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Use the zoom in menu to the right, to turn on features.
Click on features for popup window information.
This Gettysburg National Military Park Map is a handy way to quickly find
memorial locations in the military park area. The pull down menu has
Gettysburg Park features such as memorial names & marker names locations,
historic Gettysburg buildings, trails, land formations, and
historical points. Popular features and landmarks such as Little Round
Top, Devil's Den, Warfield Ridge, Cyclorama, Gettysburg Visitor Center,
Brian Barn, The Angle, The Peach Orchard, and most Memorials can be easily
found. All Gettysburg Memorial Locations and USGS feature locations are
indexed so you can find them with a flashing point.
Please contact the Gettysburg National Military Park Visitor Center to
find out more details on accessibility, new construction, and closures.
HISTORY OF THE BATTLE
THE CIVIL WAR IN ITS THIRD YEAR
Fought over the first three days of July 1863,
the Battle of Gettysburg was one of the most critical battles of the Civil War having
occurred at a time when the fate of the nation hung in the balance-
the summer of 1863.
Often referred to as the "High Water Mark of the Confederacy", it was the
culmination of the second and most abitious invasion of the North by General
Robert E. Lee and the "Army of Northern Virginia". The "Army of the
Potomac", the Union army that had long been the nemesis of Lee, met the
Confederate invasion at the crossroads town of Gettysburg and though it was
under a new commander, General George Gordon Meade, the northerners
fought with a desperation born of defending their home territory. The Union victory
at the Battle of Gettysburg resulted in Lee's retreat to Virginia and an
end to the hopes of the Confederacy for independence.
(LIBRARY OF CONGRESS)
An open air operation at Camp Letterman.
In the aftermath of the battle, every farm field was a graveyard and every
church, public building and even private homes were hospitals. Medical staff
were strained to treat so many wounded scattered about the county. To
meet the demand, Camp Letterman General Hospital was established east of
Gettysburg where all of the wounded were eventually taken to before
transport to permanent hospitals in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington.
Union surgeons worked with members of the U.S Sanitary
Commission and Christian Commission to treat and care for the over 20,000
injured Union and Confederate soldiers that passed through the hospital's
wards, housed under large tents. By January 1864, the last few remaining
patients were gone and so were the surgeons, guards, nurses, tents and
cookhouses. Only a temporary cemetery on the hillside remained as a
testament to the courageous battle to save lives that took place at Camp
Letterman.
(NATIONAL PARK SERVICE)
The Soldiers' Monument in the center of the Soldiers'
National Cemetery at Gettysburg.
Prominent Gettysburg residents became concerned with the poor conditions of
soldiers' graves scattered over the battlefield and at hospital sites, and
pleaded with Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin for state support to
purchase a portion of the battlefield to be set aside as a final resting
place for the defenders of the Union cause. Gettysburg lawyer David Wills
was appointed the state agent to coordinate the establishment of the new
"Soldiers' National Cemetery", which was designed by noted landscape
architect William Saunders. Removal of the Union dead to the cemetery began
in the fall of 1863, but would not be completed until long after the
cemetery grounds were dedicated on November 19, 1863. The dedication
ceremony featured orator Edward Everett and included solemn prayers, songs,
dirges to honor the men who died at Gettysburg. Yet, it was President
Abraham Lincoln who provided the most notable words in his two-minute long
address, eulogizing the Union soldiers buried at Gettysburg and reminding
those in attendance of their sacrifice for the Union cause, that they should
renew their devotion "to the cause for which they gave the last full measure
of devotion.."
(NATIONAL PARK SERVICE)
Ranger E. Rubalcava provides information during a
battlefield program.
Established by concerned citizens in 1864, the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial
Association set out to preserve portions of the battlefield as a memorial to
the Union troops that fought the battle. In 1895, the lands were
transferred to the Federal government and Gettysburg National Military Park
was established. Administered by a commission of Civil War veterans, the
park's primary purpose was to be a memorial to the two armies that fought
this pivtol battle, and to mark and preserve the battle lines of each army.
Administration of the park was transferred to the Department of the
Interior- National Park Service in 1933, which continues in its mission to
presevre and interpret the Battle of Gettysburg and the Gettysburg Address
to park visitors.
Source: NPS
For other National Park Web Samplers, please visit this directory:
National
Park Samplers
This Gettysburg National Military Park map is made with USGS point data
and 1-6 year old digital National Park data. In some areas some features
may be named wrong, or located wrong due to the age of the data. Viewers
should consider the map as general reference only.
Source: NPS,
USGS
Map Copyright ">CCCARTO
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