On Nov. 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln traveled to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to dedicate a cemetery at the site of the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. Four months before, about 50,000 soldiers had been killed, wounded or captured at the Battle of Gettysburg, later seen as a turning point in the war.
In his now-famous address, Lincoln described the site as “a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that (their) nation might live,” and called on “us the living” to finish their work. In the 160 years since, 1,328 monuments and memorials have been erected at Gettysburg National Military Park – including one for each of the 11 Confederate states.
Katrina Stack, a doctoral student, joined Rebecca Sheehan of Oklahoma State University to share the history behind some of the monuments on the Gettysburg battlefield and the impacts of policies enacted to preserve them. Read more at The Conversation.
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Contact:
Cindi King (865-974-0937, cking126@utk.edu)