Officials with the National Park Service said the Confederate monuments at Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania will not be removed from the battlefield.
Katie Lawhon, senior adviser for the park service’s Gettysburg battlefield office, told the Reading Eagle the site-specific memorials are important, and the park service’s job is to historically and objectively tell the stories the monuments commemorate.
Her reassurance comes after a heated debate over Confederate monuments spread across the U.S.
Monument to the contributions of North Carolinians to the Confederate Army at the Battle of Gettysburg
Three people died amid turmoil in Charlottesville, Virginia, Saturday over the planned removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
Heather Hayer, 32, was killed at the ‘Unite the Right’ rally in Charlottesville on Saturday after a car rammed into a group of counter-protesters demonstrating against white supremacists.
Police arrested 20-year-old James Fields following the incident, charging him with murder.
Fields was there in support of the ‘Unite the Right’ demonstration, characterized as being attended by mostly neo-Nazis and white nationalist.
Two state troopers also died after their helicopter crashed as they were patrolling the demonstration.
Gen. James Longstreet monument on West Confederate Avenue, commander of the 1st Corps Army of Northern Virginia
William Gillis carries a tattered flag besides a battlefield monument as activists gathered at the Gettysburg National Military Park
This statue is of two wounded Marylanders, one Union and one Confederate, helping each other on the battlefield
The Gettysburg battlefield has more than 1,300 monuments, of which 30 are dedicated to Confederate states, military units and individuals
Four protesters have been arrested in connection with the toppling of a Confederate statue in Durham, North Carolina, and Baltimore dismantled four monuments under the cover of darkness late Tuesday night and early Wednesday.
Barb Adams, a volunteer at the Gettysburg battlefield, said the removal of the statues is breaking her heart.
‘It’s just so upsetting to me – these men, these soldiers fought for what they believed in,’ she said.
Area tour guide Elaine Leslie suggested putting up statues honoring abolitionists Harriet Tubman or Frederick Douglass.
The Gettysburg battlefield has more than 1,300 monuments that tell the story of the deadliest engagement in the Civil War.
Thirty of them are dedicated to Confederate states, military units and individuals. More than 7,000 soldiers died in the Battle of Gettysburg from July 1 to July 3, 1863.
About 3.7 million tourists visit the area each year, according to a nonprofit that promotes tourism in the county.
About 3.7 million tourists visit the battlefield at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania each year