NPS Archeology Program. The National Park Service: Preserving America's Past

Discovery and Dispute

In the late 19th century, European Americans set into motion the preservation of ancient Native American structures in the Southwest and Civil War battlefields east of the Mississippi. Philanthropists, scientists, and veterans rallied around America's historic places. Some scouted for artifacts to build personal collections or to sell. Others sought a grand national story. And others promised to fulfill Americans' need to remember past conflicts while reestablishing national unity. These related but competing interests threatened to compromise archeological places. view slideshow >>

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Mary Hemenway funded the Hemenway Southwestern Archaeological Expedition to Casa Grande in Arizona from 1887 to 1888. Excavations took place at the "Great House" and surrounding Hohokam sites. Extensive vandalism combined with archeologists' urging inspired Hemenway to campaign for Federal protection of the ruins. Casa Grande became America's first archeological reservation in 1892.

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The Wetherill brothers excavate Spruce Tree House at Mesa Verde.

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In the 1880s, the Wetherills' excavations at Mesa Verde in Colorado set off dispute between local amateur archeologists like themselves and academically trained scientists. The Colorado Federation of Women's Clubs became concerned about the vandalism and pothunting. Their advocacy led to Congressional approval of Mesa Verde National Park in 1906. Mesa Verde became part of the NPS System in 1916 and a World Heritage Site in 1978.

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Former soldiers gather at Chickamauga in 1897 to dedicate a monument.

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Soldiers in 1863 fought for a key railway center and gateway to the Confederacy at Chattanooga and Chickamauga in Tennessee. Decades later, veterans from the Union and the Confederacy worked together as the Chickamauga Memorial Association to preserve the battlefields as its landmarks disappeared. Congress passed legislation to authorize Chickamauga and Chattanooga as America's first national military park in 1890, the same year as Yosemite National Park.

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Civil War veteran at a Gettysburg monument.

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The Union's victory at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in 1863 ended Robert E. Lee's invasion of the north. Residents of Gettysburg established an association in 1864 to preserve portions of the battlefield as a memorial to Union troops. Veteran reunions and anniversaries kept the landscape a site of remembrance. The Federal government assumed control of the cemetery in 1872, the same year Yellowstone was designated a national park. The battleground became a national military park in 1895.

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