Gettysburg National Military Park for Teachers, Students, and Families

12/17/2025

Confined to the classroom after the holidays? January and February is a perfect time to get "out" of the classroom for a virtual field trip to Gettysburg! We offer 6 different field trips, each centered around a focus question and key primary source documents. Review the documents, show the short video from the battlefields, and get ready for your virtual meeting with a ranger— all from the comfort of your classroom.

https://www.nps.gov/gett/learn/education/distance-learning.htm

11/14/2025

Registration for our 2026 Homeschool Field Day is now open! Check out this link for details:

Homeschool Days

11/14/2025

We are now accepting internship applications for Summer 2026! Join our team at Gettysburg National Military Park! Free shared housing is available. Check out this link for all details and how to apply: https://www.nps.gov/gett/getinvolved/summer-internship-program-in-interpretation-education-and-visitor-services.htm

08/19/2025

As the summer season ends, it is time for Emily to head back to Shenandoah University for the Fall. For the final Tune Tuesday, please enjoy Ashokan Farewell. When thinking of Civil War music, many people will list Ashokan Farewell from Ken Burns' The Civil War as one of their favorite songs. However, Ashokan Farewell is not a Civil War song. In fact, it was written in the 1980s by Jay Ungar and his wife, Molly Mason. The tune is based on a Scottish lament and has become a staple in Civil War pop culture thanks to the Ken Burns series. The tune is very reminiscent of many Civil War Era songs, making it a popular choice for various events from weddings, funerals, and everything in between. Thank you everyone for your support on this series!

Video Description:
Emily plays her violin with Music Muster participants, Hudson and Clark, accompanying her on Ashokan Farewell.

References:
Garber, Megan. 2015. “'Ashokan Farewell': The Story Behind the Theme of Ken Burns's 'The Civil War.'” The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/09/ashokan-farewell-how-a-20th-century-melody-became-an-anthem-for-the-19th/407263/.

08/12/2025

This week’s Tune Tuesday is one of the most famous Civil War Era songs: The Battle Hymn of the Republic. Often Civil War era songs drew on hymns and other well-known tunes. The Battle Hymn of the Republic was written by Julia Ward Howe, who took the chorus from the hymn “Say, Brothers, Will You Meet Us (also known as, Canaan’s Happy Shore).” The tune comes from John Brown’s Body, a popular Northern song during the war, and all three songs share the “Glory, Glory, Hallelujah” chorus. Julia Ward Howe added new lyrics for the verses in November 1861. The song was then published in the Atlantic Monthly in February 1862.

Video Description:
Emily plays her violin to the verse and chorus of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”.

References:
Shreve, Grant. 2017. “The Long, Winding History of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”” JSTOR Daily. https://daily.jstor.org/the-long-winding-history-of-the-battle-hymn-of-the-republic/.
Silber, Irwin, ed. 1995. Songs of the Civil War. N.p.: Dover.

08/05/2025

This week’s Tune Tuesday is “Auld Lang Syne” performed by Hudson and Clark, accompanied by Intern Emily, during our 28th Annual Music Muster! While most associated with New Year’s Eve, Auld Lang Syne was sung often during the Civil War. Most notabley it was played at Appomattox Courthouse during the surrender. Written in the late 18th century by Robert Burns, Auld Lang Syne would become incredibly popular. Early in the war, the United States Army would temporarily ban the performance of the song due to themes of reconciliation and homesickness. Later the tune was said to have performed as a part of Lincoln’s funeral train.

Video Description:

Emily plays her violin with Music Muster participants, Hudson and Clark, while the audience hums Auld Lang Syne softly.

07/29/2025

This week’s Tune Tuesday is a special performance of the “Music Muster” written in honor of our annual Music Muster event! This Saturday, August 2nd, is our Annual Music Muster. Enjoy ballads, folk songs, field music, and marches that were popular during the mid-nineteenth century. Watch and participate in Civil War era dance demonstrations. All performances are free and open to the public. We hope to see you there!

Video Description:
Music Muster performers Steve and Lisa Ball perform the “Music Muster” song. Steve accompanies on guitar while his partner, Lisa Ball, provides vocals.

Audio Description:
Lyrics:
“It’s a music muster in Gettysburg, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
It’s a music muster in Gettysburg,
and you folks are gathered round to hear us sing.
The Libby Prison Minstrels, Jeff Greenwalt, and the brass bands,
Hudson and Clark, and James, the Civil War Comrades, and us.
[Chorus]
Listen to the brass band play, the guitar string
the fiddle, mandolin, and upright bass,
listen to the songs we sing, listen to the history,
it would never be the same without you here.
And we hope to see you here again next year.”

Check out this link for more information: https://www.nps.gov/gett/gettysburg-national-military-park-annual-music-muster.htm

07/22/2025

This week’s Tune Tuesday song is Goober Peas. Although the sheet music for this song would not be published until after the war in 1866, it was incredibly popular throughout the South during the conflict. Many songs like Goober Peas, would be used to pass the time and commiserate about the shared hardships of war. Goober Peas was written by “A. Pinder, Esq. and P. Nutt, Esq.”, both pseudonyms for peanuts. At the time, peanuts were not widely consumed in America, typically being used as a food source for livestock or enslaved people. As the Confederacy lost access to rations and railroads, peanuts became an important staple in Confederate emergency rations. The Union would also produce songs about their rations, such as “Hard Tack, Come Again No More.”

Video Description:
Emily plays her violin, while volunteer Tyrone plays the bones and provides the vocals to the chorus of “Goober Peas.”

Audio Description:
Chorus:

“Peas, peas, peas, peas

Eating goober peas

Goodness, how delicious,

Eating goober peas.”

07/18/2025

Introducing our summer 2025 intern team!

While you may recognize Emily from her Tune Tuesday series, we wanted to formally introduce her! Emily Mullen is a senior instrumental music education major from Shenandoah University. One of her favorite artifacts in the museum is Harper's Weekly, “Long Abraham Lincoln a Little Longer” cartoon. The image depicts Abraham Lincoln, taller than usual, with his limbs stretched out and holding a document stating his re-election. This caricature is used to show both that Lincoln was staying around “a little longer,” the first president in numerous terms to do so, and to show the tax on both the country and Lincoln from the Civil War by stretching him thin. The 1864 election was crucial for the future of the United States, and Lincoln recognized this as well, fearing the Union would be lost if he did not win. It was also the first election in our history in which widespread absentee voting was used, particularly by soldiers.

Checkout this link to learn more about our summer internships and how to apply: https://www.nps.gov/gett/getinvolved/summer-internships-at-gettysburg.htm

07/15/2025

Today’s Tune Tuesday is the “Battle Cry of Freedom.” This is the favorite song of The Union Volunteers Living History group to sing when in camp. Over the weekend, Intern Emily had the opportunity to join these living historians around their campfire, just like soldiers during the Civil War. Written between July 23-24, 1862, the “Battle Cry of Freedom” was inspired by Abraham Lincoln’s second call for volunteers. It all started on the morning of the July 23, 1862, when a popular singing duo, the Lumbard Brothers, were looking for something to sing at a recruitment drive. The song exploded in popularity and was played at many victory ceremonies in 1865. Featured in this video are the violin, jaw harp, bones, banjos, fife, and more. These instruments were typical of the time and would have been used for entertainment around the campfire.

References
Root, George F. 1891. The Story of a Musical Life: An Autobiography. Cincinnati: John Church Co.
Silber, Irwin, ed. 1995. Songs of the Civil War. N.p.: Dover.

Video Description
Intern Emily joins living historians around their campfire to play her violin joined by many other instruments.

Audio Description:
(singing accompanied by lively music)

“Yes we’ll rally round the flag, boys, we’ll rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom,
We will rally from the hillside, we’ll gather from the plain,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

Chorus:
The Union forever! Hurrah, boys, hurrah!
Down with the traitor, up with the star;
While we rally round the flag, boys, rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

We are springing to the call with a million freemen more,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!
And we’ll fill our vacant ranks of our brothers gone before,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

Chorus

We will welcome to our numbers the loyal, true and brave,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!
And although he may be poor, not a man shall be a slave,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

Chorus

So we’re springing to the call from the East and from the West,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!
And we’ll hurl the rebel crew from the land we love best,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

Chorus

07/11/2025

Introducing our summer 2025 intern team!

Hello,
My name is Patrick Schubert, and I am one of the interpretation interns at Gettysburg National Military Park for the summer of 2025. I was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and will be a junior at Gettysburg College in the fall. I am pursuing a major in History with minors in Civil War Era Studies and Public History. I made my first trip to Gettysburg in 2017 and immediately fell in love with the town and battlefield. It was that trip that inspired me to pursue my higher education in Gettysburg and then pursue a career with the National Park Service. Last summer, I was an interpretation intern at Manassas National Battlefield Park and gained plenty of hands-on experience in preparing and giving interpretive programs. I am excited to gain more experience in a place that I love and that has a special meaning in my life. I hope I can make each visitor's experience the best that it can be.

My favorite part of the battlefield is the first day’s battle sites, but more specifically Oak Hill and Oak Ridge. I found a key interest in this part of the park because of its importance to the Union victory at Gettysburg. It is also an underrepresented and under-told story of the park. The first day at Gettysburg saw around sixteen thousand casualties which on its own would make it one of the deadliest battles of the Civil War, not including the next two days of carnage. Pickett's Charge on July 3rd failed in part because of the casualties Heth’s Division, commanded by Pettigrew on July 3rd, suffered in McPherson’s Woods on the morning of July 1st. The stories of the Battle of Gettysburg are endless, and this summer provides me with the opportunity to tell some of the stories of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice here at Gettysburg.

Checkout this link to learn more about our summer internships and how to apply: https://www.nps.gov/gett/getinvolved/summer-internships-at-gettysburg.htm

07/08/2025

This week on Tune Tuesday: “The Vacant Chair.” “The Vacant Chair” was written as a poem, honoring John William Grout, an eighteen-year-old military officer from Massachusetts, who died while helping his men retreat across the Potomac River. The poem was set to music by George F. Root, becoming a hit. The song struck a chord across the country, where numerous families found an emptiness and melancholy around the now empty chairs around their dinner tables. This song became one of the most popular of the war, for both civilians and soldiers, with multiple versions appearing in both the North and the South. In the wake of Gettysburg, thousands of people would feel the impact of vacant chairs, when their loved ones never came home.

Video Description:
Intern Emily plays her violin while she provides the vocals to the chorus of “The Vacant Chair.”

Audio Description:
“We shall meet, but we shall miss him.
There will be one vacant chair.
We shall linger to caress him
While we breathe our ev’ning prayer.”

References
Lafferty, Kathy. 2018. “The Vacant Chair: Thanksgiving 1861.” Kenneth Spencer Research Library Blog » The Vacant Chair: Thanksgiving 1861. https://blogs.lib.ku.edu/spencer/the-vacant-chair-thanksgiving-1861/.
Silber, Irwin, ed. 1995. Songs of the Civil War. N.p.: Dover.