Gettysburg Battlefield#Memorial association era

{{For|the Gettysburg National Military Park areas not used for military engagements (e.g., field hospitals)|Gettysburg Battlefield Historic District}}

{{Infobox historic site

| name = Gettysburg Battlefield

| native_name =

| native_language =

| image = Gettysburg-Open-Battlefield.svg

| caption = The Battle of Gettysburg, which took place in and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania between July 1 and July 3, 1863

| type = Battlefield

| locmapin = Pennsylvania

| coordinates = {{Coord|39|48|41|N|77|13|33|W|display=inline,title}}

| location = Adams County, Pennsylvania, U.S.

| area =

| built =

| architect =

| architecture =

| website = [http://home.nps.gov/gett/index.htm Park Home (NPS.gov)]

| owner = private, federal

}}

The Gettysburg Battlefield is the area of the July 1–3, 1863, military engagements of the Battle of Gettysburg in and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Locations of military engagements extend from the {{convert|4|acre|adj=on}} site of the first shot{{cite news |last=Roth |first=Jeffrey B |date=September 7, 1988 |title=Boundary study draft report for Battlefield now complete |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ttUlAAAAIBAJ&pg=5155,1232261&dq=artillery+barlow-knoll&hl=en |access-date=2011-03-12 |quote=four acres, the site of the first shot of the opening battle at Gettysburg, which stands next to U.S. Route 30 and the Whistler house |archive-date=2023-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629045121/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ttUlAAAAIBAJ&pg=5155,1232261&dq=artillery+barlow-knoll&hl=en |url-status=live }} &
{{cite news |last=Storrick |first=William C |date=December 17, 1936 |title=Who Fired the First Shot At Battle of Gettysburg |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nPMlAAAAIBAJ&pg=880%2C6504159&dq=gettysburg+lohr%27s-hill&hl=en |access-date=2011-03-16 |archive-date=2023-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629045116/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nPMlAAAAIBAJ&pg=880%2C6504159&dq=gettysburg+lohr%27s-hill&hl=en |url-status=live }} at Knoxlyn Ridge{{cite news |date=June 21, 1882 |title=Another Reunion on the Battlefield |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hXcmAAAAIBAJ&pg=1636,4687949&dq=round-top+quarry+gettysburg&hl=en |format=Google News Archive |newspaper=Gettysburg Compiler |access-date=2011-03-15 |quote=About 6 a. m. July 1st, … as the leading regiment … started to cross [Marsh Creek bridge] Lieutenant [M. E.] Jones said "Hold on, I want the honor of firing the gun. … Capt. Callahan, of Pegram's Texas battery, which fired the first [artillery] shot in the battle from Lohr's hill, west of Marsh Creek}} on the west of the borough, to East Cavalry Field on the east. A military engagement prior to the battle was conducted at the Gettysburg Railroad trestle over Rock Creek, which was burned on June 27.{{cite web |url=http://voicesofgettysburg.com/sarah/ |title=Voices of Gettysburg: Sarah Broadhead |access-date=2015-09-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110901180654/http://voicesofgettysburg.com/sarah/ |archive-date=2011-09-01}}

Geography

File:PAmonument-Gettysburg.JPG, the battlefield's largest and one of over 12 state monuments]]

File:Gettysburg Battle-Field by John B. Bachelder - Original.png and Confederate troop positions]]

File:Gettysburgbattlefield.jpg, Oak Ridge, Culp's Hill), one on Little Round Top, and one on the closed Cyclorama Building]]

File:Gettysburg5.JPG, where Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863]]

Within {{convert|10|mi|km}} of the Maryland/Pennsylvania state line, the Gettysburg battlefield is situated in the Gettysburg-Newark Basin of the Pennsylvania Piedmont entirely within the Potomac River Watershed near the Marsh and Rock creeks' triple point, with the Susquehanna River Watershed (near Oak Hill) occupying an area {{convert|3.33|x|5.33|mi|1}}. Military engagements occurred within and around the borough of Gettysburg (1863 pop. 2,400), which remains the population center for the battlefield area at the intersections of roads that connect the borough with 10 nearby Pennsylvania and Maryland towns (e.g., antebellum turnpikes to Chambersburg, York, and Baltimore.)

=Topography=

File:Gettysburg battlefield view from little round top.jpg

The battle began on the west at Lohr's, Whistler's, School-House, and Knoxlyn ridges between Cashtown and Gettysburg. Nearer to Gettysburg, dismounted Union cavalry defended McPherson's Ridge and Herr's Ridge, and eventually infantry support arrived to defend Seminary Ridge at the borough's west side. Oak Ridge, a northward extension of both McPherson Ridge and Seminary Ridge, is capped by Oak Hill, a site for artillery that commanded a good area north of the town. Prior to Pickett's Charge, "159 guns stretching in a long line from the Peach Orchard to Oak Hill were to open simultaneously".{{Cite book |last=Coddington |first=Edwin B |year=1968 |title=The Gettysburg Campaign; a study in command |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P-7RMD77eQcC&pg=PA462 |format=Google Books |location=New York |publisher=Scribner's |isbn=0-684-84569-5 |page=462 |access-date=2011-02-08 |quote=159 guns stretching in a long line from the Peach Orchard to Oak Hill were to open simultaneously}}

Directly south of the town is the gently sloped Cemetery Hill named for the 1854 Evergreen Cemetery on its crest and where the 1863 Gettysburg Address dedicated the Gettysburg National Cemetery. Eastward are Culp's Hill and Steven's Knoll. Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill were subjected to assaults throughout the battle by Richard S. Ewell's Second Corps. Cemetery Ridge extends about {{convert|1|mi|km|adj=on}} south from Cemetery Hill.{{Cite web |last1=Ballard |first1=Ted |last2=Arthur |first2=Billy |url=http://www.history.army.mil/StaffRide/Gettysburg/gettysburg_2010.pdf |title=Gettysburg Staff Ride Briefing Book |location=Carlisle, Pennsylvania |publisher=United States Army Center of Military History |year=1999 |oclc=42908450 |access-date=2010-07-07 |archive-date=2011-04-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430051147/http://www.history.army.mil/StaffRide/Gettysburg/gettysburg_2010.pdf |url-status=dead }}

Southward from Cemetery Hill is Cemetery Ridge of only about 40 feet (12 m) above the surrounding terrain. The ridge includes The Angle's stone wall and the copse of trees at the High-water mark of the Confederacy during Pickett's Charge. The southern end of Cemetery Ridge is Weikert Hill, north of Little Round Top.{{Cite report |last=Inners |first=Jon D. |display-authors=etal |year=2006 |title=Rifts, Diabase, and the Topographic "Fishhook": Terrain … of the Battle of Gettysburg |url=http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/topogeo/pub/openfile/pdfs/of06_02_cov_p018.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120928075014/http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/topogeo/pub/openfile/pdfs/of06_02_cov_p018.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 28, 2012 |publisher=Pennsylvania Geological Survey |access-date=2011-02-18}}

The two highest battlefield points are at Round Top to the south with the higher round summit of Big Round Top, the lower oval summit of Little Round Top, and a saddle between. The Round Tops are rugged and strewn with large boulders; as is Devil's Den to the west. [Big] Round Top, known also to locals of the time as Sugar Loaf, is {{convert|116|ft|m}} higher than its Little companion. Its steep slopes are heavily wooded, which made it unsuitable for siting artillery without a large effort to climb the heights with horse-drawn guns and clear lines of fire; Little Round Top was unwooded, but its steep and rocky form made it difficult to deploy artillery in mass. However, Cemetery Hill was an excellent site for artillery, commanding all of the Union lines on Cemetery Ridge and the approaches to them. Little Round Top and Devil's Den were key locations for General John Bell Hood's division in Longstreet's assault during the second day of battle, July 2, 1863. The Plum Run Valley between Houck's Ridge and the Round Tops earned the name Valley of Death on that day.

=Borough areas of military engagements=

The area of the military engagements during the battle included the majority of the 1863 town area and the current borough area. The broadest regions of borough military engagements are the combat area of the Union retreat while being pursued on July 1, as well as the burg's area over which artillery rounds were fired. Confederate artillery fired from Oak Hill southeastward onto the retreated Union line extending east-to-west from Culp's Hill to the west side of Cemetery Hill,{{When|date=April 2011}} and Union artillery on Cemetery Hill fired on the railway cut (including Wiedrich's battery ~5 pm).{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wcP3h87K35cC&pg=PA74 |title=The Artillery of Gettysburg |isbn=9781581826234 |access-date=1 February 2015 |last1=Gottfried |first1=Bradley M. |year=2008|publisher=Cumberland House }} Smaller engagements in the town included those with some federals remaining in/near structures after the retreat (e.g., wounded soldiers not willing to surrender). The largest engagement within the current borough was at Coster Avenue (north of the 1863 town) in which Early's division defeated Coster's brigade. The town was generally held by the Confederate provost and used by snipers after the dawn of July 2 (e.g., a brickyard behind the McCreary House,{{Cite book |last=Trudeau |first=Noah Andre |title=Gettysburg: Test of Courage |date=14 September 2010 |publisher=Harper Collins |isbn=9780062045522 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=izNVLpCAt8YC&pg=PA275 |access-date=2011-03-12}}{{Rp|282}} the John Rupp Tannery on Baltimore St,{{cite web |url=http://www.friendsofgettysburg.org/FriendsofGettysburg/RuppHouseMuseum.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110207071107/http://www.friendsofgettysburg.org/FriendsofGettysburg/RuppHouseMuseum.aspx |archive-date=2011-02-07 |title=Gettysburg Foundation: Rupp House}}{{Cite book |last=Nasby |first=Dolly |year=2008 |title=Gettysburg |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m6Gc_ak6e5YC&q=%22Dolly+Nasby%22+gettysburg |format=Google Books |page=15 |publisher=Arcadia |isbn=9780738557687 |access-date=2011-03-11 |archive-date=2023-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629045116/https://books.google.com/books?id=m6Gc_ak6e5YC&q=%22Dolly+Nasby%22+gettysburg |url-status=live }} and a church belfry).{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vd05QRZkCokC&pg=PA143 |title=Meade of Gettysburg |isbn=9780806122984 |access-date=1 February 2015 |last1=Cleaves |first1=Freeman |year=1960|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press }} A Confederate skirmish line at Breckenridge Street faced Federals on Cemetery Hill,{{Cite web |date=June 28, 2002 |title=Heritage Sites Walking Tour |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rgAyAAAAIBAJ&pg=5781,5950066&dq=globe-inn+gettysburg&hl=en |access-date=2011-03-12 |quote=14. … Confederate … skirmish line along Breckenridge Street facing … Federal[s] … on Cemetery Hill. |archive-date=2023-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629045122/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rgAyAAAAIBAJ&pg=5781,5950066&dq=globe-inn+gettysburg&hl=en |url-status=live }} and ~7 pm July 1, "the Confederate line of battle had been formed on East and West Middle Streets".{{cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/archive/gett/getttour/sidebar/skelly.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061230000059/http://www.nps.gov/archive/gett/getttour/sidebar/skelly.htm |archive-date=2006-12-30 |title=Daniel Skelly and "A Boy's Experiences During the Battle of Gettysburg"}}

History

{{For|this area's history during the battle's first day, second day, Pickett's Charge, and third day cavalry battles|Battle of Gettysburg}}

File:Robert-E-Lee-by-Sievers.jpg and the group statue on the front was placed in 1916.]]

At the close of the battle, some of the ~22,000 wounded remained on the battlefield and were subsequently treated at the outlying Camp Letterman hospital or nearby field hospitals, houses, churches, and other buildings.{{Cite web |title=Camp Letterman General Hospital |url=http://www.nps.gov/archive/gett/getttour/sidebar/letterman.htm |work=Voices of Battle |year=1864 |access-date=2011-02-01 |quote=Union dead in the camp [Letterman] graveyard were removed to the Soldiers National Cemetery in [from which] southern remains were exhumed between 1872 and 1873 for relocation to southern cemeteries. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110403061420/http://www.nps.gov/archive/gett/getttour/sidebar/letterman.htm |archive-date=2011-04-03}} Dead soldiers on the battlefield totaled 8,900; and contractors such as David Warren{{cite news |date=July 14, 1986 |title=Care of wounded after Battle of Gettysburg & Reburial of Union dead in National Cemetery |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=l8IlAAAAIBAJ&pg=1343,5540040&dq=round-top+railroad+gettysburg+1939&hl=en |access-date=2011-02-23 |archive-date=2023-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629045117/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=l8IlAAAAIBAJ&pg=1343,5540040&dq=round-top+railroad+gettysburg+1939&hl=en |url-status=live }}{{Rp|8}} were hired to bury men and animals (the majority near where they fell). Samuel Weaver oversaw all of these reburials. The first excursion train arrived with battlefield visitors on July 5.{{Cite book |last=Cleaves |first=Freeman |year=1960 |title=Meade at Gettysburg |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=9780806122984 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vd05QRZkCokC&pg=PA175 |format=Google books |access-date=2011-03-14 |quote=The first battlefield excursion train from Harrisburg arrived promptly on Sunday, July 5.}}

On July 10, Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin visited Gettysburg and expressed the state's interest in finding the fallen veterans a resting place. Attorney David Wills arranged for the purchase of {{convert|17|acre|ha}} of Cemetery Hill battlefield land for a cemetery. On August 14, 1863, attorney David McConaughy recommended a preservation association to sell membership stock for battlefield fundraising.{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5CAmAAAAIBAJ&pg=1064,3588203&dq=mcconaughy+cemetery-hill+gettysburg&hl=en |title=Gettysburg Times - Google News Archive Search |work=google.com |access-date=1 February 2015 |archive-date=29 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629045618/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5CAmAAAAIBAJ&pg=1064,3588203&dq=mcconaughy+cemetery-hill+gettysburg&hl=en |url-status=live }} By September 16, 1863, battlefield protection had begun with McConaughy's purchase of "the heights of Cemetery Hill and" Little Round Top,{{cite news |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |date=September 16, 1863 |title=More Exempts from the Draft |url=https://www.google.com/search?q=%22granite+spur+of+Round+Top%22 |access-date=2011-01-23 |quote=Cemetery Hill and the granite spur of Round Top … purchased by Mr. D. McConaughy |archive-date=2023-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629045626/https://www.google.com/search?q=%22granite+spur+of+Round+Top%22 |url-status=live }} and his total purchased area of {{convert|600|acre|ha}} included Culp's Hill land.

On November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery, which was completed in March 1864 with the last of 3,512 Union reburied. From 1870 to 1873, upon the initiative of the Ladies Memorial Associations of Richmond, Raleigh, Savannah, and Charleston, 3,320 bodies were disinterred and sent to cemeteries in those cities for reburial, 2,935 being interred in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond. Seventy-three bodies were reburied in home cemeteries. The cemetery was transferred to the United States government May 1872,{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QAgTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA18 |title=The Soldiers' National Cemetery at Gettysburg |work=google.com |access-date=1 February 2015 |last1=Bartlett |first1=John Russell |year=1874}} and the last Battle of Gettysburg body was reburied in the national cemetery after being discovered in 1997.{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=1930+gettysburg&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ncl=dJ1qKz6T7Mtg7tM&hl=en&ei=lSthTcOiBYLWtQOGmeXWCA&sa=X&oi=news_result&ct=more-results&resnum=5&ved=0CDsQqgIwBA |title=Google News |work=google.com |access-date=1 February 2015 |archive-date=29 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629070005/http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=1930+gettysburg&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ncl=dJ1qKz6T7Mtg7tM&hl=en&ei=lSthTcOiBYLWtQOGmeXWCA&sa=X&oi=news_result&ct=more-results&resnum=5&ved=0CDsQqgIwBA |url-status=live }}

Union Gettysburg veteran Emmor Cope was detailed to annotate the battlefield's troop positions{{Cite book |last1=Reed |first1=Charles Wellington |editor=Campbell, Eric A |year=2000 |title=A Grand Terrible Dramma |publisher=Fordham Univ Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tIiHMTa4K30C&pg=PA288 |format=Google Books |isbn=0-8232-1971-2 |issn=1089-8719 |access-date=2011-02-14}} and his "Map of the Battlefield of Gettysburg from the original survey made August to October, 1863" was displayed at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition.{{cite news |date=March 30, 1904 |title=The Exhibit to Worlds Fair |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=8f0lAAAAIBAJ&pg=1355,8309042&dq=sedgwick+round-top+gettysburg&hl=en |format=Google News Archive |newspaper=Gettysburg Compiler |access-date=2011-02-17 |archive-date=2023-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629045620/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=8f0lAAAAIBAJ&pg=1355,8309042&dq=sedgwick+round-top+gettysburg&hl=en |url-status=live }} Also in 1863, John B. Bachelder escorted convalescing officers at Gettysburg to identify battlefield locations{{Cite report |last=Hampton |first=Wade |author-link=Wade Hampton III |date=March 17, 1880 |title=Report of U.S. Senate Military Affairs Committee}} (during the next winter he interviewed Union officers about Gettysburg).

=Memorial association era=

File:Gettysburg Battlefield 1st Minnesota Infantry Regiment Monument.jpg

The 1864 Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association (GBMA) added to McConaughy's land holdings and operated a wooden observation tower on East Cemetery Hill from 1878 to 1895.{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=iXhbAAAAIBAJ&pg=7042,3905909&dq=zeigler+grove+tower+gettysburg&hl=en |title=Gettysburg Times - Google News Archive Search |work=google.com |access-date=1 February 2015 |archive-date=29 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629045623/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=iXhbAAAAIBAJ&pg=7042,3905909&dq=zeigler+grove+tower+gettysburg&hl=en |url-status=live }}{{cite news |date=August 7, 1971 |title=Demise Of 1st Tower Is Located |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HXglAAAAIBAJ&pg=1298,1806035&dq=calvin-gilbert+tower+gettysburg&hl=en |access-date=2011-03-13 |archive-date=2023-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629045620/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HXglAAAAIBAJ&pg=1298,1806035&dq=calvin-gilbert+tower+gettysburg&hl=en |url-status=live }} ([https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=9qGwjJavaBUC&dat=18950730&printsec=frontpage Gettysburg Compiler of July 30, 1895 )] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222211227/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=9qGwjJavaBUC&dat=18950730&printsec=frontpage |date=December 22, 2015 }} Post-war, John Bachelder invited over 1,000 officers, including 49 generals, to revisit the field with him. Bachelder also produced a battlefield survey with 1880 federal funds (initiated by Senator Wade Hampton III, a Confederate general). The GBMA approved and disapproved various monuments and in 1888 planted trees at Zeigler's Grove. The 1st battlefield monument was an 1867 marble urn in the National Cemetery dedicated to the 1st Minnesota Infantry, and the 1st memorial outside of the cemetery was the [http://www.hscl.cr.nps.gov/insidenps/report.asp?STATE=&PARK=GETT&RECORDNO=323 1878 Strong Vincent tablet] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721060245/http://www.hscl.cr.nps.gov/insidenps/report.asp?STATE=&PARK=GETT&RECORDNO=323 |date=2011-07-21 }} on Little Round Top.{{Citation |last=Vanderslice |first=John M |year=1897 |title=Gettysburg: A History of the Gettysburg Battle-field Memorial Association With An Account of the Battle… |url=http://www.gdg.org/Research/Monuments/gbmahist.html |publisher=Gettysburg Battle Memorial Association (commissioned 1895) |location=Philadelphia |pages=210 |quote=Marye's Virginia artillery, posted on Lohr's Hill, opened fire ... artillery had kep up a fire successively from Lohr's, Whistler's, and School-House Ridges. … Devin's brigade had its hands full. The enemy advanced upon it by four roads, and on each was checked until the infantry arrived to relieve it. |access-date=2011-02-10 |archive-date=2011-07-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726075627/http://www.gdg.org/Research/Monuments/gbmahist.html |url-status=live }}{{Rp|210}} By May 1887 there were 90 regimental and battery monuments on the battlefield,{{cite web |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1888/06/11/106325030.pdf |title=NEW-YORK AT GETTYSBURG. |date=11 June 1888 |work=The New York Times |access-date=1 February 2015 |archive-date=18 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221118010335/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1888/06/11/106325030.pdf |url-status=live }} and the first bronze monument on the battlefield was Reynolds' 1872 statue in the cemetery.{{Citation |last=Unrau |first=Harlan D |year=1991 |title=Administrative History of Gettysburg National Military Park and Gettysburg National Cemetery, Pennsylvania |url=http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/gett/adhi.pdf |format=2005 NPS Butowski pdf |location=Denver |publisher=National Park Service |oclc=24228617 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020074708/http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/gett/adhi.pdf |archive-date=2012-10-20}} also at [https://books.google.com/books?id=pWZ3AAAAMAAJ Google books] The only two Confederate monuments inside the Union areas of battle held are an 1887 plaque near The Angle commemorating Gen Armistead's farthest advance on July 3 and the 1884 2nd Maryland Infantry monument on Culp's Hill.

The battlefield was used by the 1884 Camp Gettysburg and other summer encampments of the PA National Guard. Commercial development in the 19th century included the 1884 Round Top Branch of railroad to Round Top, Pennsylvania, and after March 1892, Tipton Park operated in the Slaughter Pen{{cite web |year=1892 |title=Tipton Boundary Marker; (documented 2004) |url=http://www.hscl.cr.nps.gov/insidenps/report.asp?PARK=GETT&RECORDNO=1007 |at=(structure ID MN807, LCS ID 080808) List of Classified Structures: [https://web.archive.org/web/20120917143045/http://www.hscl.cr.nps.gov/insidenps/summary.asp?PARK=GETT&PAGE=41 GETT p. 41] |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=2011-03-02 |quote=approximately, 7"x7"x1'. Inscribed "T" on top of marker. … rough granite with a "T" inscribed on the top. … at a corner of Tipton land purchased in March 1892 as part of the Tipton Park and photographic studio. |archive-date=2012-09-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120917142920/http://www.hscl.cr.nps.gov/insidenps/report.asp?PARK=GETT&RECORDNO=1007 |url-status=dead }} NOTE: [http://www.hscl.cr.nps.gov/insidenps/report.asp?STATE=&PARK=GETT&STRUCTURE=&SORT=&RECORDNO=1011 The federal survey to determine the extent of the railway was initiated in 1893.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120915202953/http://www.hscl.cr.nps.gov/insidenps/report.asp?STATE=&PARK=GETT&STRUCTURE=&SORT=&RECORDNO=1011 |date=2012-09-15 }}—which was at a trolley station of the Gettysburg Electric Railway that operated from 1894 to 1916.

The federal Gettysburg National Park Commission was established on March 3, 1893;{{Cite web |year=1908 |title=Gettysburg National Military Park Marker |url=http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=14520 |format=HMdb.org webpage for marker 14520 |publisher=War Department |access-date=2011-02-08 |archive-date=2011-07-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726152036/http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=14520 |url-status=live }} ([http://www.hscl.cr.nps.gov/insidenps/report.asp?STATE=&PARK=GETT&STRUCTURE=entrance_station&SORT=&RECORDNO=755 NPS webpage, MN508)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721060159/http://www.hscl.cr.nps.gov/insidenps/report.asp?STATE=&PARK=GETT&STRUCTURE=entrance_station&SORT=&RECORDNO=755 |date=2011-07-21 }} after which Congressman Daniel Sickles initiated a May 31, 1894, resolution “to acquire by purchase (or by condemnation) … such lands, or interests in lands, upon or in the vicinity of said battle field."{{Cite web |last=Hessler |first=James |title=Dan Sickles: The Battlefield Preservationist |url=http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/on-the-homefront/battlefield-preservation/dan-sickles-the-battlefield.html |publisher=Civil War Trust |access-date=2011-02-01 |quote=incorporated the Gettysburg Electric Railway Company in 1892 |archive-date=2011-09-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110918032157/http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/on-the-homefront/battlefield-preservation/dan-sickles-the-battlefield.html |url-status=dead}} The memorial association era{{Cite report |last=Musselman |first=Curt |year=2001 |title=Gettysburg's Codori Farm Lane Project |url=http://www.georgewright.org/191musselman.pdf |page=1 |access-date=2011-01-30 |archive-date=2010-12-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101217060014/http://georgewright.org/191musselman.pdf |url-status=live }} ended in 1895 when the "Sickles Gettysburg Park Bill" (28 Stat. 651) designated the Gettysburg National Military Park (GNMP) under the War Department.{{cite news |date=February 10, 1970 |title=Gettysburg National Military Park Established By Sickles, Bill Passed In February 1895 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HHQlAAAAIBAJ&pg=4065,1632115&dq=sickles+1894&hl=en |access-date=2011-01-26 |archive-date=2023-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629045619/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HHQlAAAAIBAJ&pg=4065,1632115&dq=sickles+1894&hl=en |url-status=live }} Subsequent battlefield improvements included the October 1895 construction of the War Department's observation towers to replace the 1878 Cemetery Hill tower and an 1881 Big Round Top tower.{{cite news |date=July 20, 1881 |title=New Observatory |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=OTBXYDkIvNoC&dat=18810720&printsec=frontpage |format=Google News Archive |newspaper=The Star and Sentinel |page=3, col. 3 |access-date=2011-03-13 |archive-date=2015-12-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222150043/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=OTBXYDkIvNoC&dat=18810720&printsec=frontpage |url-status=live }}

=Commemorative era=

File:Statue of Gen. Wells at Gettysburg.jpg by J. Otto Schweizer on the battlefield]]

For payment of the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association's debts of $1960.46, on February 4, 1896, the War Department acquired 124 GBMA tracts totaling {{Convert|522|acres|ha|0}},{{Citation |author=Battlefield Memorial Association |date=February 4, 1896 |title=Deed [to United States of America]; recorded June 25 |location=Adams County Courthouse, Deed Book XX}} including 320 monuments and about {{convert|17|mi|km}} of roads.{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=cq1cAAAAIBAJ&pg=6143,5100239&dq=battlefield-memorial+gettysburg+1880&hl=en |title=Gettysburg Compiler - Google News Archive Search |work=google.com |access-date=1 February 2015 |archive-date=29 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629050121/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=cq1cAAAAIBAJ&pg=6143,5100239&dq=battlefield-memorial+gettysburg+1880&hl=en |url-status=live }} Commercial development after Tipton Park was abolished in the fall of 1901 included the July 1902 Hudson Park picnic grove north of Little Round Top{{cite news |date=July 2, 1902 |title=We Have Another Park |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=OTBXYDkIvNoC&dat=19020702&printsec=frontpage |format=Google News Archives |newspaper=The Star and Sentinel |page=3. col. 5 |access-date=2011-02-06 |quote=The Electric Railway Company, under the superintendency of H. J. Gintling, is busily engaged preparing for encampment week, and the work of putting in new machinery is progressing rapidly. |archive-date=2015-12-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222194219/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=OTBXYDkIvNoC&dat=19020702&printsec=frontpage |url-status=live }} (p. 3. col. 1) (including a boxing arena).{{cite news |title=Dr. E. D. Hudson Succumbs to Heart Attack |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Ho0lAAAAIBAJ&pg=1139,5616313&dq=doctor-hudson+gettysburg&hl=en |format=Google News Archives |newspaper=The Star and Sentinel |access-date=2011-01-26 |archive-date=2023-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629050138/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Ho0lAAAAIBAJ&pg=1139,5616313&dq=doctor-hudson+gettysburg&hl=en |url-status=live }} A dancing pavilion was erected at the Round Top Museum in 1902,{{cite news |date=May 25, 1927 |title=Local Miscellany |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-OIlAAAAIBAJ&pg=2075,2259040&dq=rosensteel+pavilion+dancing+gettysburg&hl=en |work=Out of the Past: Twenty-Five Years Ago |access-date=2011-02-18 |archive-date=2023-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629050123/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-OIlAAAAIBAJ&pg=2075,2259040&dq=rosensteel+pavilion+dancing+gettysburg&hl=en |url-status=live }} and in the saddle area between the Round Tops, David Weikert operated an eating house moved from Tipton Park after it was seized in 1901 by eminent domain.{{cite news |date=August 9, 1927 |title=Local Miscellany |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kaklAAAAIBAJ&pg=1963,6181203&dq=hudson-park+gettysburg&hl=en |work=Out of the Past: Twenty-Five Years Ago |access-date=2011-01-26 |archive-date=2023-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629050119/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kaklAAAAIBAJ&pg=1963,6181203&dq=hudson-park+gettysburg&hl=en |url-status=live }} Landscape preservation began in 1883 when peach trees were planted in the Peach Orchard,{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rncmAAAAIBAJ&pg=2367,6354510&dq=1883+railroad+gettysburg&hl=en |title=Gettysburg Compiler - Google News Archive Search |work=google.com |access-date=1 February 2015 |archive-date=29 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629050122/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rncmAAAAIBAJ&pg=2367,6354510&dq=1883+railroad+gettysburg&hl=en |url-status=live }} and 20,000 battlefield trees were planted in 1906{{cite web |title=The Gettysburg Commission Reports |url=http://www.gdg.org/Research/Authored%20Items/BCRReports/rprthm.html |format=transcribed versions: 1893–1921, 1927–1933 |location=Gettysburg Discussion Group |access-date=2010-02-04 |archive-date=2011-06-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606160410/http://www.gdg.org/Research/Authored%20Items/BCRReports/rprthm.html |url-status=live }} (original formats: [https://books.google.com/books?id=cT5ZAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA21 1895], [https://books.google.com/books?id=cT5ZAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA29 1896], [https://books.google.com/books?id=cT5ZAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA37 1897], [https://books.google.com/books?id=cT5ZAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA43 1989], [https://books.google.com/books?id=cT5ZAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA69 1901], [https://books.google.com/books?id=iRBg29w8_7IC&q=Annual+Reports+of+the+War+Department+for+the+Fiscal+Year+Ended+June+30,+1902 1902] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629050125/https://books.google.com/books?id=iRBg29w8_7IC&q=Annual+Reports+of+the+War+Department+for+the+Fiscal+Year+Ended+June+30,+1902 |date=2023-06-29 }}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=47YsAAAAIAAJ 1909], [https://books.google.com/books?id=WZodAQAAIAAJ 1913], [https://books.google.com/books?id=cpIsAAAAIAAJ 1918)]{{Rp|'06}} (trees are periodically removed from battlefield areas that had been logged prior to the battle.)

Battlefield visitors through the early 20th century typically arrived by train at the borough's 1884 Gettysburg & Harrisburg RR Station{{cite news |date=February 8, 1988 |title=The Gettysburg & Harrisburg railroad station |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=N5UyAAAAIBAJ&pg=6407,3701307&dq=railroad-station+1884+gettysburg&hl=en |access-date=2011-02-17 |archive-date=2023-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629050659/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=N5UyAAAAIBAJ&pg=6407,3701307&dq=railroad-station+1884+gettysburg&hl=en |url-status=live }} or the 1859 Gettysburg Railroad Station and used horse-drawn jitneys to tour the battlefield. The borough licensed automobile taxis first in 1913,{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=waRcAAAAIBAJ&pg=6534,179391&dq=hackmen+gettysburg&hl=en |title=Gettysburg Times - Google News Archive Search |work=google.com |access-date=1 February 2015 |archive-date=29 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629050621/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=waRcAAAAIBAJ&pg=6534,179391&dq=hackmen+gettysburg&hl=en |url-status=live }} and the War Department expanded the battlefield roads throughout the commemorative era. Early 20th century battlefield excursions included those by "The Hod Carriers Consolidated Union of Baltimore"{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=FaMlAAAAIBAJ&pg=7125,5897246&dq=hackmen+gettysburg&hl=en |title=Gettysburg Times - Google News Archive Search |work=google.com |access-date=1 February 2015 |archive-date=29 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629050656/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=FaMlAAAAIBAJ&pg=7125,5897246&dq=hackmen+gettysburg&hl=en |url-status=live }} and the annual "Topton Day" autumn foliage tours from near Berks County, Pennsylvania.{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JsBcAAAAIBAJ&pg=1026,1519328&dq=topton-day&hl=en |title=Adams County News - Google News Archive Search |work=google.com |access-date=1 February 2015 |archive-date=29 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629050622/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JsBcAAAAIBAJ&pg=1026,1519328&dq=topton-day&hl=en |url-status=live }}

Veterans reunions included the 1888 25th battle anniversary, a 1906 ceremony to return Gen Armistead's sword to the South.{{Cite book |last=Frazier |first=John W |year=1906 |title=Reunion of the Blue and Gray: Philadelphia Brigade and Pickett's Division |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QeNYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA10 |location=Philadelphia |publisher=Ware Bros, Company, Printers |format=Google Books |access-date=2011-02-06}} and 53,407 civil war veterans attending the 1913 Gettysburg reunion for the 50th anniversary.{{Cite report |editor-last=Beitler |editor-first=Lewis Eugene |date=December 31, 1913 |title=Report of the Pennsylvania Commission |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=swkTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA168 |format=Google Books |location=Harrisburg, PA |publisher=Wm. Stanley Bay (state printer) |access-date=2011-02-06}} The battlefield had a 1912 airfield at Camp Stuart and a WWI Tank Corps center at Brevet Lt. Col. Dwight D. Eisenhower's 1918 Camp Colt, and excursions to the Round Top Park brought alcohol and prostitution.{{Cite report |date=1918 |title=[inspecting officer's findings] |quote=This Round Top Park area is frequented by prostitutes … from Gettysburg [and via] excursions from the neighboring towns… These excursions bring in … beer and whiskey which they give or sell to the soldiers. … On a single evening over 50 couples were detected and driven from hiding places behind the tablets, monuments, rocks and trees of the reservation.}} The 1922 Camp Harding included a Marine Corps reenactment of Pickett's Charge observed by President Warren Harding and a next-day simulation of the same attack with modern weapons and tactics.{{cite news |last=Weaver |first=William G |date=November 13, 1967 |title=Reminisces Of Gettysburg |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=uFFAAAAAIBAJ&pg=867,5019829&dq=zeigler+grove+tower+gettysburg&hl=en |access-date=2011-03-14 |archive-date=2023-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629050624/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=uFFAAAAAIBAJ&pg=867,5019829&dq=zeigler+grove+tower+gettysburg&hl=en |url-status=live }}

The battlefield's commemorative era ended in 1927,{{Cite report |date=March 1998 |title=…Historians Peer Review of the Process Developed by GNMP … |url=http://www.nps.gov/archive/gett/gettplan/gmp99archive/histrev.htm |work=General Management Plan 1999 History |publisher=NPS.gov |access-date=2011-02-13 |quote=1927 - The end of the era of battlefield administration by veterans. 1927 marks the death of Supt. Emmor B. Cope. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512232143/http://www.nps.gov/archive/gett/gettplan/gmp99archive/histrev.htm |archive-date=2008-05-12}} and use of the national park for military camps continued under an 1896 federal law (29 Stat. 120), e.g., a 1928 artillery and cavalry camp was held at Culp's Hill in conjunction with President Calvin Coolidge's Memorial Day address in the cemetery's rostrum.

=Development era=

File:Gettysburg Battlefield Panorama April 1933.webm

In 1933, administration of the GNMP transferred to the 1916 National Park Service (NPS), which initiated Great Depression projects including 1933 Civil Works Administration improvements,{{cite news |date=November 20, 1933 |title=Re-employment Office Set Up |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QMY9AAAAIBAJ&pg=7094,1750731&dq=gettysburg+emergency-relief-administration&hl=en |format=Google News Archives |newspaper=New Oxford Item |access-date=2011-02-20 |archive-date=2023-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629050622/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QMY9AAAAIBAJ&pg=7094,1750731&dq=gettysburg+emergency-relief-administration&hl=en |url-status=live }} and two Civilian Conservation Corps camps were subsequently built for battlefield maintenance and construction projects. After a 1933 comfort station had been built at The Pennsylvania State Memorial,{{Rp|'33}} similar stone Parkitecture structures were built (the west ranger station was completed May 21, 1937),{{cite news |date=May 21, 1937 |title=1 of 2 Entrance Stations Opens For Public Use |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=1PAlAAAAIBAJ&pg=1953,6722697&dq=comfort-stations+gettysburg+1937&hl=en |access-date=2011-02-19 |archive-date=2023-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629051123/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=1PAlAAAAIBAJ&pg=1953,6722697&dq=comfort-stations+gettysburg+1937&hl=en |url-status=live }} — {{cite news |date=July 16, 1934 |title=Plan $50,000 Battlefield Project Here |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=RgkmAAAAIBAJ&pg=6430,469583&dq=comfort-stations+gettysburg&hl=en |access-date=2011-02-08 |archive-date=2023-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629051124/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=RgkmAAAAIBAJ&pg=6430,469583&dq=comfort-stations+gettysburg&hl=en |url-status=live }} and in April 1938, the Works Progress Administration added battlefield parking areas.{{cite news |date=April 18, 1938 |title=Gettysburg Area to Be Renovated for Reunion |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZmNeAAAAIBAJ&pg=2801,4484036&dq=1938+roosevelt+gettysburg&hl=en |format=Google News Archive |newspaper=Lawrence Journal-World |access-date=2011-02-19 |quote=…a $25,000 "face-lifting" for the reunion of the Blue and the Gray. A corps of WPA workers will start possibly this week to obliterate abandoned roadways, reconstruct those now in use, develop parking areas and repaint signs and fences. |archive-date=2023-02-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230224042006/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZmNeAAAAIBAJ&pg=2801,4484036&dq=1938+roosevelt+gettysburg&hl=en |url-status=live }} — {{cite news |date=December 1, 1933 |title=$52,200 Civil Works Project Approved Here |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=aSAmAAAAIBAJ&pg=6335,5691501&dq=civil-works+battlefield+gettysburg&hl=en |access-date=2011-03-15 |archive-date=2023-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629051140/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=aSAmAAAAIBAJ&pg=6335,5691501&dq=civil-works+battlefield+gettysburg&hl=en |url-status=live }} Numerous commercial facilities were also developed on private battlefield land, particularly during the 1950s "Golden Age of Capitalism" in the United States (e.g., motels, eateries, & visitor attractions).

The battlefield's 2nd largest monument, the Eternal Light Peace Memorial, was accepted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and unveiled at the 1938 Gettysburg reunion that attracted over 300,000 battlefield visitors. In 1939, the 1st of the Gettysburg National Museum's 14 expansions was completed (the electric map auditorium was added in 1963 and closed April 13, 2008).{{Cite web |title=homepage |url=http://savetheelectricmap.com/ |publisher=SaveTheElectricMap.com |access-date=2011-03-13 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110128093741/http://savetheelectricmap.com/ |archive-date=2011-01-28}} Pitzer Woods was the site of the World War II Camp Sharpe, and McMillan Woods had a German POW camp (the latter was used for post-war housing of migrant workers for local production). Heads-of-state at the battlefield included a 1943 Winston Churchill auto tour with President Roosevelt,{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=eIMlAAAAIBAJ&pg=6052,3864637&dq=gettysburg+peace-memorial&hl=en |title=Gettysburg Times - Google News Archive Search |work=google.com |access-date=1 February 2015 |archive-date=29 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629051124/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=eIMlAAAAIBAJ&pg=6052,3864637&dq=gettysburg+peace-memorial&hl=en |url-status=live }} President Eisenhower escorting President Charles De Gaulle (1960), and President Jimmy Carter hosting President Anwar Sadat and Prime Minister Menachem Begin (1978).{{cite web |url=http://www.gettysburgdaily.com/?p=5922 |title=President Jimmy Carter at Gettysburg Part 2: Licensed Battlefield Guide Bob Prosperi |work=Gettysburg Daily |date=30 October 2009 |access-date=1 February 2015 |archive-date=20 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120920064103/http://www.gettysburgdaily.com/?p=5922 |url-status=live }}

The 1956 Mission 66 plan for the 1966 NPS 50th anniversary included restoring battlefield houses, resurfacing {{convert|31|mi|km}} of avenues, replacing the railway cut bridge,{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=_UcmAAAAIBAJ&pg=2918,2334330&dq=cyclorama+1958+gettysburg&hl=en |title=Gettysburg Times - Google News Archive Search |work=google.com |access-date=1 February 2015 |archive-date=29 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629051137/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=_UcmAAAAIBAJ&pg=2918,2334330&dq=cyclorama+1958+gettysburg&hl=en |url-status=live }} and restoring the 1884 Gettysburg Cyclorama.

=1962–present=

As the Mission 66 Cyclorama Building at Gettysburg with a new battlefield observation deck was being completed in 1962, the nearby 1896 Zeigler's Grove observation tower was removed (the 1895 Big Round Top observation tower was removed in 1968). In 1967, the NPS purchased the 1921 Gettysburg National Museum,{{cite news |date=April 2, 1975 |title=Pickett Spur New Addition To Park Relic Collection |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=R3QlAAAAIBAJ&pg=1745,2357448&dq=rosensteel+round-top&hl=en |access-date=2011-02-20 |archive-date=2023-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629051124/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=R3QlAAAAIBAJ&pg=1745,2357448&dq=rosensteel+round-top&hl=en |url-status=live }} which the NPS operated from 1971{{Cite journal |last=Huntington |first=Tom |date=Spring–Summer 2008 |volume=38 |issue=4 |title=Gettysburg Redux |url=http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/2008/4/2008_4_10_dept.shtml |journal=American Heritage; History News |access-date=2011-01-26 |archive-date=2009-09-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090916062354/http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/2008/4/2008_4_10_dept.shtml |url-status=live }}-2008. Also in 1971, the NPS acquired Round Top Station and the Round Top Museum, using the latter as an environmental resource center{{cite news |date=December 28, 1971 |title=Nature Study Areas Are Set For Park Here |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7K0lAAAAIBAJ&pg=5014,383941&dq=round-top-museum&hl=en |access-date=2011-01-26 |archive-date=2023-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629051700/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7K0lAAAAIBAJ&pg=5014,383941&dq=round-top-museum&hl=en |url-status=live }} — {{cite news |date=July 5, 1973 |title=Two Special Park Walks This Summer |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BlYzAAAAIBAJ&pg=4708,4547548&dq=round-top-museum&hl=en |access-date=2011-01-26 |archive-date=2023-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629051625/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BlYzAAAAIBAJ&pg=4708,4547548&dq=round-top-museum&hl=en |url-status=live }} until demolished {{circa|July}} 1982.{{cite news |last=De Blasi |first=Nancy |date=June 11, 1982 |title=Draft of park plan will be printed soon |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BttcAAAAIBAJ&pg=4569,4265607&dq=round-top-museum&hl=en |access-date=2011-01-26 |archive-date=2023-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629051626/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BttcAAAAIBAJ&pg=4569,4265607&dq=round-top-museum&hl=en |url-status=live }} The private Gettysburg National Tower of {{Convert|393|ft|m|abbr=on}} was completed in 1974 to provide several observation levels for viewing the battlefield, but was purchased under eminent domain and demolished in 2000. In the Devil's Den area, trees were removed in 2007,{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SZYlAAAAIBAJ&pg=4716,2356157&dq=comfort-station+gettysburg&hl=en |title=Gettysburg Times - Google News Archive Search |work=google.com |access-date=1 February 2015 |archive-date=29 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629051629/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SZYlAAAAIBAJ&pg=4716,2356157&dq=comfort-station+gettysburg&hl=en |url-status=live }} and the comfort station was razed April 8, 2010.{{cite web |url=http://www.wgal.com/r/23089716/detail.html |title=Restrooms On Gettysburg Battlefield Demolished |work=WGAL |access-date=1 February 2015 |archive-date=8 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308162425/http://www.wgal.com/r/23089716/detail.html |url-status=live }} Similarly, the Gettysburg National Museum was demolished in 2008.

In 2008, the Gettysburg National Military Park had 1,320 monuments, 410 cannon, 148 historic buildings, 2½ observation towers, and {{convert|41|mi|km}} of avenues, roads, and lanes;{{cite news |last=Latschar |first=John A (GNMP Superintendent) |date=April 7, 2009 |title=Facilities' closings explained |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IHslAAAAIBAJ&pg=5564,548047&dq=comfort-stations+gettysburg&hl=en |work=As our readers see it |access-date=2011-02-02 |archive-date=2023-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629051628/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IHslAAAAIBAJ&pg=5564,548047&dq=comfort-stations+gettysburg&hl=en |url-status=live }} (8 unpaved).[http://www.nps.gov/archive/gett/gettplan/gettdocuments/DIST2bpi_gett_final.pdf nps.gov]{{dead link|date=June 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} "one of the largest collections of outdoor sculpture in the world."{{Cite web |title=Monument Preservation |url=http://www.gettysburgfoundation.org/56/monument-preservation |work=Preserve Gettysburg |publisher=GettysburgFoundation.org |access-date=2011-02-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110205064213/http://www.gettysburgfoundation.org/56/monument-preservation |archive-date=2011-02-05 |url-status=dead}}

In February 2013 the landmark modernist Cyclorama Building and Visitor Center, designed by renowned architect Richard Neutra, was destroyed. The 19th century Gettysburg Cyclorama depicting the battlefield had previously been removed for restoration, and was reinstalled in the new rustic style Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center.

The Gettysburg National Military Park receives an annual 3 million visitors per year.{{cite web |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/state/gettysburg-prepares-for-tourist-spike-during-150th-anniversary-685501/ |title=Gettysburg prepares for tourist spike during 150th anniversary |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |access-date=1 February 2015 |archive-date=17 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130617003937/http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/state/gettysburg-prepares-for-tourist-spike-during-150th-anniversary-685501/ |url-status=live }}

The American Battlefield Trust and its partners have acquired and preserved {{convert|1,231|acres|km2}} of the overall battlefield in more than 35 separate transactions since 1997.[https://www.battlefields.org/preserve/saved-land] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190812162007/https://www.battlefields.org/preserve/saved-land|date=2019-08-12}} American Battlefield Trust "Saved Land" webpage. Accessed November 23, 2021. Some of the land has been sold or conveyed to the National Park Service to be incorporated into the national park, but other land acquisitions are outside the official, federally established, current park boundary and thus cannot become part of the park. This includes the headquarters of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, one of the Trust's most significant and expensive acquisitions.[https://www.eveningsun.com/story/archives/2014/10/24/federal-grant-will-aid-purchase-lees-headquarters/75631274/] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930040338/https://www.eveningsun.com/story/archives/2014/10/24/federal-grant-will-aid-purchase-lees-headquarters/75631274/|date=2020-09-30}} Evening Sun, Hanover, Pa., Oct. 24, 2014. Accessed May 30, 2018. In 2015, the Trust paid $6 million for a four-acre parcel that included the stone house that Lee used as his headquarters during the battle. The Trust razed a motel, restaurant and other buildings within the parcel to restore the site to its wartime appearance, added interpretive signs and opened the site to the public in October, 2016.[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/house-divided/wp/2016/09/15/lees-gettysburg-headquarters-restored-set-to-open-oct-28/] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180708075346/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/house-divided/wp/2016/09/15/lees-gettysburg-headquarters-restored-set-to-open-oct-28/|date=2018-07-08}} The Washington Post, "Lee's Gettysburg headquarters restored, set to open Oct. 28." Accessed May 24, 2018.

References

;G. {{cite news |title=Archives |url=http://www.gettysburgtimes.com/archives/ |format=Google News Archive |newspaper=Gettysburg Times |publisher=Times and News Publishing Company |access-date=2010-02-20}}

;N. {{cite web |title=National Park Service |url=https://www.nps.gov/gett/index.htm |publisher=(NPS.gov)}}

{{External media

|image1=[http://gettysburgphotographs.com GettysburgPhotographs.com]

|image2=[http://www.civil-war-journeys.org/gettysburg_pa.htm Battlefield and 145th Reenactment]

|image3=[http://www.mdhs.org/library/fotofind/PP0001lnk.html Tipton stereoviews]

|image4=[http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3822g.cw0351600 Library of Congress maps]

|image5=[http://www.gdg.org/Research/Maps/Maps%20Main.html GDG.org map room]

}}

Category:Gettysburg campaign

Category:Battlefields of the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War

Category:History of Adams County, Pennsylvania

Category:Pennsylvania in the American Civil War