Hit here for press on Medal of Honor Recipient Dennis Buckley
Subject: Letter to the Editor of USA Today
From: Descendants of the 136th New York Volunteer Infantry
Published Nationwide: Thursday, June 24, 1999
Park Plan Honors "Hallowed Ground"
Our ancestors defended the exact position of the current National Park Visitor Center in the Gettysburg National Military Park.
It was therefore with great interest that we read the USA TODAY article on the National Park Service�s plans for a new visitor center at Gettysburg ("Park Service plans to proceed on Gettysburg project," News, June 18,1999).
The location of the existing Visitor Center at Gettysburg is akin to placing a visitor center right on D-day�s Omaha Beach-- and it should not be there.
From July 1-3, 1863, more than 150,000 Americans fought in the small Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg. During the last day of the battle the colors of the 136th New York received their baptism of fire.
They were not displayed as a target, but carefully rolled and encased, they stood leaning against the wall. A shell struck the wall near them and exploded, killing two men, wounding three others and striking the flag. When unfurled, the flag showed the staff nearly one-half cut asunder and a line of 13 holes somewhat larger than the stars in its field.
As Professor Garry Wills noted in Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade America: "In the brief time before the crowd at Gettysburg, President Lincoln wove a spell that has not, yet, been broken-- he called up a new nation out of the blood and trauma."
President Lincoln would hardly recognize the center of the battle line today. At the "high- water mark," which is proposed to be restored to its 1863 appearance by the National Park Service, approximately 6,549 men fought, and 971 were casualties.
The plan at Gettysburg is to "rededicate a portion of that field to those who here gave their lives so that that nation might live." It is altogether fitting and proper that the National Park do so on this hallowed ground.
In 1992, the National Trust for Historic Preservation listed Gettysburg as one of its "Most Endangered 11 Historic Places". This year, the National Parks and Conservation Association named Gettysburg National Park as one of its "Ten Parks in Peril".
At last, with the removal of the current visitor center, this generation and future ones will be able to understand "what they did here" -- meaning the Union and Confederate soldiers who fought at what is considered the largest Civil War battle.
The new facility will be built a distance from the "high-water mark" where so much blood was shed.
On the anniversary of the 136th year since the battle, we applaud the National Park Service�s decision to restore this great battlefield and to honor the sacrifices of the veterans of the blue and gray who fought there.
Letters to the editor about Gettysburg in the Hill News of Washington, DC.
The March/April issue of The Civil War News published our organization's letter to the editor. We also have a photo of Private William DuBois of the 136th New York Volunteers on this page. Photo courtesy of his grandson, John DuBois. There is also a Veteran's Day 1998 article that mentioned our cause that appeared in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.
The May 1999 issue of The Civil War News published an excellent editorial by Dr. John Latschar. He is the superintendent of Gettysburg National Military Park. Dr. Latschar is a combat veteran with a PhD in history from Rutgers University. Also, on the link just above, you will find A REPLY FROM DR. JOHN LATSCHAR, SUPERINTENDENT OF GETTYSBURG NATIONAL MILITARY PARK to the Descendants of the 136th NYSV query about the Visitor Center parking lot.
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