Interpretation – Page 4 – The Gettysburg Compiler

Silent Guardian: The 15th New Jersey Monument

This post is part of a series featuring behind-the-scenes dispatches from our Pohanka interns working on the front lines of history this summer as interpreters, archivists, and preservationists. See here for the introduction to the series.

The 15th New Jersey Monument. Photo credit Elizabeth Smith.

He stands at rest, knees slightly bent, musket casually leant back. His hands loosely grip the barrel, one over the other, calm but prepared. His mustached face looks with weary eyes over the slaughter ground. In the background can be seen trees alongside a winding dirt road and a solitary wheel—perhaps from a cannon—beside his left leg. He stands immobile, forever gazing over the picturesque landscape, the beautiful green of the earthworks, the scene of hell on earth just 150 years ago.

The Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse, known for the infamous Muleshoe Salient and the Bloody Angle, was fought May 8-21, 1864, immediately following the Battle of the Wilderness. On May 12, the twenty-two hours of continuous hand-to-hand combat at what would become known as the Bloody Angle would earn Spotsylvania a place in the history books. It is over this portion of the heaviest fighting that the 15^th New Jersey Monument stands.

In his article “The Politics of Memory: Black Emancipation and the Civil War Monument”, Kirk Savage discusses how monuments do much more than just memorialize a unit or person, they memorialize an idea. From the idea of slavery to states’ rights to emancipation, monuments speak through both what they say and what they do not say. For this post, I will be discussing the 15^th New Jersey Monument in light of Savage’s article. Continue reading “Silent Guardian: The 15th New Jersey Monument”

Making History Relatable

By Alexandria Andrioli ‘18

Since beginning my internship at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, I have learned that interpretation is immensely important. It is not just about spouting out facts, dates, and figures at members of the general public who will probably never remember half of the stuff you tell them. National parks are about taking important and interesting material and making it relatable to the lives of the visitors that come to the park on a daily basis. Although Civil War emphatics deeply appreciate meticulous information, the average visitor wants more than just cold, hard facts. He/she wants to take something more meaningful away from his/her time spent at the park and this is where interpretation is key.

Dwight Pitcaithley addresses the idea of interpretation and the deeper meanings behind the significance of national parks (especially battlefield parks) in his work “A Cosmic Threat: The National Park Service Addresses the Causes of the Civil War.” In this essay, Pitcaithley explores the history of interpretation at NPS battlefield parks. When battlefields were first being preserved, their purpose was “to understand the military actions which took place there and to remember the men who fought there.” As Pitcaithley puts it, battlefields were to be “explained in detail” like “a chess game of war.” This idea was widely accepted, especially among the Civil War veterans who had fought these battles, because it sped up reconciliation between the men of the Blue and the Gray armies. Avoiding sensitive subjects that could easily reopen old wounds and focusing on common experiences shared between comrades and enemies alike was too tempting to resist. So naturally, parks that memorialized the battles and the soldiers of the Union and Confederacy did the same. “Any interpretation of the war, any mention of the war’s causes, or any mention of slavery” was dodged like the plague. Continue reading “Making History Relatable”

Interpreting Civilian Experiences in Fredericksburg

By Jennifer Simone ‘18

This post is part of a series featuring behind-the-scenes dispatches from our Pohanka Interns working on the front lines of history this summer as interpreters, archivists, and preservationists. See here for the introduction to the series.

Battlefields administered by the National Park Service are in a process of transformation. Administered originally by the War Department, interpretation at many battlefield sites has for years been marked by the military actions that occurred on the ground, from orders given to regiment positions to how flank attacks work. The National Park Service now is working to expand the horizons of interpretation on battlefields. Though military history is still greatly (and rightly) emphasized and members of the US Armed Forces still travel to battlefields to study tactics or communication, military history is no longer the only topic of focus at many parks.

This is a relatively new concept, only being overtly implemented in the last two decades, so many visitors still arrive at the parks expecting a program entirely focused on the military history of the site. While it is certainly not a problem that many visitors are most greatly interested in military history, too few come to the parks looking to also learn about the social, political, and economic histories of the war as well. At Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park where I am interning this summer, we conduct “History at Sunset” programs each Friday at 7pm, lasting up to two hours. These programs have very specific topics, ranging from animals in war to the trail taken by Stonewall Jackson’s amputated arm. NPS Ranger Beth Parnicza has noticed that attendance at these programs is greatly dependent upon the type of history that the specific program reflects. Programs about street fighting in the town of Fredericksburg will draw two hundred people, while programs about slavery will likely only bring eighty. Is this because people are simply more interested in military history or because visitors are still stuck in the old mindset that these parks are only about the military history and they therefore do not look for or expect anything else? Continue reading “Interpreting Civilian Experiences in Fredericksburg”

The Appomattox Campaign as a Nexus for History

By Jon Danchik ‘17

For decades, it was an established truth that Civil War battlefield parks focused solely on military affairs, and not on any of the societal factors that contributed to bringing about the conflict. Though today parks emphasize a variety of reasons for the war – most prominently slavery – the reason that such discussion was absent for so long lies in the continuation of something which the war sought to remedy: a divided nation.

Public opinion on the Civil War and its relationship to slavery was bitterly divided due to many groups of people, most of whom had some connection to and therefore a measure of pride in the Confederacy, not being able to accept that the war was fought, first and foremost, for the preservation of a system dependent upon slavery. Because slavery is now acknowledged as an evil, connecting it to the Confederate cause made it hard for descendants and enthusiasts to take pride in Confederate heritage. As a result, Confederate heritage groups utilized their numerical strength to wield a significant amount of political muscle, pushing an agenda stressing that battlefield parks should focus solely upon military affairs. Not wanting revered battlefields upon which their ancestors bled for victory to become “sites of shame,” those with Confederate ties agitated such that the National Park Service did not dare even attempting to speak of the War outside of its basic martial composition. Indeed, the parks, influenced by such groups, mostly told the story of what happened, not why.

The ApCo visitor center includes a movie theater, and used to show a film called “Honor Answers Honor,” which, as its name suggests, focused only on military actions and courage on the battlefield. It is an incomplete telling of the full story, while the newer film, “With Malice Toward None,” covers all this ground and more, including what caused the war in the first place. “With Malice Toward None” has more or less completely taken over the spot “Honor Answers Honor” once occupied, being on the top of the switchboard and the film shown to visitors. This shows how ApCo’s narrative and the goals behind it have changed over time. Photo credit Jonathan Danchik.

Continue reading “The Appomattox Campaign as a Nexus for History”

Interpretive Decisions at the Stone House

By Thomas Nank ‘16

In her article “The Birthplace of a Chief: Archaeology and Meaning at George Washington Birthplace National Monument,” author Joy Beasley discusses the complex history of the birthplace of our first President. Beasley traces the evolution of the interpretation of the site as influenced by many diverse groups and individuals. I have seen similar interpretive confusion recently during my internship at Manassas National Battlefield Park centered on the historic Stone House.

Little definitive information survives on the specific uses of the Stone House during the two battles fought at Manassas, thus giving rise to interpretive confusion surrounding the building. Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

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Point/Counterpoint: Questions of Historical Preservation

By Bryan Caswell ’15 and Heather Clancy ’15

Bryan: Events of the past year here in Gettysburg have been momentous for historical preservation. On July 1, 2014 the Civil War Trust announced that it plans to purchase a four-acre plot of land opposite the Lutheran Seminary. On this land sits the original building that housed Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s headquarters during the Battle of Gettysburg. Lee’s Headquarters does not sit alone, however, sharing the property with a Quality Inn and an extremely popular local restaurant, the Appalachian Brewing Company. The Civil War Trust plans on removing these modern buildings and placing a conservation easement on the property in order to ensure its protection and return the landscape to a more nineteenth-century vista. The importance of such an event seems to be self-evident to many historians and so-called ‘Civil War buffs,’ but reactions in Gettysburg itself have been rather varied. This debate has intrigued me, leading me to reconsider notions of historical preservation and ask a question that may seem heretical: what is the value of further preservation?

Heather: For this particular site, preservation and the return to an approximation of its 1863 appearance is easily defensible. Lee’s Headquarters was the location of some of the key tactical planning moments of the Battle of Gettysburg. It was here that the Confederate general and his officers triggered many of the actions that would decide the fate of this small town and the armies that had gathered on its rolling hills and fields. By acquiring the land on which the structure stands, the Civil War Trust has enabled the transition of Lee’s Headquarters to the National Park Service for maintenance and interpretation. Once under NPS supervision, the headquarters will be able to be incorporated into the existing interpretive framework of Gettysburg National Military Park, enriching the experiences of thousands of visitors who come to the park to hear the story of one of our nation’s countless military turning points. Continue reading “Point/Counterpoint: Questions of Historical Preservation”

Tributes to Terror: The Mis-Monumentation of the Colfax Massacre

By Matt LaRoche ’17

Recently, I contributed a piece called “Days Gone By, Days to Come: Monuments and the Politics of Peace” on the political teeth with which monuments are often imbued (or are deliberately denied). While I do not intend to ramble on about this issue—I hope that the previous piece will do enough to inspire readers to take a critical eye to any monuments that they cross in the future—I felt that one more story of poor documentation deserved illumination. The context: as Charles Lane chronicles in his book The Day Freedom Died: The Colfax Massacre, the Supreme Court, and the Betrayal of Reconstruction, on April 13, 1873—Easter Sunday—the racial and political tensions already boiling in Reconstruction-Era Louisiana burst into decisive, open racial warfare. On that date, the Colfax courthouse in Grant Parish was stormed by a mob of white Democrats who, in a final bid to resolve the question of which party’s candidate had won the 1872 gubernatorial election, shattered the trench lines around the courthouse with small arms and a small cannon. Defending the courthouse were hundreds of freedmen and white Republican officials who had fled into Colfax from the countryside as racial violence had grown increasingly prevalent and organized. Most were refugee women and children. By massacre’s end, three whites and up to one hundred and fifty freedmen lay dead. A PBS documentary on Ulysses S. Grant reports that “nearly half [the victims were] murdered in cold blood after they had already surrendered.”

In the century and a half following the events of that Easter Sunday, the victims of Colfax have not been allowed to rest. Their memory has primarily been ignored or bent toward political ends, usually by those who couldn’t care less for the massacre’s victims of white supremacy. The site’s monuments reflect this. Perhaps there is no more abhorrent example of blood bound to stone for shallow aims in all of U.S. history. Continue reading “Tributes to Terror: The Mis-Monumentation of the Colfax Massacre”

The American Museum?

By Megan McNish ’16

I walked up to the customs officer and handed her my passport, which was opened to my student visa. When she asked for my letter of intent as to why I was entering the UK, I turned red. That letter was buried at the bottom of my extremely heavy carry-on. As I dug it out, I feared that she was probably thinking ‘what a dumb American.’ I managed to produce my papers and the questions began. “Where are you working?” she asked. “The American Museum in Britain,” I replied. “Where’s that?” she asked, sounding more than confused. “Bath,” I replied. “Well, who knew?” Really though, who knew that there is an American museum anywhere outside of, well, America? As an American studying for the semester in Bath, the city of all things Jane Austen, why did I choose to spend part of my semester at the American Museum?

First and foremost, the American Museum in Britain has an amazing collection of early American artifacts, folk art, and period rooms that have been recreated inside the museum. These collections include a better treatment of Native Americans than I have found in the average American history museum. This year’s exhibit in the main house also includes “Spirit Hawk Eye,” modern photographs of Native American culture by Heidi Laughton. The American Museum makes a concentrated effort to show more than just the sterilized history of the United States that has long been our national story.

The American Museum in Britain, located in Bath, England. Photo credit to the author,

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“Children of the Damned”: An Indie Band Remembers Andersonville

By Heather Clancy ’15

When alternative band Quiet Hounds released Megaphona in 2012, they presented an album peppered with an impressive range of styles, from folksy ballads to pseudo-manic hipster club tunes. The album’s most unexpected choice, though, came in the form of its closing song, “Beacon Sun.” In it, the band’s lead singer carries a mournful melody. A hypnotizing rhythm runs through the track, underscored by the tattoo of a lethargic tambourine. Indeed, the track is more akin to a jazzed-up hymn than anything else, an impression that is not surprising to listeners once they heave themselves out of the indie haze long enough to catch the song’s lyrics.

Quiet Hounds, in a promotional shot for their album Megaphona.

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Laughing at Ourselves: Public Perception of Reenactors

By Matt LaRoche ’17

According to a July 4, 2011 NPR segment hosted by Michele Norris, at last glance there were approximately 30,000 Civil War reenactors in the United States. This number had taken a nosedive from 50,000 over the previous decade. The interviewer, Gigi Douban, explains part of the reason behind the decline in interest for the hobby. She lists “The cost of travel, the cost of gear. That runs into the thousands. And it’s economic pressures like these that have some shying away from re-enacting. And the ones that are doing it are doing less of it.” Mr. Dana Shoaf, the editor of the Civil War Times, adds that “There just aren’t as many kids that are… finding re-enacting as an enjoyable hobby.” Continue reading “Laughing at Ourselves: Public Perception of Reenactors”