Jonathan Neu

We bring you an update from Jonathan Neu, Class of '07, who was recently published in Gettysburg Magazine: 

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Seeing one's hard work find an outlet in published print is certainly one of the most rewarding achievements for a student. I had the great fortune to experience just that with the publication of my article entitled "The 72nd Pennsylvania Monument Controversy" in the January 2009 issue of The Gettysburg Magazine. The article is the product of a research paper done in Dr. Guelzo's American Civil War Seminar (CWES 421) during the Fall 2007 semester. The paper also served as the capstone project that helped me to earn my Civil War Era Studies minor.

The article deals with the controversy surrounding the placement of the monument to the 72nd Pennsylvania, which stands conspicuously along the stone wall at the famed "Bloody Angle." The 72nd Pennsylvania Regiment was a component of the renowned Philadelphia Brigade that took a prominent role in the repulse of Pickett's Charge on July 3, 1863. During the postwar years, regimental veterans' groups often wished to place monuments on the grounds over which they contested, marking the place of their greatest sacrifice for posterity. As monumentation took hold over the battlefield landscape, the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association (GBMA) stepped in as arbiters of the field, enacting regulations to keep the monuments in an orderly arrangement to preserve historical accuracy. The GBMA's insistence upon this fastidious organization of monuments soon clashed with the desires of the 72nd Pennsylvania's survivors, sparking a legal contest that spanned three years and ultimately shaped the battlefield's preservation practice for years to come.

During their reign as supervisors of the field, members of the GBMA insisted that monuments be placed where regiments were deployed prior to Confederate attacks, preserving an orderly distribution of monuments on the field. This procedure would banish the monument to the 72nd Pennsylvania to a position one hundred yards behind the celebrated stone wall. Meanwhile, the regiment's veterans wanted to situate their monument along the wall, at the advanced position they claimed to have reached during the repulse of Pickett's brigades. The ensuing lawsuit was heard by both the Adams County Court of Common Pleas and the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court. In the process, veterans of the 72nd Pennsylvania, as well as survivors from other regiments involved in the Confederate repulse, gave their testimony, recollecting the role they played during the combat. What ensued were conflicting accounts of what actually occurred at the "Bloody Angle."

Although the 72nd Pennsylvania ultimately secured the rights to place its monument along the stone wall, discrepancies developed which called into question the validity of the regiment's claims. Besides drawing conclusions about the likely events that occurred during the regiment's period of combat, the topic afforded the opportunity to examine a number of other themes. First, the article scrutinizes the inner workings of the GBMA, how it garnered so much authority over the monumentation of the battlefield, and how it lost that power as a result of its failed lawsuit. Second, it examines how the federal government came to control the battlefield as a National Military Park. Lastly, the article explores the validity of witness testimony, how time affects memory, and the usefulness of human recollection to modern-day historians.

The research paper was certainly the most challenging, and fulfilling, project prepared during my time at Gettysburg College. It was especially gratifying to know that original research was being conducted to contribute to the ever-ongoing Gettysburg conversation. It certainly brought my time in the CWES Department to a satisfying conclusion.

- Jonathan D. Neu (Class of '07)

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Look for a copy of Gettysburg Magazine, Issue 40 at your local bookstore, or order a copy from the magazine's website.