APRIL 20, 1998

NEWS RELEASE - - - U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

national park service

RELEASE UPON RECEIPT
CONTACT: KATIE LAWHON
717-334-1124 x452

GETTYSBURG ADVISORY COMMISSION RELEASES
HISTORIANS' REPORT ON LEVAN SITE

Gettysburg, PA, April 20, 1998 -Gettysburg National Military Park's Advisory Commission has released results of a historians' review commissioned by the executive committee of the Advisory Commission. A panel of seven noted Civil War historians was asked to review battle activity at the Levan site where a new National Park Service (NPS) facility is proposed. The report concludes that panel members have agreed that NPS historians were correct in their assessment that no troop fighting took place on the 45-acre site, that Union artillery fired from a knoll near and parallel to the Baltimore Pike for some time against Confederate troops on Culp's Hill during the morning hours of July 3, 1863, and that the Levan site was used for occasional troop movements and rear area positioning only.

The panel also endorsed the process developed by park planning staff and historians to determine significant 1863 landscape features, their relationship to the outcome of the battle, and the extent of their change over the past 135 years. This process of historical analysis is a basis for the ongoing, new General Management Plan (GMP), a strategic plan that will guide management of the park for the next fifteen to twenty years.

The historians serving on the panel were Ed Bearss, Dr. Charles Fennell, Dr. Gary Gallagher, General Hal Nelson, Dr. Harry Pfanz, Dr. Richard Rollins, and Mark Snell. Key staff from Gettysburg National Military Park and the park Advisory Commission met with the panel on January 22, 23, and February 20. The different dates were needed to accommodate the historians' schedules.

Background

A critical element of the park's GMP is the park's effort to:

document and map the change that has occurred on the battlefield from 1863 to present
document and map what remains of the 1863 battlefield landscape, and
determine the significance of landscape and topographic features associated with the battle.

The park staff has currently mapped and assembled documentation on the landscape for four crucial time periods in the battlefield's history. They are:

1863 - The battlefield as it appeared at the time of the battle, based upon mapping completed by the U.S. Army and John Bachelder after the battle, reports, letters, etc., of citizens and soldiers, and photographs.
1895 - The battlefield at the end of the administration of the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association, and the beginning of the administration of the U.S. War Department.
1927 - The end of the era of battlefield administration by veterans. The year 1927 marks the death of Superintendent Emmor B. Cope.
1993 - The most recent aerial mapping of the battlefield.

Report Summary

The peer review panel endorsed the validity of the methodology design, the use of relevant source material and the output of comparative base maps reflecting the terrain features present from 1863 to the present. The panel further endorsed the applicability of KOCOA when used with the base maps to identify critical terrain features affecting the outcome of the battle. (KOCOA is a method used by the U.S. military to evaluate terrain. It is an acronym for Key terrain, Observation, Cover and concealment, Obstacles, and Avenues of approach.)
The panel recommended the maps be amended with the addition of artillery positions and fields of fire so as to be on the same level of importance as infantry action. This will give an expanded view of battle action and key terrain.
The panel recommended the continued refinement and use of the process to include at a minimum the continuation of the peer review process as a means of testing conclusions and providing outside input.
The panel endorsed the process as a valid and sufficient basis for General Management Plan (GMP) level decisions.
The panel agreed with the park historians' assessment of battle related activity experienced on the Levan property during July 1-3, 1863.
The panel further agreed that the probable site of Kinzie's Battery K, 5th U.S. Artillery, during its action against Confederate infantry positions on Culp's Hill during the morning of July 3, was on the ridge running essentially perpendicular to Hunt Avenue, where a battery tablet to it and Lieutenant Rugg's Battery F, 4th U.S. Artillery, are located. This, the panel agrees, was the only battle action that took place on the tract during the battle.
The panel unanimously agrees that it is imperative that the site of Kinzie's and Rugg's batteries remain undisturbed by construction and be interpreted within the Baltimore Pike artillery line. The NPS has committed not to use the portions of the Levan property where artillery units were positioned, for either the museum building or the parking areas.