National Celebrities Appear in Second Film Opposing Gettysburg Casino Proposal

"The Gettysburg Address" underlines America's ongoing committment to this unique location

On the heels of the heels of the momentous two-day public hearing in Gettysburg, Penn., concerning a second attempt to bring a casino the doorstep of America’s most iconic battlefield, the Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT) has unveiled a second film underscoring the importance of protecting this hallowed ground.

In the video, an all-star cast including Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough, actors Sam Waterston, Matthew Broderick and Stephen Lang, and Medal of Honor recipient Paul Bucha recites Abraham Lincoln’s immortal Gettysburg Address.  The speech, possibly the most famous presidential address in American history, was the “few appropriate remarks” that Lincoln delivered on November 19, 1863, at a ceremony dedicating Gettysburg National Cemetery.

The film is available online at:  http://www.civilwar.org/video/the-gettysburg-address.html.

The Gettysburg Address is a companion piece to the nine-minute video submitted to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board as testimony by the local opposition group No Casino Gettysburg.  In that film, the same prominent individuals reflect on the unique qualities of Gettysburg and its seminal place in American history, urging its protection for future generations of Americans.

The original film, Our Gettysburg Legacy, is available online at www.civilwar.org/gettysburglegacy.

Both projects feature musical scores by Oscar-, Golden Globe- and Grammy-winning composer John Williams.  Despite their high quality, both productions are purely volunteer efforts, with all cast, crew and talent donating their time and skills on behalf of the preservation cause.

After viewing the films, the public is invited to add their own voices to the chorus calling for the protection and safeguarding of Gettysburg by visiting http://www.speakforthefallen.com to submit written comments to the Gaming Control Board.

With 55,000 members, the Civil War Preservation Trust is the largest nonprofit battlefield preservation organization in the United States.  Its mission is to preserve our nation’s remaining Civil War battlefields and encourage their appreciation through education and heritage tourism.  Since 1987, the organization has saved more than 29,000 acres of hallowed ground, including 700 acres at Gettysburg.  CWPT’s website is located at www.civilwar.org.

My written comments submitted to the board can be found below:

Though I am not a resident of Pennsylvania and don't have the same direct impact as a resident of Gettysburg or Adams County, I do feel that my voice should be heard.

Gettysburg is a national treasure for the United States and for the people of Pennsylvania. People all around the world know of Gettysburg. You ask most Americans and the first place they equate the Civil War with is Gettysburg. It is a very hallowed and sacred place that many Americans shed their blood fighting for. Between Gettysburg and the fall of Vicksburg on July 3rd and 4th, 1863 the tide of the Civil War forever changed. We should preserve the sanctity of this place for ours and future generations.

There are many locations in Pennsylvania that a casino can be built. Locating a casino in very close proximity of Gettysburg is a travesty to the soldiers that perished there but to also President Eisenhower, whom maintained a weekend retreat here. Mason-Dixon Resorts can easily locate a casino 10 miles away further down route 15 (closer to Harrisburg) and still attract a majority of its customer base. The casino does not need to be in Gettysburg proper to bring people in. I'm sure a compromise can be reached with a shuttle service between select spots in Gettysburg and the casino.

I hope the gaming board does not make a short-sighted decision and grant Mason-Dixon Resorts a gaming license under the current proposal. I would hate to see the image and historical nature of Gettysburg forever compromised for a profit motive. The National Park Service and Gettysburg Foundation have spent numerous years and countless sums of money restoring Gettysburg to its 1863 appearance and erasing the "commercialization" that occurred over the past 100 years by short-sighted people, whom failed to see the historical significance of the place. A casino will be yet another one of these "mistakes" that will need to be corrected and removed/erased later. Let's fix the mistake now and not let the casino be approved.

Thank you very much.

Cheney drops in on Civil War battlefield in Kennesaw (AccessNorthGA)

KENNESAW – Vice President Dick Cheney made a surprise two-hour visit to the Kennesaw Mountain National Battleground Park on Friday.

Arriving at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Cheney attended a reunion of the descendants of the 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry. His great-grandfather, Capt. Samuel Fletcher Cheney, had fought with the 21st at the Battle of Kennesaw in June 1864.

(more)

• Elizabeth Brown Pryor will present Reading the Man: A Portrait of Robert E. Lee Through His Private Letters
• Bradley Gottfried will present The Maps of Gettysburg: An Atlas of the Gettysburg Campaign, June 3 – July 13, 1863

Both books will be available for purchase online or in person. To Order, Click Here.

For those not familiar with Virtual Book Signing™:

Virtual Book Signing™ provides the excitement of attending a booksigning, without having to leave your home. Sit on your couch in your pjs, sipping a margarita, and watch on the computer as your own book is signed. This is a true, "real time" book signing. You are here virtually, watching an event unfold with you as a participant. You can interact with the author via email, order a book and watch it signed online. In a few days your book will arrive at your doorstep.

Launched in November 2005, Virtual Book Signing™ has, so far, featured sixteen authors. Our inaugural web cast featured Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Doris Kearns Goodwin. Our most recent events feature Thomas Craughwell on Stealing Lincoln's Body and William Harris discussing Lincoln's Rise to the Presidency. Michael Beschloss dropped by to talk about Presidential Courage. Previously, Gary Joiner and Timothy Smith joined us for a program on The War in the West, featuring the books Shiloh and Through the Howling Wilderness. Other shows have included Harold Holzer, Frank Williams, Richard Lawrence Miller, Douglas Wilson, Gabor Boritt, Tom Wheeler, Brian Dirck, Phillip Shaw Paludan, Edward Longacre and the legendary Ed Bearss. Please visit the Archive page for condensed versions of these web casts.

This new venture was introduced by Daniel Weinberg, an antiquarian book and autograph dealer, and proprietor of the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop in Chicago . “Traditionally, book signings mean leaving home and then waiting in line in order to meet an author for a few seconds to get a book signed,” says Weinberg. “ Virtual Book Signing™ permits you to attend an in-shop booksiging without leaving home. You see an author speak via a streaming web cast. Then you may place an order and see the book signed while you watch.”

[Georgia] bought more than 500 acres near Interstate 75 in Northwest Georgia in 2000 with plans to develop the site into a park commemorating the Battle of Resaca, the opening engagement of Union General William T. Sherman’s Atlanta campaign in 1864.
…
Only now, seven years after the purchase of Resaca, are Georgia lawmakers hoping to get the money flowing again. The 2008 budget adopted by the General Assembly last month includes $700,000 to begin developing Civil War trails and help state tourism officials start preparing for the upcoming 150th anniversary of the conflict.

Couple Raises Money to Preserve Civil War Spy's Estate (Preservation Online)

The suburban sprawl of Northern Virginia has swallowed up many historic houses in the last 20 years, but Dave and Win Meiselman aren't about let Merrybrook, their antebellum estate that once housed Civil War spy Laura Ratcliffe, become a strip mall.

Preservation Group Seeks To Shield East Coast Land (Washington Post)

The National Trust for Historic Preservation plans to declare a large swath of the East Coast's most historic land as among the most imperiled in the country because it could one day be crisscrossed by high-voltage power lines.

The area, which spans seven states, including Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia, will be on the group's list of the nation's 11 most endangered historical sites. This is the Washington-based group's 20th annual list, and it will be unveiled officially at the National Press Club this morning.

Battlefield park eyes 300 acres in Henrico (Richmond Times Dispatch, VA)

Richmond National Battlefield Park appears headed toward acquiring more than 300 historic acres in eastern Henrico County.

The Civil War Preservation Trust has bought the land at Glendale/Frayser's Farm battlefield at a price of about $4 million, Park Superintendent Cynthia MacLeod said yesterday. Park officials have made a proposal to Washington for acquiring that land, she said.

City panel recommends keeping cannons in Racine (Journal Times, WI)

The cannons that for at least 117 years complemented the soldier's monument at Monument Square might currently be out of sight, but they're not out of the minds of some Racine residents.

Responding to history and veterans' groups and calls of concern from members of the general public, the City Council's Finance and Personnel Committee voted unanimously Monday to recommend the council not authorize loaning the cannons to the city of Kenosha.

Kenosha officials had approached Racine about the possibility of displaying the cannons at the Civil War Museum of the Upper Midwest, now under construction on Kenosha's lakefront and expected to open next year.

There is a free pre-premiere screening on Friday, June 29, 2007 at 8:00 PM at Gettysburg's Majestic Theater.

To ensure seating please reserve your FREE tickets by calling the Majestic at (717) 337-8200.

Contact the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College at (717) 337-6590 with other questions.

Sleettown to become part of historic site (Kentucky.com)

A 96-acre tract of Boyle County land once used as an African-American settlement will become a part of the Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site.

The state Department of Parks recently bought the property, known as Sleettown, from private owners. The land once was used as a staging area for Confederate forces and was an African-American settlement after the Civil War until about 1931.

"We plan to use the property to tell the story of the Battle of Perryville as well as the history of Sleettown," state Parks Commissioner J.T. Miller said in a news release. The Battle of Perryville, in October 1862, was the largest Civil War battle in Kentucky.

The Civil War Preservation Trust provided a matching grant of $107,000 to help buy the property. The state's share of $324,000 came from a Transportation Enhancement grant, which can be used for preservation purposes. The total amount was used to buy the property, pay for an archaeological study, conduct a survey and for other costs.

The new property will help connect two separate sections of the 570-acre park and will allow for more use, including trails, interpretive signs and research. One home, thought to be the last remnant of Sleettown, and a cemetery remain on the Sleettown property.

July 7, 1863, three days after the Battle of Gettysburg and the fall of Vicksburg, President Abraham Lincoln penned this note to his General-in-Chief Henry Halleck expressing his belief that if Gen. George Meade could follow up his recent victory in Pennsylvania by defeating Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's army the Civil War would be over.

Well the big Civil War news this week is the discovery of the original handwritten note by Abraham Lincoln to Gen. Henry W. Halleck directly after Gettysburg urging Meade to pursue Robert E. Lee's army.  Halleck then telegraphed the note to Meade.  Historians had already known the text of the telegram for years as it is part of the official war records.

Lincoln Urgent in Lost Letter to General (Washington Post)

On July 7, 1863, three days after Vicksburg's surrender and four days after Gettysburg, Lincoln took out a sheet of blue-lined paper and wrote to his general in chief, urging that the fleeing rebels be destroyed. If they were, Lincoln wrote, "the rebellion will be over."

But the Confederates escaped over the flooded river seven days later, the war went on for almost two more blood-soaked years, and Lincoln's six-line, handwritten note of optimism vanished into the crumbling files of history.

Yesterday, the National Archives announced that the long-lost note, complete with a misspelled word and Lincoln's neat schoolboy signature, had been found last month in the downtown stacks by an archivist doing research for a Discovery Channel documentary.

…

The note, on yellowed stationery and headed "War Department Washington City" was written to Gen. Henry W. Halleck. The besieged Confederate city of Vicksburg, Miss., had fallen July 4 to the forces of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, and Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia had just been defeated at Gettysburg by union forces under Gen. George G. Meade.

,,,

 This story has gotten National news coverage as well as being picked up internationally as well.  Google News shows 289 news articles on this find.  Since it is not new news, what is the draw?  Is it just because it is the original note?  Is it because it a Lincoln letter?  Is Gettysburg part of the appeal?  If Meade had vigorously pursued Lee directly after Gettysburg, would the war possibly ended sooner?  Whatever the appeal, it makes for a good news story.