National Park Service Reacts To Sept. 11 Terrorist Attacks
By Deborah Fitts

The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon reverberated at the country's national Civil War battlefield parks, where in some cases visitors found messages of reassurance by contemplating the nation's past.

Television and print media thronged to Antietam National Battlefield following the attacks, after the mainstream press became aware that the bucolic Maryland battlefield, not far from the nation's capital, has long been known as the scene of "America's bloodiest day."

Superintendent John Howard said the onslaught began on Sept. 12 and included inquiries from USA Today, CNN, Newsweek, the Washington Post and other inside-the-Beltway outlets, among others.

Howard said reporters focused on the visitors, asking why they came. By coincidence, it was Antietam's annual "anniversary week," with 124 programs scheduled for four days commemorating the Sept. 17, 1862, battle.

Reporters also focused on the casualty figures. According to the park's ranger-historian Paul Chiles, at Antietam 3654 soldiers are believed to have been killed outright, which falls well below the estimated 5600 killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

But Howard noted that the "bloodiest day" sobriquet stems from the overall Antietam casualty figure of 23,110, which includes more than 17,000 wounded and 1700 missing or captured. On Sept. 11, an estimated 8700 were wounded in New York.

On the other hand, "We're not in this for competition," Howard said.

Like all parks in the Northeast Region and the National Capital Region of the National Park Service (NPS), Antietam was ordered to close its visitor center around noon on the 11th, just hours after the attacks.

Howard noted, however, that rangers "went into the field" to talk with visitors. On the 12th, the rangers conferred as to "how we could serve the public the best," he said, and they decided to modify their planned programs.

For one thing, a torchlight tour that was to include a hospital scenario of soldiers with "ghastly" wounds was changed to skip the wounded altogether.

But Howard said rangers found ways to draw parallels between the nation's crisis during the Civil War and today. They recalled how dark the days seemed in the wake of Antietam, and how citizens must have wondered whether the nation would ever recover.

Howard noted that during the anniversary days, 98 percent of park visitors participated in the ranger programs, compared to the usual figure of just over half.

"You know what I think it is?" he said. "I think people were looking to be with other people and for reassurance that we've been through trouble before, and we survived. Hopefully, what happened in the battle here helped us to become a better people. Perhaps what comes out of Sept. 11 will be a re-uniting of Americans, and becoming a better people."

Visitation drops

At Gettysburg, Superintendent John Latschar described consternation among park personnel as word of the attacks got around. "We got real anxious for a while," said Latschar, a Vietnam combat veteran, "though we didn't necessarily think there was a high possibility of danger here. But nobody knew what was going to happen next.

"Obviously, we were looking at the results of irrational thinking. We all being rational people, we didn't trust our ability to understand it."

The park buildings re-opened the following day, but visitation fell noticeably in the ensuing weeks. Although visitor numbers had been up 20 percent this year over last year, they dropped 30 percent after the 11th. By presstime in October visitation had recovered somewhat, but it was still "slightly below normal."

Latschar said his rangers resumed their programs Sept. 12, but for a couple of days they avoided the National Cemetery. "They didn't feel up to it," he said.

But when they did resume their guided walks in the cemetery, "They had a quite different reaction from the visitors." The loss of life at Gettysburg resonated as never before, he said, with visitors "making connections" to those killed in New York, Washington and on the flight that crashed in Pennsylvania.

Responding to crisis

Three NPS staffers from Gettysburg traveled to New York for a week or more to put to use their special training in "critical incident stress management," which NPS offers to help employees deal with crises on the job.

Assistant Superintendent John McKenna, law-enforcement ranger Ricky Pearce and exhibit specialist Tim Favenbaker met with NPS personnel at New York's Gateway parks, including Ellis Island, Grant's Tomb, the Statue of Liberty and other sites near the World Trade Center. Accompanying them was Tom Moriarty, a volunteer on the battlefield's Park Watch and a professional counselor.

"We were open for business with anyone experiencing problems" as a result of the attacks, McKenna said. He declined to discuss the nature of the counseling, stressing confidentiality, but said, "I'm sure we made a difference."

Gettysburg's spokesman, Katie Lawhon, was detailed to New York Sept. 24 for up to a month. With her public-affairs expertise she was helping Gateway address "the changed Manhattan skyline," she said.

"Viewing Manhattan was one of the reasons people came to the park," where the twin towers of the World Trade Center dominated the view. "It's been difficult," Lawhon said. "It was a very emotional experience for many of the people working here. They saw the second tower get hit by a plane that had flown very low over the two parks (Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty)."

Joining throngs of people in somber lines, Lawhon visited the World Trade Center site in early October. Almost a month after the attacks, smoke continued to rise from acres of wreckage. Messages of consolation had been written in the dust on walls, and visitors from all over the country had posted banners and notes of support.

"There are hundreds if not thousands of people walking quietly by the site," she said. "They come for whatever reason. It reminded me of what it must have been like when people first came to see the battlefield at Gettysburg. It made me cry."

Afterward, contemplation

In the nation's capital, Civil War-related sites attracted a more somber, thoughtful crowd in the wake of Sept. 11. At Arlington House, the pre-war home of Robert E. Lee, Acting Supervisory Ranger Matt Penrod said at such times as these, "People are drawn to places like this. They are perhaps a little more solemn and introspective."

And at Ford's Theatre in Washington, site manager Suzanne Kelly said after re-opening on Sept. 12, programs went on virtually unaffected, except that things were "more low-key."

"I think people saw this as a place to get away," she said. "They came looking at this as a place to be quiet and contemplative."

'Help and support'

Even as far distant as Shiloh battlefield, Sept. 11 reverberated. On the Friday following the attacks, Superintendent Woody Harrell responded to the national day of mourning by holding a midday gathering in front of the visitor center, "in view of the park's biggest flag, which we reserve for use only on Memorial Day."

About 30 park personnel and visitors listened as Harrell noted Shiloh's own grisly harvest: 3500 dead in two days; 23,746 overall casualties. Harrell pointed out the association between the date of the attacks - the ninth month, 11th day - and the nation's 9-1-1 emergency telephone number.

Flags were handed around from a box symbolically containing 911 of them. The emergency number represents "the underlying system of help and support that Americans in trouble find only a phone call away," Harrell said. Whenever Sept. 11, 2001, is remembered, "we need to renew our commitment to continually reach out to assist our fellow citizens."
Harrell closed by encouraging the group to stick their flags in the ground in front of the visitor center - "in this sacred soil" - and "recall what it means to be Americans."