Issues: Wildlands

The small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, was the site of the largest battle ever waged in the Western Hemisphere, with over 51,000 soldiers killed, wounded, or captured. Fought during the first three days of July 1863, the battle resulted in a Union victory that turned back the second Confederate invasion of the North. It was a major turning point in the war, and some have referred to Gettysburg as the "High Water Mark of the Confederacy."

GETTYSBURG NATIONAL MILITARY PARK was established in 1895 and contains over 1,300 monuments, markers, and memorials, making it one of the world's largest collections of outdoor sculptures. The Soldiers' National Cemetery at Gettysburg contains more than 7,000 interments, over 3,500 from the Civil War, and is also the site where Abraham Lincoln delivered the famous Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863.

Photo: Jeff Greenberg/Omni-Photo Communications, Inc.