The “great battle which would naturally decide the contest”: John Badger Bachelder and the Creation of Gettysburg

The “great battle which would naturally decide the contest”: John Badger Bachelder and the Creation of Gettysburg

The creation of Gettysburg as legend and central turning point of the war and the creation of Gettysburg as a field of monuments centers on one man: John Badger Bachelder.  Bachelder was not a Civil War veteran, nor did he ever serve in the military, yet he is the key to answering the question of how Gettysburg came to be what we know today.

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