From Preservation Online, the online magazine of the National Trust for Historic Preservation

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Three Gettysburg Monuments Vandalized


Story by Margaret Foster / Feb. 16, 2006

Last night or early this morning, vandals damaged three monuments in Pennsylvania's Gettysburg National Military Park, swiping the head of an 1888 statue and a sword from an 1885 monument.

The culprits toppled the stone and sculpture off the 11th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Monument, stealing its sword and shattering its arm, which was a reproduction that had been replaced after an earlier attack of vandalism. They tipped over a bronze sculpture of a Zouave infantryman—a native North African in the French Army—from an 1886 monument, stealing its weapon and crushing an iron fence in the process. But they did the most damage to a Civil War artilleryman atop the monument to Smith's battery.

"When they pulled down the artilleryman, they dragged it 160 feet along a roadway," says Katie Lawhon, park spokeswoman. "In the process of dragging, that bronze figure was badly damaged. Its head was removed and taken from the scene."

The park service released preliminary damage estimates that total $58,000 to $78,000.

"Unfortunately, there is no emergency fund that we can go to," Lawhon says.

This is the third vandal attack on the national park in a year and a half. In the past three years, drivers have damaged many century-old monuments inside the park, which first opened in 1895. On Oct. 18, 2003, a hit-and-run driver crashed into a 100-year-old cannon, shattering its cast-iron carriage—and leaving his license plate in the wreckage. Weeks later, an SUV plowed into an 1888 monument causing between $15,000 and $20,000 in damage. And the following March, another driver destroyed a $10,000 zinc monument.

This winter, in response to these frequent mishaps at Gettysburg, the national park restricted its winter hours, closing the park at 7 p.m. last November.

"We had increased use of the park after dark," Lawhon says of the park service's reasons for the restricted hours. "We had increased incidences of vandalism after dark. And we felt that many parts of the park were unsafe—none of the roadways through the park have lights."

However, the park service can't actually prevent after-hours access to the entire park because many public roads bisect it. "The 10 roads that come through town all go through the park," Lawhon says. "It's the same reason the battle occurred here."

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