Lee's Headquarters: Place History Video Presentation

Evidence suggests that the Mary Thompson property served as the headquarters for Robert E. Lee while at Gettysburg.  Enjoy this short summary of the project.  

Coming in the next two weeks, this blog will present the culminating argument that defends the Civil War Trust's understanding that this was the true headquarters of General Robert E. Lee during the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 2016.  Analysis of both reliable and questionable publications over the last 153 will be put under the microscope and the story of the Thompson property will be more complete.

Feel free to comment, share, but most importantly, hash it out!

Digital History and Lee's HQ at Gettysburg

Digital history offers up several ways to analyze the research on the Mary Thompson House in Gettysburg, PA.  First and foremost, the use of digital mapping and geospatial analysis assists in forming a more complete story of the Mary Thompson property.  For example, analyzing a geospatial map of the official auto tour of Gettysburg National Military Park tells a story about the Mary Thompson property.

Official National Park Service (NPS) Auto Tour Guide and Map.
Shown: Northwest corner of Gettysburg

As charted above, the property is not an official part of the National Military Park.  Since the battle (1863), this property has been under private ownership with no real effort made to preserve the property.  Why?  If you follow Seminary Avenue North, the route avoids the Thompson property.  Evidence suggests this was purposely done for one of three reasons; all refer to the story of the property itself.  Author Tim Smith cites the location’s early history as an identified brothel and the lack of enthusiasm for the National Park Service (NPS) to discuss this on a tour as one reason.[1]  Secondly, the Railroad Cut to the North of the property was the site of the largest mass capture of Union troops during the battle’s first day of fighting.[2]  The auto tour instead takes a route farther West of the property, where the 6^th Wisconsin made a heroic charge and played the actor to one of the successes on the first day of the battle for the Union.  Lastly, a debate, which will be a point of focus in future posts, on whether this property actually served as the true headquarters for Robert E. Lee during the three day battle.  Together, these aspects led to a lack of effort to preserve this property until the Civil War Trust successfully purchased and preserved the land over the last two years.

            Although digital records on this place history are far and few between, digital histories provides unique opportunities for historians to present and research the past in an engaging way (i.e. using a map to tell a story about a property).  Data analysis also assists with historical research.  Frederick Gibbs and Trevor Owens, American historians, argue that using data through a variety of forms allow for the provocation of “new question and explorations.”[3]  Today, with an abundance of information and research capabilities at our fingertips, data analysis make it easier to combine different types of data to “triangulate historical knowledge” and provide a more complete story of history to an audience.[4]  Owens surmises that data play multiple roles for the historian.  According to Owens, data are artifacts constructed by people, interpretable texts, process-able information, and I would argue, most importantly, data hold evidentiary value.[5]  A historian can use data sets pertaining to business growth in an area or population growth in an area to contribute to their topic of research.  Again, a simple layering of a Google Map can display a great deal of information.

Satellite Image of Gettysburg and Surrounding Area
Courtesy: Google Earth

As this map displays, all major roadways entering the town of Gettysburg touch a part of the preserved National Military Park, except for one.  Lincoln Highway, Route 30 West, stretching to the Northeast does not touch the National Park.  This map tells an interesting story that would support preservation attempts; business growth and commercialization is not evident on any of the major roadways, except Route 30 West. 

Historical landscapes, as argued by John L. Gaddis, American military and naval historian, are not similar to cartographic maps, as seen above.  The key reason to this contrast, Gaddis points out, is that historical landscapes “are physically inaccessible to us.”[6]  This explains why data visualization assists in telling a more complete story of history.  Gaddis surmised that “by discovering that what exists in the present has not always done so in the past, that objects and organisms evolve through time instead of remaining the same for all time,” researchers have the ability to now use data processes to build historical landscapes.[7]

Specifically, data visualization assisted in the research of the Mary Thompson House.  Using United States Census data, we can visualize a growth that we would be unable to see using aerial cartographer, which did not exist in 1865.  Also, data visualization represents data that is visually inaccessible to us, particularly population.

Data Provided through United States Census Bureau 

The above chart is a data visualization of the overall population of Gettysburg Borough in Adams County, Pennsylvania.  It spans from the year of Abraham Lincoln’s first election to the present, estimated population.  The data sheds light on the story of the Mary Thompson House and specifically evidence to support its preservation.  Population growth leads to more commercialization, in most cases.  Although the population as leveled off since 1960, the growth of Gettysburg Borough threatens expansion onto Civil War land.  Also, data visualizations promote questions that may not be obvious using other, text-based resources.  For example, why was the population of Gettysburg Borough at its peak in 1960?  Further research would defend the argument that the 100 year anniversary of the battle is somewhat responsible for this growth.  As the anniversary neared, an effort to build hotels, restaurants, and other lodgings obviously brought jobs to the area.  With jobs also came a population influx.

Spatial and data visualization analysis is useful to history because they assist in a researching and presenting a more complete story of a historical topic.  With ongoing digitization of primary sources, historians are able to attack historical topics and engage with these resource materials at a rate not yet existing.[8]  The result is a more detailed, more complete story of historical topics as well as more engaging presentations of these topics.  Geospatial and data visualization assist and contribute to the research and presentation of historical topics.  As surmised by Shawn Graham, Ian Milligan, and Scott Weingart, the Digital Humanities “moment is upon us.”[9]  It is responsible for historians to implement and seize the moment.  The story of the Mary Thompson House, Lee’s Gettysburg Headquarters, is more complete because of Digital History. 

In both research and presentation of research, mapping tells a story.  Using aerial photography and Google Maps, the story of preserving the Mary Thompson Property is presented.

                 Thompson Property (Before Preservation)

Courtesy: Tim Smith, Garry Adelman, and The Civil War Trust

                                 Thompson Property (April, 2016)
                                                    Courtesy: Google Earth

Digital Print of Completed Preservation
(As of Saturday November 5th, Orchard missing)
(Only a foundation exists on building to the Northeast)

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[1] Tim Smith, “Discussion on Mary Thompson House,” Saturday, November 5^th, 2016.

[2] Smith’s Book

[3] Frederick W. Gibbs and Trevor J. Owens, “The Hermeneutics of Data and Historical Writing,” in Jack Dougherty and Kristen Nawrotzki eds., Writing History in the Digital Age (2012).

[4] Gibbs and Owens, “The Hermeneutics of Data and Historical Writing.”

[5] Trevor J. Owens, “Defining Data for Humanists: Text, Artifact, Information or Evidence?” (2011).

[6] John Lewis Gaddis, The Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past” (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 35.

[7] Gaddis, Landscape of History, 39.

[8] Gibbs and Owens, “The Hermeneutics of Data and Historical Writing.”

[9] Shawn Graham, Ian Milligan, and Scott Weingart, The Historians’ Macroscope: Big Digital 

History, 2015.

Bibliography

Gaddis, John L. The Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past.” Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. 

Gibbs, Frederick and Owens, Trevor J. “The Hermeneutics of Data and Historical Writing.” in Jack Dougherty and Kristen Nawrotzki eds., Writing History in the Digital Age. 2012.

Graham, Shawn, Milligan, Ian,  and Scott Weingart, The Historians’ Macroscope: Big Digital History, 2015.

Owens, Trevor J. “Defining Data for Humanists: Text, Artifact, Information or Evidence?” December, 2011.

Smith, Tim. “Discussion on Mary Thompson House.” Saturday, November 5^th, 2016.

Smith, Tim. The Story of Lee’s Headquarters: Gettysburg Pennsylvania. Gettysburg: Thompson Publications, 1995.

Mary Thompson Place History Introduction

The Mary Thompson House
Lee’s Headquarters at Gettysburg

Over the next few weeks, a discussion about General Robert E. Lee’s Headquarters will take place through this blog.  Any Civil War Trust member understands the importance of preserving America’s battlefields for future generations, but that understanding must be spread to the general population, especially our younger generations.  As a member of the Trust's Teacher's Regiment, some of the most rewarding experiences in my career revolved around students actively engaging in historic preservation.  One of the more recent, yet significant preservation efforts took place at the battlefield of Gettysburg.  

Gettysburg Daily, October 22, 2016.  Shows an aerial photograph of the Thompson property prior to preservation by
The Civil War Trust.  Currently, parking lots, pool, hotel, and restaurant are removed.

A traveler heading east on Chambersburg Pike (Route 30) will go over a series of rolling hills before Seminary Ridge comes into sight.  On July 1^st, 1863 General John Buford of the 8^th Illinois

Brigadier General John Buford

Cavalry, from the Seminary Cupola, would have seen a defensive strategy in operation among his troopers, a defense in depth.  Firing at the peak of each hill, the Union cavalrymen successfully slowed the Confederate advance.  After successfully maneuvering over these hills, that traveler will be awarded with the view of open fields and Seminary Ridge, home to the Lutheran Theological Seminary of Gettysburg.  As the traveler reaches the ridge, just a few yards North of the Chambersburg Pike stands a 1 ½ story stone building.  Today, it is preserved to its form of 1863, thanks to the Civil War Trust.  This stone building is the subject of debate, analysis, and the next several posts on this blog.

On July 1^st 1863, the Army of Northern Virginia, under General Lee, pushed the Union forces through and to the South of the town of Gettysburg.  Then, Lee made his headquarters on the property of the widow Mary Thompson, including the stone house just off the Chambersburg Pike.  This 1 ½ story stone building has a complex history that raises many questions, including but certainly not limited to:

Who was the true owner of the property? 

Was this truly Robert E. Lee’s Headquarters during the battle?

Why did it take over 150 years after the battle for the property to be preserved and protected?

Why is this location important to the Battle of Gettysburg?

The answers to these, and many other questions regarding the Thompson House, evidence will be presented over the next several weeks in various forms; photography, interviews, newspaper articles, published secondary sources, etc.  The goal of this research is to present a more complete story of this location and its history while encouraging a promotion to preserve land.

This past weekend I was honored to meet with Licensed Guide and Author Tim Smith who provided an abundance of information and resources to assist in the development of this research.  With the resources from the Adams County Historical Society, The Civil War Trust, Tim Smith, and Garry Adelman, Director of History and Education at The Civil War Trust, the story of the Mary Thompson House is more complete.  The above presented revelations not commonly known or presented to visitors of the battlefield and assisted greatly in the development of this research.

From uncertainty in ownership, accusations of being a brothel, and claims that the property was not Lee's Headquarters, this location has a complex, confusing, yet interesting history.  The Thompson House is important to the historical analysis of the Battle of Gettysburg and is significant to the history of preservation.

Using era photographs, we can see the accuracy and effort of the Civil War Trust's preservation of the property. All photographs taken Saturday, November 5th, 2016.

Matthew Brady's 1863 Photograph from Chambersburg Pike
(Facing Northeast)

Library of Congress, Uknown Photographer, 1863

(Facing North)

Library of Congress, Uknown Photographer, 1903

(Facing East)

William Tipton's 1913 Photograph (Chambersburg Pike in Foreground)

(Facing Northwest)

Library of Congress, Photographer Unknown, 1913

(Facing Northwest)

Courtest of Garry Adelman, Civil War Trust, Thompson Property

(Facing East Southeast)

As you will see, this property was involved in all three days of the Battle of Gettysburg in July, 1863.

Please, feel free to ask any questions, comment, share, and most importantly, debate the findings.  Continue to check back over the next several weeks to examine the findings of the research and to Hash Out History!