The official newsletter of Gettysburg National Military Park • Fall 2009 • Vol. 16, No. 2

The Gettysburg Quarterly

National Park Service

U.S. Department of the Interior

Spangler’s Spring rehab work will reveal

an area so exposed that a Confederate

soldier called it “Artillery Hell”

Park News

Battlefield rehabilitation work continues this fall with the planned removal of nonhistoric trees to the west of

Spangler’s Spring and work in other areas on the battlefield. Six acres of trees will be removed, provided soil

conditions are dry enough or cold enough this fall and winter. The goal is to re-open the fields that exposed

Confederate troops in and around the Spangler’s Spring area to heavy fire from 28 Union guns - 18 of them

concentrated on and around Powers’ Hill alone. Confederate regiments engaged the Union positions here on

the far right flank of the Union line during a seven hour engagement on July 3, 1863, that started before dawn.

One of Confederate General George Stewart’s men called the area “artillery hell” because of the intense

artillery fire they were exposed to, leading them to stop their attack and withdraw, changing Lee’s plans to

attack both flanks on the third day of battle.

Since the battle era, trees have grown up and obscured the open view of Spangler’s Spring from the west,

making it hard to understand the battle action.

The majority of Culp’s Hill was wooded at the time of the battle and the National Park Service continues to

preserve more than 90 acres of historic woodlots on Culp’s Hill.

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Above: Gettysburg National Military Park historian John Heiser at a press briefing about the planned

battlefield rehabilitation work near Spangler’s Spring. GNMP photo by Katie Lawhon.

Below: Chief of Resource Planning, Jim Johnson, at

Spangler’s Spring. GNMP photo by Katie Lawhon.
2 The Gettysburg Quarterly

This spring Gettysburg National

Military Park and the Gettysburg

Foundation will present a satellite

broadcast for the 2009-2010 school

year: Big Deal at Gettysburg: The

Value of Historical Places.

The broadcast will follow the story of

business executive Elizabeth Hoover as

she visits Gettysburg to finalize a

valuable land development deal. Will

she succeed in securing key Gettysburg

properties for her firm and earning a

promotion, or will she leave

Gettysburg understanding that historic

value sometimes trumps property

value? Students will follow her

journey, with her teenage son, from the

historic Spangler farm to the David

Wills House to the Soldiers' National

Cemetery as she rediscovers a battle,

and a speech, that shaped a nation.

Gettysburg National Military Park

and the Gettysburg Foundation are

producing the broadcast, which is the

latest in a series- including two

that won Telly awards for excellence

in children's television programming.

The broadcast launches on February

12, Abraham Lincoln's birthday, and

has an expected audience is at least

10 million school children nationwide.

"Big Deal at Gettysburg" is designed

so that teachers can show it in three

20-minute segments, with online

discussion-circle questions and

activities for each segment. Teachers

will be able to use these tools to

bring their social studies, language

arts and citizenship lessons to life.

The broadcast and accompanying

lessons were designed in accordance

with the National Council for the

Social Studies curriculum standards

and themes.

There is no cost to participate, but

teachers and schools must register to

receive the satellite coordinates. To

register fill out the registration

materials on the website:

www.gettysburgfoundation.org or

www.nps.gov/gett. For information,

please contact:programs@gettysburg

foundation.org or call 717/338-1243.

This year's broadcast is made possible

through a generous gift to the

Gettysburg Foundation from Bob

and Marion Wilson and the Winnick

Family Foundation, and is a program

of the Ford Motor Company Fund

Education Center.

Educational Satellite Broadcast Planned for February

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

Above: Friends of Gettysburg Work Day - The Friends of Gettysburg hosted over 300 volunteers from 18 states on June 6th for the Gettysburg Foundation’s annual Friends

Volunteer Day. The volunteers built over a mile of post-and-rail and Virginia worm fences, as well as scraping and painting barns and fences. Photo courtesy of the Gettysburg

Foundation.
Superintendent John Latschar

Gettysburg National Military Park

1195 Baltimore Pike, Suite 100

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 17325

(717) 334-1124

www.nps.gov/gett

gett_superintendent@nps.gov

The Gettysburg Quarterly is

produced by the Public Affairs

Office, Gettysburg National Military

Park, National Park Service.

The National Park Service cares for

the special places saved by the

American people so that all may

experience our heritage.

Experience your America.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O

Gettysburg National Military Park,

established in 1895, is the site of the

great Civil War battle that repulsed

the second Confederate invasion of

the North. The mission of the

National Park Service at Gettysburg

is to preserve and protect the

resources associated with the battle of

Gettysburg and the Soldiers’

National Cemetery and provide an

understanding of the events that

occurred there within the context

of American history.

The Gettysburg Quarterly 3

Coming to PBS on September

27 – America’s National Parks

Ken Burns’ new television documentary was filmed over the course of

more than six years at some of nature’s most spectacular locales —

from Acadia to Yosemite, Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon, the

Everglades of Florida to the Gates of the Arctic in Alaska — The

National Parks: America’s Best Idea. The six-episode series directed

by Burns and written and co-produced by Dayton Duncan will air on

PBS nationwide on six consecutive nights beginning September 27.

The National Park Service anticipates that the film will inspire

millions of people to get to know their national parks. On the day

before the film’s premiere parks all over the country will be hosting

community events.

The public is invited to the Gettysburg National Military Park

Museum and Visitor Center on Saturday, September 26 at 5:30 p.m.

for a special screening of a 45 minute preview film for the series. The

Gettysburg Foundation is co-sponsoring this special preview screening

and they plan to present a new special volunteer opportunity to

members of the community who attend. For more information call the

Gettysburg Foundation at 717/ 334-3460 x 231.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

Above: Great selection of books and gifts – Eisenhower National Historic Site Bookstore is now managed by Event

Network – the same company that operates the bookstore in the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and

Visitor Center. Photo courtesy of the Gettysburg Foundation.
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

Send Comments to:

Superintendent

Gettysburg National Military Park

1195 Baltimore Pike, Suite 100

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 17325

Printed with funds donated by

Eastern National, a not-for-profit

partner of the National Park

Service and other public trusts.

printed on recycled paper

Civil War Preservation Trust Honors

Superintendent Latschar

During the organization’s annual conference in Gettysburg, the

Civil War Preservation Trust president James Lighthizer

announced the winners of the 2009 Preservation Awards,

recognizing extraordinary individual and organizational

achievements in the cause of Civil War preservation. The National

Park Service Preservationist of the Year Award, which is presented

to outstanding NPS personnel, went to John Latschar,

superintendent of Gettysburg National Military Park.

“In his tenure, Latschar has overseen a massive landscape

restoration project across the battlefield, as well as the planning

and construction of the new Visitor Center,” the Civil War

Preservation Trust’s announcement said. Aove: Civil War Preservation Trust President James Lighthizer

presents Gettysburg National Military Park Superintendent

John Latschar with the award. CWPT photo by Bruce Guthrie.