Settling In at the Codori House

Hello all,


Just wanted to post a quick note. I am currently settling in to my new confines for the summer--the Codori Farm House at Gettysburg. Yes, THE Codori house, as in the one right smack dab in the middle of Pickett's Charge, where the division of George Pickett actually had to maneuver around the house, just a few hundred yards away from Cemetery Ridge. Yeah, that Codori House. That's where I am living while working as a park ranger at Gettysburg for the 150th anniversary of the battle.


I know what you are thinking. Yes, God is good, and he does answer prayers. I'm not lucky. Just blessed.

It has been a long day. I worked at Antietam this morning, did a program for about 90 people, moved up here and settled in this afternoon and evening. Time to hit the books then bed.

Over the next few months, this blog will be focusing very heavily on Gettysburg. I am living in the middle of the battlefield, it is the 150th anniversary this summer (which I have already nicknamed the "Civil War Super Bowl" because it will be ridiculous how many people will be here). I hope to chronicle lots of my experiences on here, as well as give you a view as to what it is like being a ranger here from my perspective. Also, another big plus, the Codori House has INTERNET! So, I can actually be a 21st century ranger now...


Stay tuned! It will be a great year.

Rangering at Gettysburg

I have some big news that I have been holding off on sharing for quite some time. Now, because the summer sesaon is fast approaching, this seems like as good a time as any to post about it on here. Starting on May 19, I will be working as a park ranger at Gettysburg National Military Park for the 2013 season!


For most of the winter, I was uncertain whether I would have any NPS work this year at all. In fact, for awhile it appeared as though I was done with the Park Service due to sequestration. Then, in late March, I found out I would be coming back to Antietam, and the next day I was offered a seasonal position at Gettysburg for the summer. Thankfully, because I work for some great people, I was able to arrange things so that I am working at both parks this year. Lots of prayers were answered, to be sure.

Needless to say, I am very excited about this. I will be at Gettysburg from May 19 to mid-August, when I will be returning to Antietam for the fall. Thus, I will be able to work at Gettysburg for their 150th anniversary and be back in time for Antietam's 151st!


Working at Gettysburg has long been a dream of mine, along with working at Antietam. This year, I am blessed to say I will be working at both parks. When I was younger I went on many, many trips to the Gettysburg battlefield, more trips there in fact than I made to Antietam. I still remember how excited I was every time we drove into Gettysburg on Route 30, seeing the First Day battlefield when coming in from the west, seeing the statues of Reynolds and Buford along the road, knowing that in just a few minutes I would be out of the car and on the battlefield. My blue Union kepi hat saw lots of use on many of those trips. I would always try to pick up a cool new book or a cool new Union uniform piece every time as a souvenir of the trip. I remember one trip where Dad and I packed up the van to go camping near the battlefield, only to have the van break down on the Pennsylvania Turnpike on our way there. Dad was not deterred, though; he got a rental car, we continued on, and spent the weekend camping, cooking out, and hiking all around Gettysburg. I'm sure it wasn't fun for Dad having to deal with a non functioning car, but I still remember it fondly today.

Several years ago, in 2008, Dad and I made a trip to Gettysburg during the summer between my Junior and Senior year at Hillsdale. That summer, I was trying to make some big decisions about my future. I had recently read David McCullough's biography of John Adams for the first time, and was so moved and inspired that I decided that some day I wanted to write a book about American history as well. During that trip in 2008, I decided that I was going to try to be a professional historian. I told Dad on that trip that no matter what, I wanted to go back to Gettysburg for the 150th anniversary of the battle to at least be there for the events. Now, not only will I be there, but I will be working as a Park Ranger. A dream come true.

I also remember going to Gettysburg (with a side trip to Antietam) in 2009 with my Mom. My grandpa had recently taken a turn for the worse with his lymphoma, and the trip Mom and I took to Gettysburg that summer was the bright spot of our year. The rest of the year we spent at Grandpa's house caring for him every day until he passed in late October, but for a few days we got to spend some quality Mom and son time together in Gettysburg, enjoying Civil War history the way we have done since I was a kid.


Thus, you see, I have some very special memories of going to Gettysburg throughout the years, and those memories only make it so much more special that I will be able to work there as a park ranger this summer. I am incredibly blessed.


Gettysburg starts one week from tomorrow, so I am spending all my spare time either working on my Kennesaw Mountain book or reading up on Gettysburg. There will hopefully be many new blog posts and topics on here relating to Gettysburg and the 150th commemorations there this year. I am thoroughly thrilled at this new opportunity. Antietam has been my home for the past few years, and I am very glad I am here now and will be back in the fall, but I am also very excited to be branching out to Gettysburg in the year of their sesquicentennial.

Lack of Posts

Sorry for the lack of posts on here as of late. I am staying in park housing at Antietam, and do not have internet there. Thus, I have to use internet elsewhere and have not been blogging as much as of late. Expect this trend of fewer posts to continue for the time being, unless things change. I am quite busy with NPS work, working on my Kennesaw Mountain book for the History Press, as well as working my part time job writing history lessons for educationportal.com.


Hope everyone is enjoying the warmer weather that May has brought!

"Which side was fighting for slavery?"

                               

 

During my Orientation talk yesterday afternoon, a couple from Australia was sitting right up front. Half way through the talk, I paused to see if any of the visitors had questions. The Australian gentleman raised his hand and asked, “Forgive me for not knowing this already, but which side was fighting for slavery?”

I thought this gentleman's question was really interesting. In the United States, the Civil War is still an active event in some ways. For most of us, we could be described as having a “dog in the fight,” depending on where we were born, where we grew up, where we live, where our ancestors are from, so on and so forth. Yet, this gentleman from another country didn’t have any concerns about the moral implications of the conflict on his own heritage. He simply wanted to know perhaps one of the most important things about the Civil War. Which side was fighting to perpetuate a slave based society, a slave based economy, and a slave based government, and which was fighting to preserve the Union and give freedom to four million people. 

I told the gentleman that it was the Confederacy which seceded over the issue of slavery, and it was the Confederacy that, if they won, would perpetuate slavery and spread the practice into new areas. A few visitors from Texas in the back noted their disagreement with me, but, they were about as polite and cordial as one could possibly expect (I wish all visitors were as friendly when disagreeing with me!). I had a great conversation with them after the program.

Later in the day, a bus of visitors from the Netherlands stopped by the Visitor Center, and after conversing with them, as well as with the Australian gentleman’s question in mind, I have to say: I truly enjoy talking to visitors from other countries. It is, perhaps, one of my favorite things about being a park ranger. The perspective that travelers from across the world bring to American history sites, especially those of the Civil War, give us an outside glimpse of how the world views our history.

Now, I’m off to another day of working the best job in the world.

Good to be Back

There has been a paucity of new posts on here lately because things have picked up. A few weeks ago, it looked like I would not have any Park Service work this year because of the Federal Sequester. Yet, right before Easter, I received word that I would be coming back to Antietam!


So, last week, I moved back to Maryland and returned to work for the 2013 season. I don't have an internet connection where I am staying, which limits the posts. Thus, I wanted to post a short note to let everyone know I am doing quite well. I have some other new and exciting news about my 2013 season to share on here very soon, news that only adds to my great relief and gratitude for the opportunities I have right now. The paperwork isn't finalized, so I will hold off on sharing this news for a little while yet.


In the meantime, here is the view of Antietam's Bloody Lane at sunset from two days ago. I am very blessed and fortunate to have the opportunity to continue working here and doing what I love. God is very good, indeed. I'm taking each day at a time, knowing that every day is a blessing.

The Roulette Farm: The Panorama View

Earlier this month, we looked at the terrain of the Mumma farm from a panorama view. Today, we will look at the Roulette farm; primarily, we will be focusing on the approach of French and Richardon's divisions in their assault on the Sunken Road. For those who didn't read the previous post, please check it out at the link above. It goes hand in hand with today's post.

This panorama shot shows the ground over which men of William French's and Israel Richardson's divisions advanced on the morning of September 17, 1862. These two divisions had been separated from John Sedgwick's division of the Second Corps due to terrain, orders, and confusion (this is discussed more in the previous post). On the far left of the photograph, the Observation Tower on the Sunken Road can be seen. On the far right, there is the Roulette Farm. This picture was taken from one of the highest ridges on the ground over which these Federal soldiers advanced. They moved across this ground from right to left in this photograph.

 

In this version of the Ezra Carman map showing troop movements from 9 am to 9:30 am, several features are highlighted. First, the spot where the panorama was taken is noted by an orange star. The observation tower is indicated by a tall red pyramid, helping to show where the left edge of the image is located. The Roulette farm, on the right of the panorama, is circled in red. The location of the Visitor Center is circled in yellow, and the Reel Ridge in the far distance of the panorama is highlighted in light blue. Additionally, the trees along the Roulette farm lane, visible in the center of the panorama photograph, are highlighted by a green line in the map above. I thought these enhancements would help interpret the map and the photos together, especially for those who aren't terribly familiar with the terrain and location.

The reason why this photograph is so telling is it shows something vitally important about the Sunken Road attack. This terrain, like much of Antietam, is an ocean of hills, ridges, swales, and depressions. This terrain was one major reason why the killing and slaughter was so great that day. From this position, only parts of the Sunken Road can be seen, making it a hidden trench of sorts. However, Federal soldiers would have been open to artillery fire from the Piper Farm behind the Sunken Road and, more importantly, from the Reel Ridge. While the Piper Farm is hidden from view, the Reel Ridge is just under one mile away. It was covered with Confederate artillery and able to blast Union soldiers advancing on the Sunken Road. While we often discuss the view Confederate soldiers in the road had of advancing Federals, we often forget that those Federals were exposed to artillery fire throughout the assault. 

Essentially, the views for advancing soldiers were changing with every step they took. While this may seem an obvious point, it is much more relevant when considering that the lines of sight are changing, affecting the vulnerability of attacking soldiers to rifle and artillery fire.

Here are a few more specific shots of the terrain:

This picture, taken from behind the Roulette Farm, is looking toward the Sunken Road and the Observation Tower, visible in the distance. While the trees in the foreground were not present in 1862, they don't take away from what the image tells us; from this position, seeing and understanding the strength of Confederates in the road was a near impossibility due to the terrain.

 This image was taken from the same vantage point as the panorama photograph, and is looking toward the Roullette farm (the right side of the panorama)

 This image was also taken at the same point as the panorama. It is looking toward the hill on which the visitor center currently sits.

This image, taken from the spot of Graham's battery, is near the site of the previous two pictures. It shows how close they were to the Observation Tower. 

Image of the view Graham's battery would have had in responding to Confederate fire on the Piper Farm (invisible from this spot due to terrain) and the barely visible Reel Ridge in the distance.

A better image showing that most of the Sunken Road is barely visible from this spot. In the distance is Reel Ridge, which was covered by Confederate artillery pieces firing into the ranks of oncoming Union soldiers in French's and Richardson's divisions.

The Future of Civil War History Conference

Now that I'm back in Ohio from my trip to Maryland and Pennsylvania, I wanted to do a post about the Future of Civil War History Conference which I attended at Gettysburg College last weekend. It was a great conference with lots of interesting panels. I found a number of them very interesting, especially those on discussing emancipation with visitors, the presentation on how to incorporate sights and smells of the battlefield into interpretation, and a discussion on uses of new media in Civil War History.


Hands down the best program of the weekend was led by Scott Hartwig and Peter Carmichael. It was on Saturday afternoon when the temperatures were in the mid 30s with driving rain and sleet. I know, sounds fun, right? The program was a walk of Pickett's Charge (I have NEVER walked the field in those conditions before, so it was illuminating from that perspective alone). The focus was on new interpretive possibilities of Pickett's Charge. So, not only did we talk about the charge itself but new stories that illustrate various soldier and civilian experiences that can normally fall by the wayside in traditional battlefield interpretation. It was the most informative and helpful program of the weekend.




However, while I enjoyed the conference, at nearly every one of the individual discussion groups, there was at least one speaker who made it clear that he or she was not a Civil War historian but rather a social media expert, a communications expert, or a social historian (just a few examples). It seemed as though many of the presenters had only been to Gettysburg (or any battlefield) perhaps once or twice before, and even then maybe not in any capacity other than taking the basic battlefield tour.


This ended up being problematic on some of the panel discussions. There were scholars who were not familiar with Civil War battlefields discussing how to interpret Civil War battlefields. Many were entirely unaware of how programs work at NPS sites and what visitors at those sites are like. I heard it said numerous times that visitors to Civil War battlefields are thirsting for more discussion of emancipation, civilians, and gender history. That could not be any further from the truth. By and large, visitors avoid those programs like the plague. They want battle stories. That is what makes doing battlefield interpretation so difficult. We have to give the people what they want while still educating them about other important aspects of the Civil War that they may not know about.

That was, as I understood it, one of the purposes of the conference: to bridge the divide between academic historians and public historians to figure out how to interpret better Civil War history sites.

Perhaps the biggest thing I learned at the conference is that sites like Antietam National Battlefield are doing exactly what they should in leading the way for the next wave of Civil War history. Antietam now has a park blog, uses facebook and twitter accounts to reach people, and focuses on emancipation as one of the main interpretive themes of the park. I am very proud to work there and call the rangers on the interpretive staff there my colleagues, and I look forward to all of the great programs that we will offer in the year ahead.

While I found the disconnect between some of the presenters and the reality of battlefield interpretation frustrating at times, I still greatly enjoyed the conference because if anything it reinforced my feelings on the direction of Civil War history. Civil War historians do need to include more discussion of emancipation, African Americans, civilians, and women into their presentations, especially in the National Park Service. It was good to see that discussed in a meaningful way. 

I think the best part of the conference was bringing together academic professors and public historians to discuss the field of Civil War history together. Peter Carmichael and his staff at Gettysburg College did a fantastic job with the conference, and I think it was overall a very productive experience.