2026 News

Today, Gettysburg Foundation launches A Field of Remembrance, a national campaign inviting the public to commemorate the more than 51,000 Americans killed, wounded, captured or missing during the Battle of Gettysburg. 

Behind that number were sons, fathers, brothers, neighbors and friends. Some never returned home. Others carried the wounds of those three days for the rest of their lives.

For $18.63, participants may sponsor one or more commemorative flags. Together, those individual acts of remembrance will create a field of 7,000 American flags near the Eternal Light Peace Memorial, opening to the public on Nov. 12, 2026. 

As the country approaches the 250th anniversary of its founding, the campaign offers an invitation: remember those who sacrificed here and help preserve the places that carry their stories forward. 

Making the Human Cost Visible 

The Battle of Gettysburg resulted in more than 51,000 casualties, the deadliest engagement ever fought on American soil. 

Numbers help us understand scale. They cannot help us feel it. 

A Field of Remembrance was created to bridge that gap. 

When visitors walk among thousands of American flags near the Eternal Light Peace Memorial, they will encounter something statistics alone cannot convey. The installation makes a number from history books visible, one flag at a time. Each flag represents a real human life; a living, breathing, dreaming person who made sacrifices for something greater than themselves.

A Monument to Reconciliation 

The Eternal Light Peace Memorial stands on Oak Hill, where nearly 2,000 Union and Confederate veterans gathered in 1938 for the 75th anniversary of the battle. 

Many had once faced one another across these same fields. They returned to this sacred ground together to dedicate a monument bearing a simple inscription: "Peace Eternal in a Nation United." 

Nearly a century later, the memorial still invites visitors to reflect on what followed the battle: the long work of healing, reconciliation and national unity. Placing the Field of Remembrance nearby connects all who participate in the campaign to that larger story.

The Home Where Lincoln Carried the Sacrifice Forward 

Four months after the battle, Abraham Lincoln arrived in Gettysburg to dedicate the Soldiers' National Cemetery. 

He spent the night in the home of attorney David Wills. 

In an upstairs room overlooking the town square, Lincoln completed the remarks that would become the Gettysburg Address. 

The speech lasted only a few minutes, yet its influence has endured for generations. 

In just 272 words, Lincoln transformed Gettysburg from a field of mourning into a call to purpose, challenging the nation to consider whether the ideals for which those soldiers died would endure. 

The David Wills House reopens in November, inviting visitors to one of the most consequential civic spaces in American history.

Two Places. One Story. 

One makes the human cost of the battle visible.

The other returns visitors to the room where Lincoln shaped the words that have carried that cost forward ever since.

Together, they tell a larger story about Gettysburg, not only what happened here, but what Americans have made of it. Preserving places like these ensures this story remains accessible to future generations.

An Invitation to Participate 

"Gettysburg asks each generation to remember what was sacrificed here and what it still requires of us," said Friends of Gettysburg member John Cronin, whose leadership gift helped launch A Field of Remembrance. "This campaign creates a way for people across the country to participate in that remembrance together."

Each sponsored flag becomes part of a collective act of remembrance honoring the more than 51,000 Americans killed, wounded, captured or missing at Gettysburg.

Proceeds support the Gettysburg Foundation's work with the National Park Service, including the reopening of the David Wills House and the preservation of the Eternal Light Peace Memorial. 

In November, visitors will walk among thousands of flags near the Eternal Light Peace Memorial. Some will think of a relative who served. Some will reflect on a sacrifice made generations ago. Others may simply pause to consider what those sacrifices made possible. 

That is how remembrance endures. 

Not as something left in the past, but as a responsibility carried forward. 

One person at a time. 

One generation to the next.

Read the press release.