Free previewStop 2 of Gettysburg Battlefield Driving Tour
Twenty-Five Years to Light a Flame
You've pulled up on Oak Hill, on the northwest edge of the Gettysburg battlefield. In front of you a pale stone tower rises from a terrace, and on top of it sits a bronze urn that weighs about a ton. That urn holds a flame. Below it are carved the words Peace Eternal in a Nation United. On a clear day that flame is said to be visible from twenty miles away. The idea behind it took twenty-five years to get here.
It starts in 1913, fifty years after the battle. Thousands of old soldiers came back to Gettysburg for a great reunion. On July 3, the anniversary of Pickett's Charge, a Union artillery veteran named Colonel Andrew Cowan stood up in the reunion's Great Tent. He made a speech calling for a peace memorial on this field.
That's the opening. The rest plays at stop 2 of Gettysburg Battlefield Driving Tour (3 min in all). Unlock the tour to hear it all, or try stop 1 free first.
