What good are Union monuments at Gettysburg (part 3)?
After questioning the usefulness of Union monuments in part 1 and explaining their 19th-century value in part 2, I think that maybe theres hope  or at least its inkling  in at least some Americans taking pride in what those monuments represent. In late June I conducted research at Gettysburg, across Stone Mountain, and into Washington County, Maryland for Maine at War, Volume 2, tentatively titled The Year of the Guns. Focusing on the July 2-3, 1863 action involving Maine units, I explored the Gettysburg terrain from Big Round Top to Cemetery Ridge and over to East Culps Hill. Post-pandemic, the tourists are back  and theyve brought their children and grandchildren. Gettysburg was a ghost town at the pandemics height in late August 2020. Little Round Top offered primo parking spaces for non-existent visitors, few voices sounded around the Copse of Trees, and few people stood beneath the Virginia Monument to photograph its bronze figures. Late June 2021, and Gettysburgs a happening place. Perhaps concerned that history ignoramuses (that terms courtesy of a Maine at War reader) are attempting to erase the past, adults are walking the battlefield with children of all ages. I observed and listened on this particular hot and humid morning. A man, a woman, and two children approached the Copse of Trees and stepped onto the High Water Mark of the Rebellion monument. Two polished 12-pounder bronze Napoleons form the monuments north-and-south boundaries, and the Copse and monument are considered the most sacred ground in Civil War-dom. The man and woman explained to the children the monuments significance. Venturing briefly into the tree-cast shade darkening a Battery A, 4th U.S. Artillery limber (1st Lt. Alonzo H. Cushing commanded the outfit), I looked at the distant Virginia Monument, about a mile away westward, and for the umpteeth time wondered at Robert E. Lees stupidity in ordering 12,000 men to attack across that open ground. Then behind me a man started reading the large metal marker standing between the shade trees and Hancock Avenue. He read a few sentence before a young boy asked, Can I read it, Daddy?  The little guy identified some numbers on the marker honoring the Artillery Brigade, II Corps. The family  a man, a woman, and the boy around 3 years old  soon walked to the monuments lining The Angle. I walked to the tiny, white-painted farmhouse alongside Taneytown Road that Maj. Gen. George G. Meade used as his headquarters until shelled out on July 3, 1863. Several families headed the other way, toward Hancock Avenue. I spoke briefly with a couple making their first Gettysburg visit with their adolescent-aged children. Mom and Dad wanted them to see the battlefield, to learn about this aspect of American history, the parents indicated. This was part of their childrens heritage, of Americas heritage, and their children would learn about Gettysburg today. Down on the Emmitsburg Road, a woman followed three boys (probably ages 8 or 9) approaching the rail fence along the path leading from the Virginia Monument to The Angle. Formed in a tight triangular brigade, with its apex wearing a black cavalry troopers hat and thrusting his right hand upward in a follow me gesture, the boys obviously re-enacted Picketts Charge  and mom (at least somebodys mother) used her smart phone to film the attack.  A while later, while descending Big Round Top, I met a couple ascending the beat-up trail with their two young children. Dad was telling them that in the 1930s, Big Round Top was considered a possible site for the proposed Eternal Light Peace Memorial. His attention to detail suggested that the children heard a lot more about Gettysburg before reaching BRTs monument-and-tree studded summit (the 20th Maine Infantrys second monument stands up there, by the way). Actually, given the fathers obvious passion for Gettysburg, the children will learn much more about the battle, the national military park, and the monuments scattered across it. Those monuments identify where particular units fought, be they Yankee or Confederate. Surely beside one monument on another on this fine June day, a father or mother would tell the children, This is where your great-great-grand somebody fought for his country.  In the end, thats what the Union monuments represent. They honor the men, black and white (plus Indians, including Passamaquoddies and Penobscots from Maine), who battled to save the United States of America. Lets use these monuments to tell our children and their childrens children about what happened here at Gettysburg and the cost paid to preserve our nation. Swartz delves into the personal stories of sacrifice and loss  Civil War News  If you enjoy reading the adventures of Mainers caught up in the Civil War, be sure to like Maine at War on Facebook and get a copy of the new Maine at War Volume 1: Bladensburg to Sharpsburg, available online at Amazon and all major book retailers, including Books-A-Million and Barnes & Noble.   And coming in mid-July: Passing Through the Fire: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and the Civil War, being released by Savas Beatie. This new book chronicles the swift transition of Joshua L. Chamberlain from college professor and family man to regimental and brigade commander and follows him into combat at Shepherdstown, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and the Petersburg and Appomattox campaigns. Drawing on Chamberlains extensive memoirs and writings and multiple period sources, historian Brian F. Swartz follows Chamberlain across Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia while examining the determined warrior who let nothing prevent him from helping save the United States. Be sure to order your copy at Amazon!   Brian Swartz can be reached at visionsofmaine@tds.net. He enjoys hearing from Civil War buffs interested in Maines involvement in the war.