicles will be required to use the entrance road on Baltimore Pike. The following are parking and delivery options.

  • All traffic will be required to use the entrance road on Baltimore Pike.

    • Automobile traffic should occupy the main parking lot – Parking Lot 1.

    • Buses will continue to utilize the drop-off and pick-up loop, adjacent to the Museum and Visitor Center, then park in the bus parking lot – no change.

    • Delivery vehicles ONLY will be able to access the Parking Lot 2 loop to access the shipping dock area – no change.

  • See attached map for details.


Auto Tour Detour Around the Project Area
The battlefield Auto Tour utilizes the Museum and Visitor Center Road to connect sites along Cemetery Ridge with sites around Culp’s Hill. The following detours will be in affect during this project.

  • Hunt Avenue and Granite School House Lane will change from two-way traffic to one-way traffic.

  • Hunt Avenue will become a one-way road for westbound traffic from Baltimore Pike to Taneytown Road. Automobiles ONLY.

  • Granite School House Lane will become a one-way road for eastbound traffic from Taneytown Road to Baltimore Pike. Automobiles ONLY.

  • See attached map for details.


Commercial Vehicles
All commercial vehicles (school buses, coach buses, tractor trailers, freight and dump trucks, etc.) that exceed 10,000 pounds, require a wide turning radius, transport more than 15 passengers, or transport hazardous materials, MUST utilize the detour route to Pennsylvania State Route 15. Both Taneytown Road and Baltimore Pike have exits to and from Route 15.The project is expected to take five to six months, weather depending.

ACHS Announces Weeklong Programming from the History Consortium

Enjoy Weeklong Programming from the History Consortium

Monday, November 7th - Friday, November 11th

The History Consortium will host a full week of online Civil War programming beginning today. This year's focus is the Civil War's impact on people and communities. The nightly programs will be available to stream live on ACHS's YouTube channel here.

Programming Preview:

Monday, November 7th, 7 p.m.

Black Men in the Union Army at Antietam presented by Emilie Amt, retired professor of history at Hood College and author of Black Antietam: African Americans and the Civil War in Sharpsburg


Tuesday, November 8th, 7 p.m.

The Civil War’s Impact on Civilians presented by John Lustrea, Director of Education at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine


Tuesday, November 8th, 8 p.m.

The Loudon Valley Campaign of 1862: McClellan’s Final Advance presented by Matt Borders, a ranger at Monocacy National Battlefield as well as a Certified Battlefield Guide at Antietam and Harpers Ferry


Wednesday, November 9th, 7 p.m.

Marching Home: Union Veterans and Their Unending Civil War presented by Brian Matthew Jordan, assistant professor of history and Director of Graduate Studies in History at Sam Houston State University and the author of Marching Home: Union Veterans and Their Unending Civil War.


Thursday, November 10th, 6:30 p.m.

After the Civil War: Successes and Struggles of York County’s People presented by Jim McClure, York County historian and author/co-author of several York County publications


Thursday, November 10th, 8 p.m.

Confederate Row: Confederate Graves in Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Frederick, Maryland presented by Gary L. Dyson, author of A Civil War Correspondent in New Orleans, The Ambush of Isaac P. Smith, and Confederate Row


Friday, November 11th, 7 p.m.

Rebuilding Chambersburg: The Aftermath of 30th July 1864 presented by Ann Hull, Executive Director of the Franklin County Historical Society

Tune in here!

ACHS New Museum to Display Rare Civil War Images from Private Collection

William A. Frassanito holds a rare image taken near Devil’s Den on the Gettysburg battlefield in 1863, one of many original photographs from his private collection that will be exhibited next year.

Here’s some cool news from our friends at the Adams County Historical Society. The ACHS has been hard at work on a new museum on the edge of Gettysburg’s Day One battlefield near Barlow’s Knoll, and this week, they announced plans for a new exhibit to coincide with the opening of the museum.

Here’s the news:

(Gettysburg, PA) – William A. Frassanito, a renowned historian who pioneered the study of Civil War photography, is preparing to share his rare private collection of Gettysburg images with the public for the first time. The special exhibition, entitled “Early Photography at Gettysburg – The Frassanito Collection,” will debut at Gettysburg’s newest museum, Beyond the Battle, opening in April 2023.

A native of New York City, Frassanito began his photographic detective work at an early age, collecting glass plate images and carte-de-visite portraits from yard sales and antique shops. After an undergraduate education at Gettysburg College and a tour of duty in Vietnam, Frassanito published his first book, Gettysburg: A Journey in Time (Scribner’s Sons, 1974), which was followed by six more books. Frassanito’s work broke new ground, tying historical photographs to the scenes where they had been taken. For the first time, these photographs could be used as historical documents, not merely as illustrative window dressing to accompany written text.

Frassanito’s private collection includes rare images of Gettysburg taken both before and after the battle. The new exhibit will include stereographic images of dead soldiers on the battlefield, a series of rare views captured at Devil’s Den in November 1863, one of the first outdoor photographs taken in the town of Gettysburg, and the only existing photographic print from the Gettysburg Address ceremonies.

The exhibit will also feature some of Frassanito’s biggest discoveries –the moving of a dead “sniper” at Devil’s Den, the location where bodies were photographed en masse at the George Rose Farm, and the elusive “Harvest of Death” photographic series. From photographers Alexander Gardner and Mathew Brady to the Tyson Brothers and William H. Tipton, Frassanito’s collection explores the people, places, and events that shaped the history of Gettysburg.

“This is an exciting opportunity for the public to see Gettysburg’s rarest original images in person,” said ACHS Executive Director Andrew Dalton. “Frassanito’s work has inspired generations of historians, and we are thrilled to have him play a key role in the grand opening of our new museum.”

The exhibit will open on April 15th during the grand opening of the Adams County Historical Society’s new Museum and History Center at 625 Biglerville Road, Gettysburg. Located less than one mile from the town square, this new complex includes the highly anticipated Beyond the Battle Museum, a large event center, research room, and archives. For more information, visit www.achs-pa.org and follow the Adams County Historical Society at Gettysburg on Facebook and YouTube.

About the Adams County Historical Society: Located in historic Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the Adams County Historical Society (ACHS) preserves over three centuries of remarkable history. With over one million historic items in its care, ACHS inspires people of all ages to discover the fascinating story of one of America’s most famous communities.

Four Sites Added To Reconstruction Era National Historic Network

GRAND ARMY HALL

Sites in Virginia and South Carolina have been added to the Reconstruction Era National Historic Network, which connects properties across the country that provide education, interpretation, and research related to the period of Reconstruction.

The community sites in South Carolina and Virginia that have been added to the network are:

  • The Gilmore Cabin at James Madison’s Montpelier in Orange County, Virginia, was built in the 1870s during Reconstruction by George Gilmore, a man who had been enslaved at Montpelier prior to the Civil War. As a citizen later he owned part of the property. Restored in the early 2000s, Gilmore Cabin serves to teach the public about the legacies of slavery in America, including political status, land ownership, and economic production.  

  • Hamburg-Carrsville African American Heritage District in North Augusta, South Carolina interprets the history and legacy of the Hamburg Community, which was a Freedman community established after the Civil War and was the site of the “Hamburg Massacre,” an attack by former Confederates and Red Shirts against Black citizens during the 1876 election period. 

  • Center for African American History, Arts, and Culture in Aiken, South Carolina is located in the building that was home to the Immanuel School, a Reconstruction era school built in the 1880s for Black children in the Aiken community.

  • The Grand Army Hall in Beaufort, South Carolina was home to the David Hunter Post #9 of the Grand Army of the Republic, the largest Civil War veterans organization. Many of the post’s members had served in Black regiments raised around Beaufort during the Civil War, and is a tangible connection the community of Black veterans during Reconstruction. 

“We are excited to see the Reconstruction Era National Historic Network growing,” said Superintendent Scott Teodorski. “These new sites, from as nearby as here in Beaufort to as far away as rural Virginia, remind all Americans that nearly every community has a Reconstruction story to tell.”

The John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, signed into law on March 12, 2019,  outlined the creation of the Reconstruction Era National Historic Network. This network, managed by Reconstruction Era National Historical Park, includes sites and programs that are affiliated with the Reconstruction Era, but not necessarily managed by the National Park Service. This network is nationwide and works to provide opportunities for visitors to connect to the stories of Reconstruction. 


Organizations Calling On Congress To Take Measures To Reopen Vicksburg NMP

STORY FROM NATIONAL PARKS TRAVELER

Preservation and conservation organizations, led by the nonprofit American Battlefield Trust, are calling on Congress to take measures to reopen huge portions of Vicksburg National Military Park that have been closed for nearly three years following catastrophic damage caused by torrential rainfalls in early 2020. Nearly one-third of the park remains closed to the public, unsafe and inaccessible, due to erosion that undermined large swaths of the hilly landscape, buckling miles of the park’s roads. Perhaps worst of all, it washed out portions of Vicksburg National Cemetery, endangering the remains of our nation’s heroes.

“Gradual erosion caused by the region’s unique geology has been an ongoing issue for the park over the decades, but this event was truly devastating” said Trust President David Duncan. “We have the opportunity to address these underlying issues and create infrastructure built to last. But we must move now, before the damage can’t be undone.” 

To draw attention to the issue and showcase the massive scale of damage caused at key park locations, the Trust, along with the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) and the Friends of Vicksburg National Military Park and Campaign, created a short video paired with a mechanism for concerned citizens to speak out and contact their legislators.

Watch the video here: Vicksburg in Crisis: Don't Let its Impact Erode

In the film, describing his visit to Vicksburg to assess the damage, Alan Spears, senior director of cultural resources at NPCA, confesses, “I was overwhelmed by what I saw,” while Bess Averett, executive director of Friends of Vicksburg adds “It looks like an earthquake has come through.” Certified landscape architect Glenn Stach assesses it as “a significant public health, safety and welfare situation.”

Beyond closing key areas of the park vital to a clear understanding of this turning-point battle, the long delay stands to have tangible community impact, with fewer heritage tourists making plans to visit Mississippi’s single-most visited attraction, damaging the local economy. Advocates also point out that the lack of attention paid to this issue undermines Vicksburg’s status as a key moment in the Civil War, cutting the Confederacy in half and leading to Ulysses Grant’s elevation to general-in-chief of all Union armies.

Unfortunately, the underlying issues related to soil type require more than simple repair. Studies must be undertaken so that new infrastructure is sufficient to withstand ongoing pressures, otherwise, the next major storm will start the cycle again, washing out sections of roadway and exposing burials in the nation’s largest Civil War cemetery. As the closed portions of the park languish, they are exposed to even more weather than typical, speeding their deterioration. If action is not taken swiftly, the soft soil around Vicksburg will continue to erode unabated, pulling more of this hallowed ground into the Mississippi River.

The preservation groups invite members of the public to use the mechanism on the Trust’s website to contact their federal legislators and urge them to take immediate and decisive steps to help the National Park Service return this battlefield to its full glory.

The American Battlefield Trust is dedicated to preserving America’s hallowed battlegrounds and educating the public about what happened there and why it matters today. The nonprofit, nonpartisan organization has protected more than 55,000 acres associated with the Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and Civil War. Learn more at www.battlefields.org.

"Killer Angels" Book Discussion and Lunch at PSU-LV on Fri. Dec. 9

Friday, December 9, 2022

“Killer Angels Book Discussion - Michael Shaara”
Tad Fenton - Educator, Historian, Masters of Arts in History
view webpage

Michael Shaara’s novel Killer Angels is an excellent novel that portrays the three days of the Battle of Gettysburg in a historical narrative through the eyes of those who fought. Shaara presents an engaging account that will truly engross a novice historian and curious reader.

This lecture will provide an opportunity to read a great novel and discuss the Battle of Gettysburg through the eyes of individuals such as John Buford, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, James Longstreet, and Robert E. Lee. The novel seamlessly facilitates a great deal of discussion, questions, and interest in the Civil War. Join us for a creative and interactive experience that will envelope the participants in the Battle of Gettysburg!

Lecture will be held from 11:00–noon p.m.
Lunch will be served from noon–1:00 p.m.
Cost: $20.00 per person. Check or cash only.

All events are held at:
Penn State Lehigh valley
2809 Saucon Valley Road
Center Valley PA, 18034

Registration is REQUIRED for all of these lifetime learning opportunities.

Contact ​Jamie Merida at
610-285-5000 or jmerida@psu.edu  

Discounts Available for 2023 Civil War Institute in Gettysburg

The Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College would like to offer the members of your Civil War Round table or organization a 15% discount to attend the 2023 CWI summer conference, June 9-14. You can explore further details about our conference on our website, as well as check out our schedule for this year’s event. At CWI, we believe in the mission of CWRTs and we are making this special offer to recognize the efforts of your organization in promoting the study of Civil War history. Please let us know if you intend to make this special offer known to your membership, and feel free to use any language from this email or the attached promotional card for your newsletter.

 

We are also happy to supply any additional promotional language, fliers, or postcards for you to pass out or use to advertise.

 

We hope to have the opportunity to work with you to help continue the educational missions of both your Round Table and the Civil War Institute. Please let me know if you have any questions, and we look forward to hearing from you in the near future.

 

Thank you!

  

Triada Chavis  | Administrative Services Assistant

GETTYSBURG COLLEGE | CWI

Treasurer | Support Staff Council
Campus Box 435  |  Civil War Institute

300 N. Washington Street, Gettysburg, PA 17325
T  717-337-6748 or main 717-337-6590  |  EML  tchavis@gettysburg.edu

Office Hours: Monday to Friday 8:30 am to 5:00 pm

“Ticket to the Past:” A virtual reality tour at the restored old Gettysburg Train Station

From the Gettysburg Connection:
October 17, 2022 by Matthew Jackson

Newly opened in downtown Gettysburg at the beautifully preserved train station, the Gettysburg Foundation’s “Ticket to the Past: Unforgettable Journey” is a wonderful, mind-altering, virtual reality experience that may give visitors a glimpse into the future of museum visitors’ engagements with history.

“Ticket to the Past” feels more like a series of face-to-face encounters than a traditional exhibit-to-exhibit museum visit.

Gettysburg’s first virtual reality experience promises to stretch your imagination, awareness, understanding and empathy — and maybe even fire up your civic conscience, courage and involvement.

There, at 35 Carlisle Street, at the same train station where President Lincoln came to town from Hanover and Hanover Junction (Seven Valleys) on the Hanover Rail Corporation line in November, 1863 to deliver the world-famous Gettysburg Address, you come-face-to-face with one of three extraordinary individuals of that era.

You may choose either Basil Biggs, described as freedom fighter, facilitator for the fallen, and pursuer of unfinished work; Cornelia Hancock, soldier caregiver, hospital heroine, and dedicated social servant; or Eli Blanchard, teen volunteer, iron brigade band member, and amputation assistant.

Through virtual reality goggles, your character tells you his or her story leading up to, during and following the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863.

I chose Gettysburg freedman, farmer, teamster (driver of a team of animals), a self-taught horse veterinarian, disinterment/exhumation specialist, civic leader and Underground Railroad conductor Basil Biggs (1819-1906), who also has ties to Hanover; a famous, one-of-a-kind photograph; and York County.

The performance by the actor portraying Mr. Biggs was intense and moving.

Biggs, an illiterate freedman born of mixed race parents in a Quaker settlement in Carroll County, Maryland, lost his mother when he was only four-years-old.

He was a master multi-tasker, a hard-working jack-of-all-trades. Throughout his life, Dr. Biggs, as he became known, made the best of each situation with relentless energy and perseverance.

Basil and wife Mary Jackson moved their growing family from Baltimore, Maryland, a slave state, to the free state of Pennsylvania in 1858 so their children could get an education and grow up in freedom.At that time, Blacks in Maryland — whether free or enslaved — were denied public education.

According to his 1906 obituary, while a tenant farmer at the Crawford Farm in Gettysburg, Biggs was an active agent in the Underground Railroad. According to historian Debra Sandoe McClausin, Biggs directed freedom seekers to Black freedman and Quaker Edward Mathews’ farm in Biglerville, Adams County.

As over 6,000 Confederates invaded Pennsylvania in the summer of 1863, the Biggs family fled northeast to the town of Columbia on the banks of the Susquehanna River.

When the family returned to town after the epic Battle of Gettysburg, the turning point of the Civil War, everything that Biggs owned was pilfered or destroyed except three assets: two horses and a cart. They also returned to find 45 dead Confederates buried in the fields they tended and tilled.

According to the National Park Service, “the Biggs family lost eight cows, seven steers, ten hogs, eight tons of hay, ten crocks of apple butter, sixteen chairs, six beds, and ninety-two acres of crops.”

After the battle, teamster Biggs’ salvaged cart, which could carry up to nine bodies at a time, came in handy as he embarked on a grisly, putrid and daunting endeavor.

Working for Gettysburg merchant Samuel Weaver to disinter more than 3,000 dead Union soldiers from their initial graves and relocate and rebury them in a central spot, Biggs played a major role in the creation of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery.

From October, 1863 until March, 1864, Biggs made $1.25 for each corpse brought to its final resting place, including hauling Union corpses from Hanover, 14 miles away. As a famous photo from Hanover shows. Biggs hired several Black men from Gettysburg to get the job done.

Biggs used his earnings to purchase his own farm, the Peter Frey farm, which still stands on Taneytown Road, and about 120 acres of land. Some included the famous copse of trees, known as the high water mark of the Confederacy at Cemetery Ridge, a must-see visit for battlefield tourists.

In 1881, Biggs sold those witness trees and the seven acres around them to the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association for $1,350.

Ironically, although Biggs played a prominent role in the creation of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery, he and other Blacks, including those 30 local Civil War veterans of the United States Colored Troops (organized in the summer of 1863), are not buried there.

As historian D. Scott Hartwig points out, “we now know that there are five burials of African American soldiers in the Civil War section of the Soldiers’ Cemetery [in Gettysburg], but four of those soldiers were Spanish American War veterans who were buried here because it was the closest National Cemetery.” Only one Black Civil War veteran, Henry Gooden of the 126th United States Colored Troops, who died after the Civil War in Carlisle in 1876 and was not interred at Gettysburg’s Soldiers’ National Cemetery until 1884, is buried there today.

A founder and prominent member of the Sons of Good Will, formed to acquire land for Black cemeteries, Basil Biggs, along with local Black Civil War veterans, is buried in the cemetery that the Sons of Good Will established in 1866. Since 1906, the year Biggs died and was buried there, it has been known as Lincoln Cemetery.

It’s on the outskirts of town in Gettysburg’s third ward, where most Gettysburg African Americans in that era lived.

Your “Ticket to the Past” visit winds to its finale with a view of President Abraham Lincoln’s train steaming into Gettysburg from Hanover aboard a Hanover Rail train on November 18, 1863. The next day, in Lincoln’s “few appropriate remarks” dedicating the Soldiers’ National Cemetery that Biggs helped create, the nation’s 16th commander-in-chief proclaimed a “new birth of freedom.”

The narrator then ends your visit with an open-ended challenge to honor the fallen, the freedom-seekers, the healers and re-builders of that era in our lives today.

“Ticket to the Past” is a bold, family-friendly, state-of-the-art, immersive, patriotic, and call-to-service visitor experience that you don’t want to miss.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CLICK HERE