Learn more about America in the most famous small town in America
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania is often described as “the most famous small town in America,” and it is a moniker well earned. The three-day Battle of Gettysburg, fought from July 1-3, 1863, was, in its time, the single most destructive and traumatizing conflict to have ever occurred on U.S. soil. The battle, which pitted Lee’s increasingly confident Army of Northern Virginia against a reeling Union army that had been badly damaged by embarrassing defeats at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, helped turn the tide of an expensive and bloody conflict in the Union’s favor. Had it not been for Gettysburg, the history of the United States would almost certainly have unfolded in a very different way.
Recognizing the significance of the battle almost immediately, President Abraham Lincoln visited Gettysburg in the fall of 1863 to dedicate a new national cemetery and honor the soldiers who fought on the fields surrounding the town. The speech he gave—the world-famous Gettysburg Address—is widely recognized as perhaps the most perfect distillation of the values and principles embodied in the American political experiment with democratic self-government. In that speech, Lincoln spoke eloquently of the sacrifices made by those who fought here, and described the complexity of commemorating them. In a few short moments, he gave new meaning to the war’s purpose and to the difficult work that lay ahead for supporters of the beleaguered United States.
He also set Gettysburg’s course as a living monument to American democracy. In the decades following the battle numerous ceremonies, celebrations, reunions, and commemorations were staged to convey Gettysburg’s meaning to the American public. This Landmarks workshop is designed to give participants the opportunity to explore the idea of Gettysburg as “hallowed ground” by examining the crucial historical events that have placed this battle in our collective historical consciousness and by extending their understanding of the battle’s meaning through discussions about its various interpretations and key historic sites and monuments. Participants will be given daily opportunities to think critically and deeply about how Gettysburg’s meaning has been transmitted and transmuted by generations of Americans eager to understand what happened here, why it happened, and what meaning it has for us today.
“In great deeds something abides. On great fields something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear, but spirits linger, to consecrate ground for the vision-place of souls. And reverent men and women from afar, and generations that know us not and that we know not of, heart-drawn to see where and by whom great things were suffered and done for them, shall come to this deathless field to ponder and dream; And lo! the shadow of a mighty presence shall wrap them in its bosom, and the power of the vision pass into their souls.”
AFFIRMING THE PLACE OF GETTYSBURG IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOL CURRICULUM
Honest Abe wants you to teach about the importance of Gettysburg.
It’s difficult to overstate the significance of Gettysburg. The men and women who struggled here in the town and on the battlefield during and after the battle continue to cast a long shadow over this community even 150 years after the battle ended. When we offered this workshop in 2014 the teachers in our exceptionally robust applicant pool, who hailed from all over the country, ranked the battle of Gettysburg as one of the pivotal events in American history. In many ways, its significance speaks for itself.
Of course, self-evident truths are the ones that ought to invite the most scrutiny since self-evidence can lead to complacency, and no doubt many teachers teach about Gettysburg, and about the broader Civil War, in ways that may not always be consistent with recent scholarship. The discipline of history itself has undergone profound changes in the past half century as new ways of understanding and interpreting the past have replaced traditional notions of what history is and where it comes from. One of the most prominent manifestations of this has been the proliferation of interpretations of history “from the bottom up”—i.e., from the perspective of everyday citizens, not prominent political, military, or economic leaders. Our workshop addresses that shift.
In recent years the field of memory studies has also blossomed. Scholars in this field focus on the way people remember and commemorate the past with a special emphasis on understanding the artifacts of memory, such as monuments, that can create perceptions in conflict with what historians believe actually happened. The battlefield at Gettysburg is populated with memorials and monuments that were placed on the field by groups eager to shape the way the battle is remembered, in many cases long after the battle concluded. As debates continue over the presence of Civil War-era statues, monuments, and memorials in places like Charlottesville, Chapel Hill, and New Orleans, it seems especially appropriate to engage teachers in the study of the monuments placed here.
In this way, the benefit of this program for school teachers moves in two directions at once. On one hand, the program will engage participants in immersive study of the battle of Gettysburg and its historical legacy, with an emphasis on how interpretations of the battle continue to evolve; on the other, it will offer a window into emerging scholarship that many teachers may not have been exposed to before, and that can help their teaching evolve in innovative and exciting new ways.