CWTrust Save Gettysburg at Seminary Ridge

CMWinkler

Colonel
Retired Moderator
Joined
Oct 17, 2012
Location
Middle Tennessee
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First, I have exciting news to relate:

I recently wrote to you to announce our new "umbrella" organization: the American Battlefield Trust. We have a new name, a new look, but our mission remains the same. I’d like to remind to you that the Civil War Trust is NOT going away, and – as always – you have the choice to support preservation and education projects that speak most deeply to you. You can learn more about the recent announcement here.

With that said, I am thrilled to share one of the biggest Civil War preservation opportunities we have had in recent years.

We are launching an eight-month campaign to save the largest and most significant remaining undeveloped acreage at the First Day’s Battlefield at Gettysburg – 18 acres at Seminary Ridge!

Located just south of Chambersburg Pike, and just across the road from Lee’s Headquarters (which you helped save in 2014), the famed Seminary Ridge saw fierce fighting on July 1, 1863, when Union troops retreated to make their final stand and were met with a renewed and furious Confederate attack.

On this hallowed land, the famed Iron Brigade, along with one New York and six Pennsylvania regiments, desperately tried to hold back the North and South Carolinians in Alfred Scales and Abner Perrin’s brigades. Four Union batteries crowned the Ridge, including six fearsome Napoleon guns posted directly on a portion of these 18 acres, and fired over the heads of the Union infantrymen with devastating effect on the advancing Confederates.

This is some of the most historically significant land at Gettysburg that is still in private hands. Fortunately, the Lutheran Seminary has meticulously stewarded the land, and it is relatively unchanged from its 1863 appearance. But we need to protect it to ensure it can never be destroyed by development.

Due to the location of the land, we will not be applying for matching grants. The price tag is steep – $3.5 million – but I know that with your help, we can save this crucial piece of our history.

When you commit $49 or more, you will receive a special "I Helped Save Seminary Ridge" T-shirt as our thank you. When you commit $100 or more, your name will also appear on our new online donor-recognition wall, and donors who commit $200 or more will also have their names noted on the on-site donor-recognition signs at Lee’s Headquarters (another site that our supporters have helped to save), located just across the Chambersburg Pike from Seminary Ridge.

The future of this hallowed ground is in your hands. Please make your contribution today to protect this hallowed ground, forever.

’Til the battle is won,

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Jim Lighthizer
President, American Battlefield Trust

P.S. Please make history today and help save the site of the desperate fight on Seminary Ridge in the First Day’s battle of Gettysburg!
 
So the same Seminary that banned the Confederate flag on their grounds wants to ransom off their land on the battlefield and it will go to developers unless preservationists shell out $$$ to save it :cautious:
 
United Lutheran Seminary and Civil War Trust Announce Agreement to Protect Historic Seminary Ridge at Gettysburg

GETTYSBURG, Pa., May 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The United Lutheran Seminary today announced an agreement with the Civil War Trust to permanently preserve 18 acres of historic open space on Seminary Ridge in Gettysburg. The property, located on both sides of Seminary Ridge Road, has been a part of the Seminary since it moved to the site in 1832.

"This property is a gift from God and we are stewards of this gift. We have a deep love for the property and its unique historic and scenic character," ULS Acting President-Bishop James Dunlop said. "For generations, these qualities have inspired thousands of seminary students as well as visitors from across our nation and around the world."

Under the terms of the $3.5 million purchase agreement, the Trust will acquire an 11-acre portion of the United Lutheran Seminary property straddling Seminary Ridge Road and a conservation easement on 7 acres along Chambersburg Pike east of those two parcels.

"We feel, as stewards of this site for more than 180 years, that we have a sacred responsibility to see it is protected for future generations," Bishop Dunlop said. "We believe this land needs to be preserved for the next generations of seminarians, and others, to reflect upon, learn from, and appreciate."

In remarking on the agreement, Civil War Trust President James Lighthizer said: "We have long admired the Seminary's commitment to protecting and maintaining Seminary Ridge. We consider it a privilege to partner with the Seminary to permanently preserve this iconic landscape."

Conversations, about this agreement, began in 2015, and the Trust has already begun raising funds to preserve the property.

For the Gettysburg community, the ridge's open land is a favorite gathering place during special events each year. People assemble there on Independence Day to watch the fireworks from this high ground. It has been home to the Gettysburg Brass Band Festival for 21 years. And this August, the Seminary will host the 5th annual Gettysburg Brewfest, – with craft brewers, cider makers and food trucks.

Founded in Gettysburg as the Lutheran Theological Seminary in 1826, the educational institution moved to its present site on Seminary Ridge in 1832. It is the oldest continuously operating Lutheran seminary in the nation. In July 2017, it consolidated with the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia to become the United Lutheran Seminary.

The Gettysburg Seminary's 1832 building, named Schmucker Hall, figured prominently in the opening of the Battle of Gettysburg. Standing on high ground a half mile west of town, the campus became a focal point of the first day's fighting — making Seminary Ridge synonymous with that action and subsequent combat on July 2 and 3, 1863. Today, the building houses the Seminary Ridge Museum.

Adjacent to Gettysburg National Military Park and the Lee's Headquarters acreage protected by the Civil War Trust, the land that the Seminary will transfer to the Trust is of profound military significance, the bloodiest Gettysburg ground left in private hands, historians say.

The determined defense on Seminary Ridge by men from the Union's Iron Brigade and 24th Michigan Volunteer Infantry enabled the army to regroup and hold Cemetery Hill, key to the ultimate Federal victory at Gettysburg. Hundreds of soldiers from North and South were felled on the ground to be purchased by the Trust.

"On this ground occurred the end of the beginning of the Battle of Gettysburg and the beginning of the end of the Civil War," said Doug Douds, a retired Marine Corps colonel and Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide who teaches at the U.S. Army War College.


Entire article can be found here - http://markets.financialcontent.com/stocks/news/read?GUID=36251560

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
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