The National Park Service's five major Civil War battlefield parks — Gettysburg, Antietam, Shiloh, Chickamauga/Chattanooga, and Vicksburg — drew a combined 10.2 million visitors in 1970.  In 2018, a total of 3.1 million people cared to see where Americans gave their last full measure of devotion, according to park service data...a 70% decrease.  Gettysburg, the most hallowed ground of all, hosted just 950,000 visitors last year, a paltry 14% of the traffic it received in 1970. Battle of Chickamauga. The military memorabilia store outside of Chickamauga Battlefield now sells significantly more World War II merchandise and items related to other conflicts than it does Civil War–related effects.  If it sold marijuana or stocked Pokémon Go accessories, it would probably quintuple the sales. Over 600,000 Americans died to permanently abolish slavery and save the union, more than perished in World Wars I and II...(Read Full Post)