Haunted by the Past: Battles over Civil War Myth-Making in Gettysburg

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dc.contributor.advisorRenda, Mary
dc.contributor.authorMorikawa, Sari
dc.date.accessioned2023-07-14T18:50:07Z
dc.date.available2023-07-14T18:50:07Z
dc.date.gradyear2023en_US
dc.date.issued2023-07-14EN
dc.description.abstractAs the smoke began to dissipate over the small town of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863, what was revealed was a scene of unimaginable carnage. The battle that lasted for three long days had left a scar on the town and its residents. It is well known that the Battle of Gettysburg was the turning point of the Civil War. Lesser known are the ways that the event changed Gettysburg from a small and beautiful town surrounded by nature to a place that commemorates and commodifies the battle. Other towns also saw extensive changes, but change in Gettysburg was unique: the site of a national historic park, with some 20 museums, countless tourist shops, and one to two million visitors from the 1980s to 2010s, Gettysburg still carries the legacy of that bloody battle. This project explores how tourists, activists, and others interested in the meanings of narratives of the Civil War centered on Gettysburg. By examining guidebooks, maps, and newspaper articles, I analyze the remaking of Gettysburg in relation to heritage tourism, civil rights struggles, and politicians' rhetoric about American exceptionalism. Times of commemoration and division — the World Columbian Exposition, the battle’s 1913 reunion, and the Vietnam War — prompted Americans to revisit Gettysburg, to reclaim their citizenship, national memories of the war, or a romanticized past. To understand the development of Gettysburg tourism in recent decades, how current residents engage the town’s history, and the battle’s resonance in relation to contemporary political struggles, I conducted oral history interviews with 18 Gettysburg residents and Gettysburg College students. These accounts highlight some of the recurring issues in modern American society, such as the presence of right-wing militia groups in the context of political polarization and the challenge of teaching accurate American history. Gettysburg continues to serve as a battleground in contests over the Civil War and its legacies.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipHistoryen_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10166/6460
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.rights.restrictedpublicen_US
dc.subjectAmerican historyen_US
dc.subjectthe Civil Waren_US
dc.subjectMemory Studiesen_US
dc.subjectOral Historyen_US
dc.titleHaunted by the Past: Battles over Civil War Myth-Making in Gettysburgen_US
dc.typeThesis
mhc.degreeUndergraduateen_US
mhc.institutionMount Holyoke College

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