About
Welcome to Draw the Sword, the home of the “Gettysburg Monument Project” — a series of posts highlighting monuments on the Gettysburg battlefield.
This page answers some frequently asked questions about the Draw the Sword Monument Project.
What’s it all about?
The Gettysburg National Military Park is the home of the world’s largest collection of outdoor sculpture. There are literally hundreds of monuments scattered around the battlefield. The monuments range from the mundane to the sublime. The regiments honor regiments, both Union and Confederate. They honor people. States. Great deeds. Even the Gettysburg Address.
The idea of attempting to photograph all the monuments isn’t original, but when I began this project, there was no place you could go and find out information not only about the monument itself, but also information the regiment or person that the monument honors and represents. That’s what makes my monument project different. It is more than just a pictorial tour of the monuments and memorials; it also tells the story behind the bronze and granite sentinels that dot the battlefield.
What inspired this?
I became interested in the Civil War during high school. While an undergraduate at Baldwin-Wallace College majoring in history and philosophy, I began writing And Then A.P. Hill Came Up, a biography of the fiery and tragic commander of Lee’s Third Corps in the Army of Northern Virginia. (If you haven’t guessed, that’s me at the approximate sight of A.P. Hill’s headquarters at Gettysburg.)
After graduating from Baldwin-Wallace, I went to law school. Studying and the law review took up a lot of my time, so the Civil War projects went on the back burner (although I continued to work on my A.P. Hill website). After graduating, I passed the bar and went out to begin my career as an attorney …
Then, in February 2007, I was diagnosed with cancer and my career (and my life really) came to a halt. While undergoing eight months of chemotherapy for advanced stage Hodgkin’s Disease, I couldn’t run as much. And I really couldn’t work since I was receiving chemo every other Friday. So I started looking for something else to do …
And this is what I came up with. Certainly feeling my own mortality, I think I had a better appreciation for the veterans and their desire to leave something behind to memorialize their great deeds. But there are so many monuments that for the average visitor they run together. This project was an attempt to set them apart, to honor the men who placed the monuments.
I managed to take four trips to Gettysburg during the eight months I was undergoing chemo. Now in remission, I’ve continued working on the Project.
How’s the cancer?
The cancer is in remission. It has been that way now for over two years. :)
What’s the scope of the project?
Initially, I just wanted to hit every “major” monument. There are monuments … and then there are markers that denote advanced positions held by regiments, etc. Having hit most of the “major” monuments, I have since turned my attention to markers. Eventually I’d like to photograph all the monuments and position markers. (I’ve decided not to work on flank markers.) So right now I’m working on markers. I do a lot of behind the scenes work here, often rephotographing monuments or adding markers.
When will you be done?
I hope to be finished with my monument project around September/October 2010 — that will hopefully also mark three years in remission for me. :)
What equipment do you use?
My past cameras were point and shoots; I had a Nikon Cool Pix camera circa 2004 vintage and an Olympus Stylus 750 which has since passed over the river to the great camera resting place in the sky. I now use a DSLR — a Pentax K100D.
For more information about the books and other resources used in creating this website, please check out the Policies Page.
Do you have a favorite monument?
Yes, my favorite monument on the battlefield is Henry Kirke-Bush Brown’s monument to General John Reynolds on US 30 (the Chambersburg Pike) to the West of Gettysburg. I love the movement of the horse and the fixed look of determination on Reynolds face. I also like the North Carolina Monument on West Confederate Avenue. My favorite regimental monument is the 90th Pennsylvania Monument on Oak Ridge.
Do you photograph other stuff?
I usually only get to visit Gettysburg about four times per year. When I’m at home in Cleveland, Ohio, I focus on photographing nature. If you would like to see some of my best work, please visit my homepage, goellnitz.org.
Can I contact you?
You can send me an email at jgoellnitz@gmail.com. Please make sure the subject line is descriptive enough so your email doesn’t accidentally get eaten by the spam filter.