The Battle of Gettysburg was a turning point in the Civil War, the Union victory in the summer of 1863 that ended General Robert E. Lee’s second and most ambitious invasion of the North. Often referred to as the “High Water Mark of the Confederacy”, it was the war’s bloodiest battle with 51,000 casualties. It also provided President Abraham Lincoln with the setting for his most famous address.
Gettysburg National Military Park offers a full range of summer ranger programs, battlefield walks, evening campfire programs, and other special events including living history groups and band concerts to assist in preserving and interpreting this special piece of American History.
The park’s new Museum and Visitor Center opened in April 2008 with a September 26 unveiling of the Cyclorama painting. The new, 139,000 square foot facility brings to life the most extensive Civil War collections in the National Park Service through exhibits, interactive, and hands-on experiences that immerse visitors in the story of the Battle of Gettysburg and the Civil War. It features a new park Visitor Center, the 24,000 square foot Gettysburg Museum of the American Civil War, a new gallery to display the restored Cyclorama Painting, two theaters for a new 22-minute film, “A New Birth of Freedom,” curatorial space, a park library, office space, classrooms, a Refreshment Saloon, and a museum bookstore.
Research access for the public to the museum collection at Gettysburg National Military Park is open to researchers by appointment only. More information can be found here.
