Peace Light Memorial
Posted to the Project on 25 May 08
The Peace Light Memorial is located at the top of Oak Hill. It is one of the largest and most distinctive monuments on the battlefield.
The idea for a monument to the unity of the nation began in 1913 at the 50th Reunion of the Battle of Gettysburg. It was another 25 years, however, before the monument became a reality.
The memorial was built with contributions from seven states (including two former Confederate states): Indiana, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Virginia. The monument cost $50,000.00 to build.
The monument’s architect was Paul Phillipe Cret (1876-1945), a French man and a professor of architecture at the University of Pennsylvania; the sculptor of the 8′ tall bas relief on the front of the memorial was Lee Lawrie (1877-1963), a German-born sculptor of renown who worked on the chapel at West Point, the Nebraska State Capitol, and many churches. The monument consists of Alabama limestone. The main shaft stands 40′ in height and is the main feature on the first-day battlefield.
The bas relief on the front of the memorial represent peace and goodwill between North and South. An eagle (a traditional American symbol, o
The monument was dedicated by President Franklin Roosvelt on July 3, 1938 at the 75th Reunion of the Blue and Gray.
Estimates put the crowd attendance at somewhere between 250,000 to 400,000, including 1,800 Civil War veterans. The youngest veteran present was 88 and the eldest was 112. The gas-fed flame at the top of the monument was lit by a Union veteran and a Confederate veteran. (This light was briefly extinguished during the 1970 energy crisis. A sodium vapor light was put in place in 1978.)
The Peace Light Memorial stands as a lasting symbol to peace and unity — a nation united.