The Gettysburg National Military Park

1195 Baltimore Pike, Suite 100
Gettysburg, PA 17325-2804
By Phone: Visitor Information - 717-334-1124, extension 8023.
By Fax: 717-334-1891

The Gettysburg Battlefield was the site of the Battle of Gettysburg, fought July 1-3, 1863, in and around the borough of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the county seat of Adams County, which had approximately 2,400 residents at the time. It is now the site of two Federally owned and administered areas: Gettysburg National Military Park and the Gettysburg National Cemetery. The Gettysburg Battlefield Historic District partially overlaps and partially protects other privately held properties.

What do you know about the Gettysburg National Military Park? Explore this Quick US Geography Quiz.

1. The town was the center of a road network that connected ten nearby Pennsylvania and Maryland towns, including well-maintained turnpikes to Chambersburg, York, and Baltimore, so was a natural concentration point for the large armies that descended upon it.

• True or False

2. To the northwest, a series of low, parallel ridges lead to the towns of Cashtown and Chambersburg. It is named for the Lutheran Theological Seminary on its crest. What is the ridge's name?

• Theological Ridge
• Lutheran Ridge
• Seminary Ridge

3. What is the name of the 503 feet hill directly south of town?

• Cemetery Hill
• Evergreen Hill
• Adams Hill

4. Dominating the landscape are the Round Tops to the south. Little Round Top is a hill with a rugged, steep slope of 130 feet above nearby Plum Run (the peak is 550 feet above sea level), strewn with large boulders; to its southwest, the area with the most significant boulders, some the size of living rooms. What are the boulder's known as?

• Devil's Den
• Peach Tree Den
• Round Top Den

5. After the battle, the Army of the Potomac and the citizens of Gettysburg were left with appalling burdens. The battlefield was strewn with over 7,000 dead men and the houses, farms, churches, and public buildings were struggling to deal with 30,000 wounded men. The stench from the dead soldiers and from the thousands of animal carcasses was overwhelming. To the east of town, a massive tent city was erected to attempt medical care for the soldiers, which was named Camp Letterman after Jonathan Letterman, chief surgeon of the Army of the Potomac. Contracts were let with entrepreneurs to bury men and animals and the majority were buried near where they fell.

• True or False

6. He was responsible for purchasing 600 acres of privately held land to preserve as a monument. His first priorities for preservation were Culp's Hill, East Cemetery Hill, and Little Round Top. Who is the person?

• David McConaughy
• Mark Reynolds
• Roger Smith

7. Dedicated in a ceremony highlighted by Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, when was the Soldiers' National Cemetery?

• October 19, 1863
• November 19, 1863
• December 19, 1863

8. Where was the first monument to be erected outside of the cemetery was on August 1, 1878, when the Strong Vincent GAR Post of Erie, Pennsylvania, memorialized their namesake with a marble tablet on the spot where he was mortally wounded.

• Little Round Top
• Big Round Top
• Peach Orchard

9. On February 11, 1895, the President signed legislation sponsored by Dan Sickles that directed the War Department to establish Gettysburg National Military Park. It accepted from the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association a deed conveying ownership to over 800 acres and 300 monuments in the Park. In 1933, control passed to the National Park Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior, where it remains today.  Who was the president who signed legislation?

• James A. Garfield
• Grover Cleveland
• William McKinley

10. In 2006, what was the park's attendance?

• 1,666,365 visitors
• 2,666,365 visitors
• 4,666,365 visitors

Gettysburg Battlefield
[Answers]

1. True
2. Seminary Ridge
3. Cemetery Hill
4. Devil's Den
5. True
6. David McConaughy
7. November 19, 1863
8. Little Round Top
9. Grover Cleveland
10. 1,666,365 visitors