no more monuments.

[civilken]

what are your thoughts on the moratorium on monuments at Gettysburg national Park. I honestly feel there is room for a couple of more .I happen to like monuments.

 

[WJC]

Frankly, I would be happy if there were none. To me, they distract from my already limited ability to visualize the action of July1-3, 1863. I particularly dislike the Eternal Light Peace Memorial.
But then, that is my inability; most are pleased to have meaningful memorials and markers to help understand and appreciate the battle. In a day when interest in our history seems to be waning, that's a good thing.
I suppose it depends on what monuments are proposed, their size and what they specifically commemorate.

 

[Wallyfish]

I love Gettysburg monuments. Despite inherent positional flaws, they do provide "action" anchors that allow for easily recognizable reminders on the battlefield. Gettysburg simply has too much action to commit to memory (at least for me) and the monuments greatly help me in remembering where some of the action occurred.

Many monuments are also works of art. Some are simply beautiful. Some come to the battlefield just to admire the monuments. The monuments solicit a feeling of pride (state/town/ethnic background/etc) to many.

In my opinion, there is only one thing worse than a missing monument and that is an existing monument in disrepair. Seeing the fading carving for example on the Lewis Armistead advance marker near The Copse of Trees/Angle always saddened me. Every year the carved letters seemed to be dissolving into history.

I can't imagine what some of the Gettysburg monuments would cost in '18 economics. Therefore it is doubtful that large expensive monuments could be financed today. So in the larger sense, I prefer to see existing monuments be maintained versus new monuments built. But having said that, wouldn't it nice to have a 15th Al at the base of LRT. Or a beautiful monument to Elon Farnsworth who led a brave cavalry charge. There are many others who are deserving of a monument, but sadly they most probably will never happen.

 

[WJC]

In my opinion, there is only one thing worse than a missing monument and that is an existing monument in disrepair. Seeing the fading carving for example on the Lewis Armistead advance marker near The Copse of Trees/Angle always saddened me. Every year the carved letters seemed to be dissolving into history.

Perhaps a better use of taxpayer money would be care and maintenance of existing markers, memorials, and monuments.

 

[Wallyfish]

Perhaps a better use of taxpayer money would be care and maintenance of existing markers, memorials, and monuments.

WJC, I certainly was attempting to imply your statement in my first post. I agree totally with your statement.

 

[mofederal]

I have no problem with putting up some more, but not a large number of them. They can be distractive and incorrectly placed as some of the old ones have been placed in the past.

 

[Carronade]

I also enjoy monuments, as long as they are not too large or obtrusive. One time I and a friend were following the activities of her ancestor's unit - 106th Pennsylvania - and the monuments and information thereon were helpful.

 

[diane]

I think the battlefields might be a better place for some of the controversial monuments that are problematic at the current moment. Some of them are, as mentioned earlier, fine art. The Forrest statue, for instance, has outdone its time where it was - the intent and purpose was of another time that's difficult today - but sitting at Bryce's Crossroads it would be in a better context and more appropriate. Building new ones I'm not so sure about but adding ones who are in unfortunate positions elsewhere might be a workable option. Taking care of all of them is very important. A battle such as Gettysburg should always be carefully preserved and much thought taken with additions.

 

[1950lemans]

Monuments are great but absolutely, positively NO MORE CW MONUMENTS anywhere. I believe monuments are important but they should be relavant to today's events and situations. A local example is the monument competition for the Sandy Hook (Newton, CT) mass shooting of 26 kiddies and teachers. Naturally this is my opinion.

 

[archieclement]

I personally like monuments, especially if they provide context to the battle as in unit or brigade commander monuments, however unfortunately in face of current affairs, if inability to provide security or costs from vandalism have become considerations, not surprised. And agree maintaining and protection of existing ones should take precedence over new ones.

 

[16thVA]

I've mentioned before that I would like to see some acknowledgement of the West Virginians in the ANV, who greatly outnumbered the few hundred Union WVians who participated in the battle; either an addition to the Virginia monument, or a prominent marker explaining the situation. As it is, the present 4 Union WV monuments distort West Virginia's peculiar situation and alignments.

 

[E_just_E]

Got any source on the moratorium? I haven't seen anything about it.

 

[Wallyfish]

This 2016 post says this.

In 1999, the National Park Service placed a moratorium on new monuments at Gettysburg National Military Park.


https://npsgnmp.wordpress.com/2016/05/26/bearing-witness-gettysburgs-commemorative-landscape/

 

[E_just_E]

This 2016 post says this.

In 1999, the National Park Service placed a moratorium on new monuments at Gettysburg National Military Park.


https://npsgnmp.wordpress.com/2016/05/26/bearing-witness-gettysburgs-commemorative-landscape/

So it is 18 year old news...

Pretty sure they had monuments since then

 

[Bruce Vail]

I think the moratorium is good policy for the Gettysburg park.

I'd like to see a relocation plan that would concentrate some of the monuments in a number of specific points to create more open space elsewhere, especially at key places in battle history.

 

[Wallyfish]

I thought the Longstreet monument was the last dedicated monument on the battlefield. It was unveiled on July 3, 1998. I recall the 26th NC monuments being dedicated in 1985 or so.

Is anyone aware of a post Longstreet Gettysburg Monument being dedicated?


Page 10 of another NPS document also talks about the 1999 Monument moratorium. While I know this is not new news, I have seen the moratorium discussed in numerous articles.
https://www.nps.gov/gett/learn/management/upload/GETT_FD_SP-508.pdf

 

[E_just_E]

Is anyone aware of a post Longstreet Gettysburg Monument being dedicated?

The Civil War Women's Memorial , and the Culp Brothers' Memorial come to mind. There might be more.

 

[Wallyfish]

I may be wrong, but I thought the Culp Brothers and CW Women's memorials were placed on private property (wax museum area and Evergreen Cemetery) not administered by the NPS.

We are simply attempting to determine if the NPS has or has not a new monument moratorium. I think there is one, but am a bit unsure.

 

[RobertP]

Two Mississippi monuments recognizing the 11th Miss. were dedicated in 2000. One is on Confederate Ave. at the step off point July 3, the other near their high water mark at the Brian farm.

 

[captaindrew]

Wasn't there a new monument or one planned for the 2 Marine pilots who died during the reenactment and war games in 1922?