Crisis of Commemoration Part 2: The Gettysburg Casino and the Ground Zero Mosque

This article has been updated since its original publication.

The financial gains to the Gettysburg region that the proposed casino will bring as promised by its supporters is said by them to be significant, but the inappropriateness of the project at its current location is as obvious to all reasonable people and those who revere our history as is the construction of a mosque at Ground Zero.

Our Civil War (from the Northern perspective) was fought to preserve the Union. The effort of the South to secede from the Union was decided on the field of many bloody battlefields. We are now a united people. Heroes like Sgt. Richard Kirkland at the battle of Fredericksburg made it so.

Sgt. Richard Kirkland, CSA. Rendered aid and comfort to his enemies on the field of battle at Fredericksburg, December, 1862. His example of selflessness, bravery, compassion, and charity went a long way in re-uniting the sections after the Civil War. Kirkland was later killed at Chickamuaga.

Ground Zero mosque supporters make similar claims as the Gettysburg casino people though the benefit they reference is not coin but a general good feeling and false satisfaction that we Americans once again will have been successful in not causing offense to some aggrieved minority or special interest group. Avoidance of offense is no way to sustain a civilization.

Supporters of the Gettysburg casino project suggest that the site is outside the battle area (similar arguments are made by the mosque proponents) and is thus not hallowed ground and not worthy of protection. Wrong.

Historians have shown that the proposed casino site is the location where Judson Kilpatrick’s Union cavalry rested on the night of July 3rd. These men under David M. Gregg and Custer rode out to meet JEB Stuart’s Confederate cavalry several miles in the rear of the Union main line on Cemetery Ridge, an area now known as East Cavalry Field, on the afternoon of July 3, 1863. Kilpatrick with General Farnsworth’s brigade operated on the Confederate right flank near to the proposed casino site. Farnsworth would be killed in a reckless cavalry charge on the 3rd which did nothing but encourage bad feeling against Kilpatrick in the army and continue to build his “killcavalry” reputation. It is also the site of Wesley Merritt’s launching point for a cavalry assault on the Confederate right on July 3rd.

Click on graphic above to view NPS Gettyburg site and interactive map.

Had Gregg (and George Armstrong Custer with him) been unsuccessful in driving Stuart and his cavalry from the battlefield the battle of Gettysburg would likely have been a Confederate victory and the course of the war changed. Therefore, the site of the proposed casino is on hallowed and historically significant ground. The site of the proposed casino in Gettysburg is national heritage ground and ought not be tainted with the passing fancy of a Hooters restaurant franchise, megaWalmart, casino, or any other structure or enterprise that will detract from the character and import of the location. Hallowed ground is meant to be preserved, not disturbed.

Union Cavalry General Judson Kilpatrick. History has not been kind to Kilpatrick. For having got too many of his men recklessly killed he is known by the sobriquet “Killcavalry Kilpatrick.” (Image source)

Our hallowed ground must be protected so that future generations can take pride and courage from our forebears whose actions at these places set a high standard of bravery, selflessness, and honor for us as a people. This is the responsibility of those who follow others who have made the supreme sacrifice for our benefit.

JEB Stuart, CS Cavalry Commander, Army of Northern Virginia. The beau ideal of the southern cavalier, Stuart was late in arriving at Gettysburg. Blamed by some analysts for the failure of Confederate arms there Stuart offered to resign – an offer that Robert E. Lee rejected. Stuart’s success at East Cavalry Field would have likely resulted in a Confederate victory at Gettysburg. Stuart was later killed at Yellow Tavern, May, 1864. (Stuart image source.)

In this case as at Ground Zero, demands of today are undermining both our connection with our national past and its meaning. We should take great care that this casino project is stopped and that this apparently growing loss of appreciation for the sacrifices and bravery of past Americans is reversed.

Our heritage cannot be passed down for future generations if we do not save it.

A central responsibility that we have to the future is to retain our past. We do this so that our heroes, our losses, and their lessons are never lost to us. Aren’t we the caretakers of our national historic sites, and the memory of our heroes? If we fail, future generations will suffer for it, and so will we.

The measure is this: Does what we do advance the memory and honor the sacrifices of those who came before us? The proposed casino fails this test, as does the mosque at Ground Zero.

Gettysburg, like the sites of Ground Zero, is a national landmark and treasure; the places where our heroes fought and died are hallowed ground. These are places of sacrifice and bravery, and of horror.

Aren’t we obligated to honor our innocent dead of 9/11 by respecting and commemorating the site of the atrocity there as we are the memory of the soldiers, north and south, of Gettysburg? In cases such as Gettysburg and other Civil War battlefields we protect these places as an homage to the bravery of the men of both sides and as a lesson to the future.

The lesson of the Ground Zero mosque, if it is built, is that we do not care to learn from the past because to do so might be “offensive” to some or considered politically incorrect.

For those who might be “offended” by our commemoration of 9/11, and our protecting our important historic sites relating to it and coming to an understanding of what 9/11 means for us as a nation our response should be: “Too bad.”

We commemorate the events at places like Pearl Harbor and Ground Zero to remember the horrific crimes committed against our innocent fellow Americans, and to reiterate the promise – never again. Never again should we be caught unprepared, and ignorant of catastrophic threats against us, and never again should our enemies have the opportunity to murder our people. If such events do occur – our response should be devastating so that no repetition of it ever occurs.

There are no Shinto shrines or monuments to Hirohito or the Japanese Zero dive bomber pilots at Pearl Harbor – such things would be considered a desecration of that place and a slander to the memory of the victims. The very same approach should be the driver at Ground Zero, and no other.

Union General Welsey Merritt launched a cavalry attack against Confederate positions held by Longstreet’s men on the 3rd of July from the very spot where the proposed Gettysburg casino is to be constructed. The site is national heritage ground and ought not to be disturbed. We should save our hallowed ground for future generations and not throw such treasures away for a business venture of limited value, and questionable merit. (Map source: Gettysburg’s Forgotten Cavalry Actions by Eric Wittenberg; used with permission.)

We build monuments to commemorate our heroes but also to reiterate this point – that the significant places of American history where our heroes lived, showed us the way, and sometimes died are not for erasing.

Major General John S. Reynolds, Corps Commander at Gettysburg. Killed on the first day of the battle. His loss was a profound shock to the Union Army. (Image source.)

Close up of General Reynolds equestrian statue on the field at Gettysburg. There is something haunting and forever timeless about the monuments on Civil War battlefields. They have a story to tell, a story of valor and selflessness that for too long few have heard. These monuments are meant to last forever. The memory of American bravery and self-sacrifice never should be erased. (Image source.)

Our current national confusion and doubt coupled with an ongoing economic decline is putting great pressure on many to make choices whose merits are short-term and overturn our connection with the past which should be timeless.

Friend to Friend Masonic monument, Gettysburg. The marker on this monument reads, in part: “Depicted in this sculpture is Union Captain Henry Bingham, a Mason and staff assistant to General Hancock, himself wounded, rendering aid to the fallen Confederate General. Armistead is shown handing his watch and personal effects to be taken to his friend, Union General Hancock.” We are a compassionate people, even in war. But we ought not to allow our compassion for the intolerance of others to overturn what so many have fought and died to defend. (Image source.)

Sites of national heritage – be they Gettysburg or Ground Zero – are more about people than about place.

We save and protect such places because our national character is forever linked with the people who fought, sacrificed, and died there. These important places are saved so that we keep alive a visceral link with the great people of our past. It is our responsibility to keep these places safe so that we can appreciate them and future generations can understand, and be inspired.