New and Noteworthy: Maine Roads To Gettysburg

 Maine Roads to Gettysburg: How Joshua Chamberlain, Oliver Howard, and 4,000 Men from the Pine Tree State Helped Win the Civil War's Bloodiest Battle, Tom Huntington, Stackpole Press, 432 pages, 2018, $32.95

From the Publisher:  Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and his 20th Maine regiment made a legendary stand on Little Round Top during the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863. But Maine's role in the battle includes much more than that. Soldiers from the Pine Tree State contributed mightily during the three days of fighting. 

Pious general Oliver Otis Howard secured the high ground of Cemetery Ridge for the Union on the first day. Adelbert Ames--the stern taskmaster who had transformed the 20th Maine into a fighting regiment--commanded a brigade and then a division at Gettysburg. 

The 17th Maine fought ably in the confused and bloody action in the Wheatfield; a sea captain turned artilleryman named Freeman McGilvery cobbled together a defensive line that proved decisive on July 2; and the 19th Maine helped stop Pickett's Charge during the battle's climax.

  

Maine soldiers had fought and died for two bloody years even before they reached Gettysburg. They had fallen on battlefields in Virginia and Maryland. They had died in front of Richmond, in the Shenandoah Valley, on the bloody fields of Antietam, in the Slaughter Pen at Fredericksburg, and in the tangled Wilderness around Chancellorsville. And the survivors kept fighting, even as they followed Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia into Pennsylvania.  Maine Roads to Gettysburg tells their stories.

Tom Huntington is the author of Searching for George Gordon Meade: The Forgotten Victor of Gettysburg, as well as Guide to Gettysburg Battlefield Monuments, Pennsylvania Civil War Trails, and Ben Franklin’s Philadelphia. He is also the former editor of American History and Historic Traveler magazines, and his writing has appeared in many publications, including Smithsonian, Air & Space, American Heritage, British Heritage, and Yankee. He was born and bred in Augusta, Maine, but now lives in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, not far from Gettysburg.

News--Gettysburg's Lutheran Seminary Sells 18 Acres of Lee's Headquarters Location to the Civil War Trust

The United Lutheran Seminary today announced an agreement with the Civil War Trust to permanently preserve 18 acres of historic open space on Seminary Ridge in Gettysburg. The property, located on both sides of Seminary Ridge Road, has been a part of the Seminary since it moved to the site in 1832.

"This property is a gift from God and we are stewards of this gift. We have a deep love for the property and its unique historic and scenic character," ULS Acting President-Bishop James Dunlop said. "For generations, these qualities have inspired thousands of seminary students as well as visitors from across our nation and around the world."

Under the terms of the $3.5 million purchase agreement, the Trust will acquire an 11-acre portion of the United Lutheran Seminary property straddling Seminary Ridge Road and a conservation easement on 7 acres along Chambersburg Pike east of those two parcels.   "We feel, as stewards of this site for more than 180 years, that we have a sacred responsibility to see it is protected for future generations," Bishop Dunlop said. "We believe this land needs to be preserved for the next generations of seminarians, and others, to reflect upon, learn from, and appreciate."

In remarking on the agreement, Civil War Trust President James Lighthizer said: "We have long admired the Seminary's commitment to protecting and maintaining Seminary Ridge. We consider it a privilege to partner with the Seminary to permanently preserve this iconic landscape."

Conversations, about this agreement, began in 2015, and the Trust has already begun raising funds to preserve the property. 

For the Gettysburg community, the ridge's open land is a favorite gathering place during special events each year. People assemble there on Independence Day to watch the fireworks from this high ground. It has been home to the Gettysburg Brass Band Festival for 21 years. And this August, the Seminary will host the 5th annual Gettysburg Brewfest, – with craft brewers, cider makers and food trucks.

Founded in Gettysburg as the Lutheran Theological Seminary in 1826, the educational institution moved to its present site on Seminary Ridge in 1832. It is the oldest continuously operating Lutheran seminary in the nation. In July 2017, it consolidated with the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia to become the United Lutheran Seminary.  The Gettysburg Seminary's 1832 building, named Schmucker Hall, figured prominently in the opening of the Battle of Gettysburg. Standing on high ground a half mile west of town, the campus became a focal point of the first day's fighting — making Seminary Ridge synonymous with that action and subsequent combat on July 2 and 3, 1863. Today, the building houses the Seminary Ridge Museum.

Adjacent to Gettysburg National Military Park and the Lee's Headquarters acreage protected by the Civil War Trust, the land that the Seminary will transfer to the Trust is of profound military significance, the bloodiest Gettysburg ground left in private hands, historians say.

The determined defense on Seminary Ridge by men from the Union's Iron Brigade and 24th Michigan Volunteer Infantry enabled the army to regroup and hold Cemetery Hill, key to the ultimate Federal victory at Gettysburg. Hundreds of soldiers from North and South were felled on the ground to be purchased by the Trust.

"On this ground occurred the end of the beginning of the Battle of Gettysburg and the beginning of the end of the Civil War," said Doug Douds, a retired Marine Corps colonel and Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide who teaches at the U.S. Army War College.

Full Text Link--Lutheran Seminary at Gettysburg

.
Background Information Link--Civil War Trust