Overview

Even in the midst of the Civil War, its battlefields were being dedicated as hallowed ground. Today, those sites are among the most visited places in the United States. In contrast, the battlegrounds of the Revolutionary War had seemingly been forgotten in the aftermath of the conflict in which the nation forged its independence. Decades after the signing of the Constitution, the battlefields of Yorktown, Saratoga, Fort Moultrie, Ticonderoga, Guilford Courthouse, Kings Mountain, and Cowpens, among others, were unmarked except for crumbling forts and overgrown ramparts. Not until the late 1820s did Americans begin to recognize the importance of these places. In Memories of War, Thomas A. Chambers recounts America's rediscovery of its early national history through the rise of battlefield tourism in the first half of the nineteenth century. Travelers in this period, Chambers finds, wanted more than recitations of regimental movements when they visited battlefields; they desired experiences that evoked strong emotions and leant meaning to the bleached bones and decaying fortifications of a past age. Chambers traces this impulse through efforts to commemorate Braddock's Field and Ticonderoga, the cultivated landscapes masking the violent past of the Hudson River valley, the overgrown ramparts of Southern war sites, and the scenic vistas at War of 1812 battlefields along the Niagara River. Describing a progression from neglect to the Romantic embrace of the landscape and then to ritualized remembrance, Chambers brings his narrative up to the beginning of the Civil War, during and after which the memorialization of such sites became routine, assuming significant political and cultural power in the American imagination.

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9780801448676

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Reviews

This fascinating study is ideal reading for the ongoing sesquicentennial of the Civil War and bicentennial of the War of 1812. It offers a close examination of just how overgrown fields and crumbling fortresses came to be reclaimed as objects worthy of preservation and visitation. Anthony Paletta, The Weekly Standard (25 February 2013)

<p> Chambers explores how and why key American battlefields became memorials and tourist attractions, and the potentially powerful psychological and emotional effect these sites can have on visitors evoking the past. . . . His descriptions demonstrate first-hand knowledge of each place as well as deep research into primary sources. Fascinating and original, this is recommended to scholars and informed readers of American military and cultural history. -Library Journal (15 November 2012)

<p> This fascinating study is ideal reading for the ongoing sesquicentennial of the Civil War and bicentennial of the War of 1812. It offers a close examination of just how overgrown fields and crumbling fortresses came to be reclaimed as objects worthy of preservation and visitation. Anthony Paletta, The Weekly Standard (25 February 2013)

<p> In the engaging Memories of War, Thomas A. Chambers does a great job of analyzing tourism at some of the most significant early battle sites in U.S. history. He skillfully shows the political consequences of the personal experiences of battlefield visitors. Tourists at historic sites, as well as scholars interested in military history, memory, and cultural history, will find this book appealing and satisfying. -Sarah Purcell, Grinnell College, author of Sealed with Blood: War, Sacrifice, and Memory in Revolutionary America

Author Information

Thomas A. Chambers is Associate Professor of History at Niagara University. He is the author of Drinking the Waters: Creating an American Leisure Class at Nineteenth Century Mineral Springs.

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