The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-12-09
roUR GREAT BArrLEF1ELDs.
How the L,nes ~ tsettysbsrE. Chickarnsurs,
Artietarn, and shiioh viii ne Preserved.

one making an appropriation of $4,000 for es-
tabllshing a national military park at shiloh
and another approprlatlng $50, 900 for the dedi-
cation, next September. OF the park already
founded on the bsttlefclds Of Chickamaues and
Chattanooga.
The promptncss with which These measures
were acted upon Is significant. Four Of the most
famous fields NJ the civil war are now TO be
preserved for the wonder and study Of future
generations, and that, too. with the hearty CO
operation and by the mutual desires Of victors
and vanquish d on the n Ids. II Il doubtful
whether there Is anything quite like this 10 be
found in history.
The first field 10 DO set apart was naturally
Gettysburg, the place OF the most tremendous
battle ever fought on this continent, one
fraught with momcntous consequences. A
statement In Secretary Lamont's report of
last year showed that, besides the large
sums expended on this field by the memo
rial association and other bodies and by indi-
viduals, no less than ss63. 80 had up 70 that
time been contributed by States whose soldiers
took part In tho battle. Tracts of land have
been bought, roads laid out, and monuments
and tablets erected. In his present report Mr..
Lamont says that the movements undertaken by
troops on both sides, rs we'll as the lines which
they held, have been in the main accurately e.
tablished. and. after final verihcation, tablets
will he placed at points on the TANKS Of each
regiment in It's various positions. while surplus
cannon will In like manner identify the posi-
tions held by the batteries. When 1t is re-
membered that $50 Union regiments, with az
batteries, and 1870 Confederate regiments, with
20 batteries, took part at Gettysburg. It will be
seen how great is the labor thus involved. The
suggestion. however, offers itself that care
should be taken not to overdo the details. and
so confuse by needless minutim q study so inn
pressive and instructive In its broader and more
general aspects. 1t can also be understood from
the figures Just given why so large an expense
has been laid out upon this field, and why so
many monuments. some of them costly and
beautiful, mark this wonderful spot.
The Chicknmauga and Chattanooga park Ia to
the West what the Gettysburg ia to the East.
C~hickamauga was the bloodiest OF the Western
battles, and II Chattanooga is added IL tow
es up with a great strategic Importance. When
the bill for establishing this park was before
Congress the House Military Committee made
an elaborate comparison. based on tho losses Of
the combatants In Napoleon's great battles,
such as Marengo. Austerlltz. and Waterloo,
and again on the losses at Sadowa In 1865 and at
Gravelotte, Sedan. and other battles OF the
Franco-German war OF 1870, so as to show the
deadliness OF the struggle at Chickamauga-
The declared that the average
losses on each side for the troops which fought
through the two days were fully ~ per cent,
while for many portions of each line the losses
reached 80 per cent, and for some even rs per
cent" 1t concluded that such a field had "an
Importance to the nation as an object lesson Of
what is possible In American fighting"
Mr.. Lamont tells us in his present report that Of
the 5,52l acres comprising the Chickamauga and
Chattanooga park. 2,l0O have been cleared Of
underbrush. to facilitate the work of the States
in locating the positions of their troops. and 600
remain to be cleared. So yet possibly the UNDER
brush rather than the clearing may best repre-
sent the condition of the field in 1868. Roads
aggregating forty-ono miles have been COM
pleted. A committee from the Society OF tho
Army of the Tennessee and twenty-three state
commissions have been cooperating with tho
Park Commission In establishing the lines of
battle. and Alabama, Connecticut, Kansas,
Maryland. and West Virginia, which also had
soldiers there, are expected soon TO cooperate.
Some Of the lands on Missionary Ridge and
Lookout Mountain, desired for the park, have
been held at such exorbitant prices that tho
commission recommends the abandonment Of
efforts to purchase them; but the further pur-
chase of about 1000 acres at Chickamauga 10
contemplated. The monuments OF Massachu-
sets and Minnesota. and the ifty-nve OF Ohio
have been completed, as have also the nine
monuments to the regulars, while pyramids of
shell mark where general officers fell. Vicious
tablets for army headquarters and to mark
corps. division, and brigade movements are up.
and seventy or more guns will denote the posi-
tion OF batteries by the end Of the year. Thus
far the sum or SOS, 1909 has been appro-
priated for this park alone.
Antietam Is the third great battlefield pre-
served by the action of Congress for deterInIn.
ing and marking the lines OF battle. Hero.
however. the task undertaken is different. The
battle was fought on farms, and IL Is believed
that by leaving the land in private hands, 80 that
IL may be used for farming. the best method will
be taken for keeping IL as IL appeared to the
combatants In September. 1892. Tho same
considerations might proftably be kept in mind
in the management of the Gettysburg and Chick
amauga fields, although there the establish
ment of a park requires somewhat different
rules. Yet the purpose should be To keep them
as nearly as they were In 1868. except for
the monuments and identifying marks and the
means Of transportation. However, even at
Antietam It is the purpose OF the War DEPART
ment to acquire certain lanes and roads along
which the most severe fighting occurred, pro-
viding the land can be bought at a reasonable
rate, and not otherwise. Then tablets and
markers on such roads will be set up. The
scene was, In fact, occupied with clear
ed fields and cornfelds. and the famous :" sunken
ran from the Keedysville 10 the Hngars-
town pike. II Is to be hoped that the effort to
some OF the old roads and lanes at .
reasonable price may not Ia baffied. still. at
present It would not DO correct 10 speak OF the
as a park.
At Shiloh, however. a national military park
Is contemplated by tho bill Of Mr.. Mcpherson.
the House has passed. Mr.. Henderson
that he and Mr.. Black of Illinois and
MIR. Wheeler OF Alabama had undertaken 70
look after the interests of the bill, and that
options on the land had been secured at an
average purchase price OF SIC an acre. whereas
the Chickamauga park had cost an average Of
sas per acre. The bill provides for a Commits
sion. to be selected from what were once known
as the Armies Of the Tennessee, the Ohio, and
the Mississippi.
Thus two great battlehelds at the Fast and
at the West will be appropriately marked
for preservation, assuming that the Shiloh bill
Is to become a law. They will form a remark
able series of memorials for future generations.
and ChickaInauga were in the
broadest sense national fields. The former in