Should there be or should there be not? That is the question

Edits with goof repair!

          This one is left up to you, the readers, because it is a question of philosophy. It is a matter of opinion, which means there is no right or wrong.

          Unless you disagree with your loyal blogger. If you want to be right, you’ll have to write your own blog.

          Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, July 2, 1863. It is late afternoon on a warm day, made hotter by all the cannon balls and heavy, little bullets flying around. A titanic struggle is underway between two large armies and the fighting is killing men by the thousands in the areas outside the town.

          You all probably know the story of the fighting on the far left end of the Army

The memorial for the men of the 20th Maine on Little Round Top. Look
at the notes and small flags left by visitors. This happens every day.

of the Potomac: The Union’s 20^th Maine holds off the repeated advances of the 15^th Alabama on one side of a hill named Little Round Top. The 20^th eventually drives off the ‘Bama boys with an impromptu charge, securing the flank.

          If you know your history well, you know that a group of Texans very nearly crumbled a different point along the Federal line atop Little Round Top that day. The difference between winning and losing on that hill was razor-thin.

          Which brings us to the present time. On June 27 of this year, your loyal blogger was walking along the line held so valiantly by the boys from Maine between the right flank marker and the memorial to the Maine men. There were two notes left by visitors to the location. One was a computer-printed list of a group of men from Alabama who were with the 15^th Alabama that day. The other note was hand-scribbled on a small piece of paper and said the 15^th deserves a marker on Little Round Top.

          The question: Do you agree?

          First, we must remember Elder’s Rule: Winners get to place and determine what is written on plaques, markers and memorials in National Military Parks. Losers are allowed to visit National Military Parks.

          Next, we should concede that more than 150 years after the battle and with all the veterans gone there is no way we could accurately mark how far some Confederate units reached during the fighting on the second and third days at Gettysburg.

          But the question remains: Should there be markers commemorating the desperate nature of the fighting on the Confederate side? Should there be a marker for the Alabamians who battered themselves against the Mainers or the Texans who succeeded in driving back the 16^th Michigan but narrowly failed to take advantage of that opportunity?

          It is an interesting question.

You have to take into account that fact that the Confederates were fighting to preserve slavery. Their cause was unacceptable. So would regimental markers estimating the positions of advancement for Confederates be a tacit acceptance of the unacceptable? Your call, reader.

The Point Reached marker for the 1st Maryland regiment of Confederates.
This marker is on Culp's Hill, as are two flank markers for a regimental
memorial for the same unit. The regimental monument directs visitors
to this stone marker.

There are such markers on the battlefield at Gettysburg now. The Point Reached maker for the 1^st Maryland Confederate regiment on Culp’s Hill is the classic example. Would a similar marker for the 15^th be in keeping with the effort to present an important day in American history? Your call, again.

Then there is the matter of all the other Confederate regiments. If a marker is erected for the 15^th Alabama, shouldn’t there be one for the other Confederate regiments that rushed at the Federals on the second and third days of the battle? Those regiments also fought very bravely and a few men from some of those Confederate units even pierced the Union defenses on both the second and third days of the battle. Up to you, reader.

The most obvious question, that of financial obligation for these would-be markers, is easily answered. Should you, the reader, decide the 15^th Alabama ought to have either a position-reached or commemorative marker on Little Round Top, then you can pay for it.

Your loyal blogger feels history would have been better served more than a century ago when the park was under development if the Southern side of the fighting was better represented. Further representation of the Confederate attacks should have been completed while the veterans of the fighting were still alive to give input. There should be a notice of the furthest point of advancement by the 15th.

However, there is no way to accurately place such a marker now. If we can’t be accurate, it says here, we shouldn’t bother with the markers.

 

Thanks for reading.