Civil War

The National Mall and Memorial Parks announced today, on the 146th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, the launch of a new website called “Lincoln Memorial Interactive.” The new site unites our nation’s heritage and the American experience with cutting-edge technology in unprecedented clarity and ease-of-access.  Stirring podcasts, accessible on the site, capture the unique and powerful personal connections that some of the National Mall’s park rangers ha

As a little girl, Cathy Beeler loved playing with cap guns."I even got busted by my mom for sneaking one into a little pink purse and taking it to church when I was about 4 years old," Beeler said. "My father condoned it all until I was about 9 or 10, when he threw them all in the trash, insisting that I put away the boy toys and learn to be more of a lady."Today, Beeler is chief of Monocacy National Battlefield's Resource Education and Visitor Services, a position that puts her in charge of some of the world's largest guns. She's also an expert gunpowder handler.

The plan was to march up the Rio Grande, capture the city of Santa Fe and seize the thousands of rifles, dozens of cannons and other supplies at Fort Union for a campaign that would expand the Confederacy's borders all the way to the California Coast.But Union soldiers stood their ground at a pinch along the Santa Fe Trail known as Glorieta Pass, resulting in a battle that historians often refer to as "the Gettysburg of the West."