Huntington Blog: July 3 Also Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg

A blog post on the site of the Huntington Library reminds local residents that July 3 is not just the start of the Independence Day holiday but also another important date: the 150th anniversary Battle of Gettysburg.

The Civil War battle was fought July 1 to July 3, 1863 and was the battle with the most casualties in the Civil War.  Fought in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the battle ended with nearly 50,000 dead and the retreat of the Southern army.

The Huntington recently displayed a Civil War photography exhibit - Matt Stevens, the editor of Huntington Frontiers magazine, posts on the library's site about photos in that exhibit that reflect the battle:

The famous “Harvest of Death,” by photographer Timothy H. O’Sullivan, captured the immediate aftermath of battle in gruesome detail and soon became a symbol of the war’s dreadful toll. By the time celebrated Civil War photographer Mathew Brady posed at battlefield’s edge a mere two weeks later, Gettysburg had already become firmly lodged in national memory. And a third image features John B. Bachelder, the site’s first official historian and monument advocate, standing next to Union veterans at Gettysburg around 1887. Two decades removed from battle, the men are citizens of a country that had endured well past a century and counting.
The exhibit ran at the Huntington from September to January and the online component of the display can still be viewed here.