Gettysburg Battlefield 150 Anniversary and Souvenir Monument Replicas

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Civil War's pivotal battle at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. More than 50,000 soldiers were killed in the battle, which became a turning point in the Civil War. The battle also inspired President Abraham Lincoln to write his famous Gettysburg address, delivered five months after the battle at the dedication of the Gettysburg cemetery used to bury Union dead. To commemorate these historic events at the Gettysburg Battlefield, more than 200,000 people -- including thousands of re-enactors -- are expected to visit this small south-central Pennsylvania town through Fourth of July weekend and throughout the year of 2013. Many monuments have been placed inside the Gettysburg Battlefield (here is a list of monuments) and some have been recreated in miniature souvenirs. One is the Eternal Light Peace Memorial monument commemorating the 1913 Gettysburg reunion for the fiftieth anniversary of the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg. The natural gas flame in a one ton bronze urn is atop a tower on a stone pedestrian terrace with views from the terraced hill summit over about 400 square miles and the flame is visible from 20 miles away. The memorial was dedicated by President Franklin Roosevelt on July 3rd, 1938, the 75th anniversary of the battle. One Union and one Confederate veteran unveiled the 47 1/2 foot tall monument. Souvenir replicas of the Eternal Light Peace Memorial are varied. A painted cast Iron Bookend of this memorial was made by the Gettysburg Rotary Conference. The back is stamped ROTARY CONFERENCE / 180 TH   DIST / GETTYSBURG   1939. And on the bottom is ETERNAL LIGHT / PEACE MEMORIAL. The bookend is 5-3/16" wide, 4-5/8" tall and 2-7/8" deep. Other versions include a pot metal souvenir replica and a smaller pencil sharpener photo above. Previously, I wrote about the Irish Brigade Monument at Gettysburg Battlefield. In the coming days, I will write about other souvenir monument replicas from Gettysburg.