At Gettysburg, history or propaganda? (Libs Complain about Gadsden Flag)

The Evening Sun (Hanover, PA) ^ | June 22, 2012 | Tim Prudente

[Timber Rattler]

The name might not be recognizable, but you've probably seen a Gadsden flag, typically yellow with a coiled rattlesnake and the warning "Don't tread on me."

The flag was flown by colonists rebelling against British rule. And more recently, it's become the adopted symbol of the Tea parties and conservative Republicans, prompting questions as to whether it's an appropriate theme for merchandise sold at the Gettysburg battlefield bookstore.

There shoppers will find Gadsden flag shot glasses, mugs, magnets and pins. The souvenirs are the only items representing the Revolutionary War sold in the bookstore, said an employee. Mostly, the store offers merchandise that speaks to historic events a century later.

"It isn't sold in a historically relevant context," said Paul Gioni, a battlefield enthusiast from Mahwah, N.J., who contacted the National Park Service and The Evening Sun after visiting the park recently. "This is blatantly political merchandise."

[amishman]

The worst thing about visiting Pennsylvania is the ever present locust-like army of excessively loud, ill mannered, politically liberal, overly opinionated, busy body, “look-at-me” New Jerseyians.

[Lady Lucky]

I don't see that much else has changed at Antietam, except for the better.

Well, I wondered what the rule is about firearms...at Antietam and Gettysburg as well. The Gettysburg website doesn't say much about it, except that you'd better know the law.

Does anyone know whether federal or state law?

Here's the Gettysburg entry:

Firearms in National Parks: Federal law governing possession of firearms inside a national park changed on February 22, 2010. Visitors may possess firearms within a national park unit provided they comply with federal, state, and local laws. The role of the responsible gun owner is to know and obey the federal, state, and local laws appropriate to the park they are visiting. Please remember that federal law prohibits firearms in certain park facilities and buildings. These places are marked with signs at public entrances. For more information, visit: www.nps.gov/nero/firearms/

The link takes you to a page that says "PA firearms laws are complex and lengthy."

The Antietam site says "Firearms...are prohibited."

[FreedomPoster]

Sounds like the bookstore has a few items that sell well in the mix.

[Timber Rattler]

There also used to be a trolley than ran through the "Valley of Death" near Devils Den and the Slaughter Pen, as well as some brothels behind Little Round Top.

In the 1920s and early 1930s, the War Department controlled the battlefield and used it as a tank training ground, with Little Round Top as a target. Probably the only positive things that FDR did when he first became president was to take the battlefield away from the War Department and give it to the Interior Department for protection.

[FreedomPoster]

So he wears a hoodie, likely in solidarity with St. Trayvon? How sweet!

[Lady Lucky]

Further exploration at the Antietam site finds a different page and a different policy:

http://www.nps.gov/anti/parkmgmt/lawsandpolicies.htm

Here, it does not state curtly that firearms are prohibited, period. It says you better know the law and also contact the park LEO. Sounds like fun. :(

Page that says firearms are prohibited: http://www.nps.gov/anti/planyourvisit/visitor-use-guide.htm

That page also notifies you that you are not allowed to pick a flower.

And of course, “Groups or individuals wishing to exercise their first amendment rights may do so by writing the Superintendent for a Special Use Permit.”

[Timber Rattler]

Sounds like the bookstore has a few items that sell well in the mix.

Yeah, Adams County is very Conservative, and the battlefield draws a lot of military visitors from the War College in Carlisle and DC.

Gadsden flags and other "Don't Tread on Me" paraphernalia sell very well around here.

[sneakers]

I bought my Gadsden flag, hat and license plate at Gettysburg. When we were there a year or two earlier, they were sold out everywhere we went there. The shops make sure to keep them in stock now!

[tanknetter]

In the 1920s and early 1930s, the War Department controlled the battlefield and used it as a tank training ground, with Little Round Top as a target.

You're thinking of "Camp Colt", right? That started in WWI, was located on either side of Emmitsburg Pike and centered just North of the Codori Farm. IOW, right on the ground of "Picketts Charge". Eisenhower commanded Camp Colt, ran tanks all over the place (plus having a couple lightweight railroad lines put in) and it's ludicrous to think that the terrain wasn't substantially changed by that ... or that NPS could ever figure out what the terrain was like so they could try to "fix" it.

[Paleo Conservative]

If we can disgust them enough, maybe they’ll stay away. Or maybe we can just frighten them with something like a 75mph speed limit.

Pikers! Only 75mph? Texas has some highways with 85mph limits.

[Salamander]

“The Antietam site says “Firearms...are prohibited.”

That’s not a big shock since MD, in general, “prohibits firearms”.

[we’re the ‘free state’, ya know]

[Salamander]

I don’t know what’s in the visitor center.

Haven’t been in it since I was a wee pup.

Never going to go in it in the future, for that matter.

I’m sure it’s become a sickening display of PC since I was there, last.

My major gripe is the new “site markers”.

Rather than an historically unbiased, albeit dry factual retelling of what happened on that particular spot, the wording has become brutally anti-Southern.

What “gets” my goat is seeing the word “ENEMY” on the markers that my tax dollars paid for.

The forbidding of a statue of Robert E Lee on the property -gores- my goat.

I’m sure you’re aware of the private party who bought land and paid for a magnificent statue banished to a place *outside* the park, proper.

That is sufficient for me.

I’ve been going there for at least 47 years, based on photos of me and mom in front of statues.

Bloody Lane was not always the bowling green it is now.

When we went to Burnside Bridge, there was a pull off spot on the road right near it and you could walk from there.

I can’t imagine making 3X bypass hubby make the trip down that hill simply because I want to sit on the bridge when previously, we could’ve parked beside and walked right on.

Last summer we wasted 2 hours trying to find that road at the bottom.

Oddly enough, we drove by there yesterday and today.

Didn’t stop.

Went to Devil’s Backbone on the back way yesterday and Sheperdstown today.

Nice rides.

Shepherdstown was having a square dance festival.

Passed on that, too.

[Salamander]

As a photographer, I see it from a pictorial perspective.

It’s absolutely devoid of historical ‘drama’ or emotional pathos, now.
[even in infrared or UV, which is saying something]

Looks pretty much like every ditch alongside every road.

As much taxes as I pay, they can haul in some dirt on my dime and put it back original.

I’d prefer my money go for that than “free” abortions.

[Timber Rattler]

Yeah, Camp Colt. I know a couple of of the rangers and they told me all about it.

[sphinx]

Where do you find the word "enemy" on site markers? There has been updating of signage from time to time. I grew up with those old metal plates with the tiny embossed typeface with highly detailed troop movement information. Always liked those, but I am sure they were incomprehensible to most park visitors. (You had to know orders of battle and military terminology, and have a fairly detailed map committed to memory. Only true Civil War nuts could make sense of them.) The modern signage is much simpler and visually oriented. Some of it is simplistic; some is pretty good; and there are many more maps than there used to be, which I like.

I am not aware that the Park Service uses the term "enemy" it its own commentary on Civil War battlefields, nor at the Little Bighorn, for that matter, for obvious reasons. What you might have seen, however, is a quotation from a participant that says "enemy." Part of the modern drift in interpretation is to incorporate first person accounts with pictures and battle narratives drawn from memoirs and letters. Billy Yank and Johnny Reb used the term "enemy," even if the Park Service does not.

[samtheman]

No History Teaching allowed in the United States, unless it fits comfortably with the correct political narrative.

[Salamander]

Try Branch Ave.

Happy hunting.

[MrB]

Hmmm... now why would someone oppose a message of “don’t tread on me...”

could it be that they want to tread on me?

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Flag even shows up in this video;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1BGebtVHzM

[samtheman]

Hmmm... now why would someone oppose a message of “don’t tread on me...”

could it be that they want to tread on me?

I think that is most definitely the case.