Gettysburg National Military Park's Winter Lecture Series Takes a Look at How Veterans Viewed Gettysburg

Here's an excellent lecture delivered by Gettysburg National Military Park's Supervisory Historian Chris Gwinn. A part of the park's Winter Lecture Series, Gwinn's talk is titled "What Gettysburg Meant to its Veterans." In it, Chris examines how the personal experiences and opinions of Gettysburg veterans about the battle and the battlefield fit into a larger discussion about reunion, reconstruction, and reconciliation. It's well worth your time.

On Campaign with the NPS

With the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Campaign commencing tomorrow, Gettysburg National Military Park has begun to roll out some of its online offerings, including a "On Campaign" Youtube series. Below, you will find Ranger Chris Gwinn discussing the aftermath of the Battle of Chancellorsville at Falmouth, Virginia.

You can find the full series by clicking here.

An Interview with Scott Hartwig

I saw this interview with Gettysburg's Supervisory Historian Scott Hartwig posted last week, but didn't get around to viewing it until this weekend. The bulk of the interview concerns his recently released first volume on the Antietam Campaign, To Antietam Creek. There is also some great stuff in here about plans for the upcoming 150th. It makes me sad that I won't be there, but good to know that they are including a robust outreach on social media to reach those of us who will not be able to attend.

The 52 Footsteps Challenge

The First Minnesota monument (left) and the Pennsylvania Memorial.

If you haven't "liked" Gettysburg National Military Park on facebook, you probably should.

Earlier this month the park announced its "52 Footsteps" Challenge, an interesting and interactive way to introduce the public to some of the lesser-known stories of Gettysburg. So what's the challenge? Well, it's pretty simple: each Wednesday the park introduces its facebook fans to a person connected with the Battle of Gettysburg, and relates that individual's story. It then challenges fans to go out and take photographs of the location on the battlefield associated with that individual, and post them to the park's facebook page. If you can't make it to Gettysburg to snap your photo, try to find a local connection to the story of the week.

The park has already issued its first two challenges: week one featured the story of Gettysburg native Thaddeus Stevens, and week two features Sergeant Philip Hamlin of the 1st Minnesota:

Sergeant Philip Hamlin, 1st Minnesota Infantry, wrote home often giving his little brother Charlie plenty of advice: “Strive to be good. Let me hope that you will lead a Christian life. I may never see you again here. Shall I not see you in heaven?” Charlie would never again see Philip on this earth. Killed at the battle of Gettysburg, Hamlin was buried by his men on the field, and eventually moved to the Minnesota plot in the Soldiers’ National Cemetery. Visit the site of the First Minnesota Monument, near the Pennsylvania monument (Auto Tour Stop 12), and post your photograph in his footsteps there where his unit formed up to defend the Cemetery Ridge against two brigades of on-coming Confederates.

Both challenges received a nice response. I dug through some of my Gettysburg photos to participate in challenge number two, but sadly I found quality photos of the 1st Minnesota monument lacking - the above long shot was the best I could do. Week three's challenge will be revealed on Wednesday.

Overall I think this is a really neat use of social media to build engagement and to keep the story of Gettysburg on people's minds throughout this 150th anniversary year, even if only local fans can fully participate. I've been hugely impressed in general with the social media efforts of NPS sites like Gettysburg and Antietam during the last year and a half to build enthusiasm for sesquicentennial activities. If you haven't done so already - many of the NPS military parks are well worth a follow on facebook, twitter and even youtube. Its a great way to stay connected, and I've found quite a bit of good content posted as well.