Ten thousand flags rise in Gettysburg to honor the battle’s 51,000 casualties

GETTYSBURG — For a while Thursday morning, things at Gettysburg National Military Park were looking bleak — rain, thunder, and lightning threatening to derail a ceremony months in the making.

By 11 a.m., however, the skies cleared and the sun had emerged, just in time for organizers to introduce “A Field of Remembrance,” a sprawling new installation honoring the 51,000 soldiers “killed, wounded, captured or missing” during 1863’s Battle of Gettysburg.

Comprising 10,000 American flags planted beneath the battlefield’s Eternal Light Peace Memorial, the installation represents a sprawling and striking commemoration of the Civil War’s most violent battle.

“You can say 7,000 soldiers were killed outright, and thousands more would die in the days, weeks, and months after — but numbers are abstract,” said Britt Isenberg, vice president of public history and outreach for the Gettysburg Foundation, as well as a licensed battlefield guide.

“Every one of those flags represents a real human being who had hopes, dreams, families that loved them, an idea of what America was at the time, and ultimately could be.”

Plans for the installation began earlier this year with the Gettysburg Foundation, a nonprofit focused on preservation and education that partners with the National Park Service.

For $18.63, the foundation invited individuals — veterans, families, businesses — to sponsor flags in honor of a loved one, with the flags to be planted together in a special 12-day installation that runs through Nov. 23.

Proceeds from the sales will go toward preservation of the Eternal Light Peace Memorial, as well as the David Wills House — the building in downtown Gettysburg where Abraham Lincoln is said to have finalized his Gettysburg Address.

“This is one of the most monumental, sacred places we have in this country,” said Gene Barr, vice chair of the Gettysburg Foundation Board of Directors. “And it’s critical that we preserve that, and it’s critical that we get the resources that allow us to preserve it.”

Though originally slated to include just 7,000 flags, interest in the installation was such that the number grew to 10,000, organizers said.

Among those who took part in Thursday’s ceremony was Carolyn Hankey, 86, of nearby New Oxford whose connection to Gettysburg — and the site of the Eternal Light Peace Memorial, specifically — runs deep.

As a child, she’d grown up in a home that abutted the Gettysburg National Cemetery. She’d attended sunrise church service at the site of Thursday’s ceremony, and her late husband, a past president of the Gettysburg Chamber of Commerce, had once served as master of ceremonies at an event held here.

So when the opportunity arose to plant a flag in his memory, she jumped.

“I have wonderful memories at this site,” said Hankey, who also has familial connections to the Battle of Gettysburg. “This is so impressive to me to see this many flags, all in remembrance.”

Dan Orr, too, has long felt the pull of the battlefield.

As a child on a family vacation many years ago, Orr learned from his parents that a relative had fought and died at the Battle of Gettysburg — enduring a leg amputation without the benefit of anesthesia.

The story left an impression on the 7-year-old Orr.

Decades later, when they became empty nesters, Orr and his wife, Therese, moved from Liverpool, Pa., to the Gettysburg area — a move he attributes directly to the story he’d learned as a boy.

Today, he works as a volunteer with the Gettysburg Foundation, giving presentations on Civil War medicine, while his wife is a licensed battlefield guide.

“Some people move south [for retirement],” he said. “We moved here.”

During Thursday’s 40-minute opening ceremony, a slate of speakers talked of the significance of the site, the importance of maintaining it, and the ongoing duty to remember and honor those who gave their lives.

U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick (R., Pennsylvania) slated to give the ceremony’s keynote address, was a late scratch from the ceremony, called back to Washington, D.C., according to organizers.

In his place, Ryan Aument — a former member of the Pennsylvania General Assembly and the state director for McCormick — addressed the gathered crowd, drawing parallels between the challenges facing the country at the start of the Civil War and those that persist today.

“Once again, America must rely on a generation of patriots … citizens willing to put country before self,” Aument said.

“The work of freedom remains unfinished,” he added. “Let us carry it forward.”