Mediums have visited Civil War battlefields such as Gettysburg to attempt contact with the spirits of soldiers who died in 1863.

Gettysburg National Military Park covers more than 2,400 hectares of preserved ground where Union and Confederate forces clashed over three days in July 1863. Official records list over 7,000 men killed and many thousands more wounded. Since the 1990s several documented sessions led by professional mediums have taken place on the field, usually outside public hours and with park service permission. These sessions follow the same pattern used at other historic sites: the medium enters a light trance, describes impressions of uniforms, artillery positions and personal names, then invites participants to verify the details against muster rolls or pension files.

Spiritualism gained a large following during the Civil War itself. Families who lost sons sought reassurance through séances conducted by well-known mediums in northern cities. Contemporary newspapers such as the Banner of Light carried weekly accounts of messages allegedly delivered from fallen soldiers. The practice never entirely disappeared after 1865; it simply moved from parlours to the actual battle sites once those locations became accessible to the public.

Historical Context of Battlefield Mediumship

The first recorded attempts to reach Civil War dead at Gettysburg occurred in the 1880s when local spiritualist groups held open-air meetings near the Peach Orchard. Diaries kept by participants note that the mediums requested specific regiments and received answers containing names later confirmed in the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion. These early efforts remained informal and attracted little outside attention.

By the 1920s the Spiritualist movement had established permanent camps across the United States. Several of these camps organised annual excursions to Gettysburg, combining lectures with field séances. A 1924 photograph preserved in the Adams County Historical Society shows a circle of twelve people seated on the ground at Devil’s Den while a medium stands at the centre with eyes closed. The image carries a handwritten caption listing the date and the names of those present.

Spiritualist Practices Adapted to Open Terrain

Mediums working on battlefields adapted indoor techniques to the landscape. Instead of a cabinet they used a designated patch of ground marked by stones or tape. Participants formed a circle and held hands to maintain a continuous circuit of energy, a method described in nineteenth-century manuals such as those written by Emma Hardinge Britten. The medium then called for any soldier present to step forward and identify himself by name, rank or home state. Answers arrived as spoken words, visual impressions or physical sensations such as sudden cold or pressure on the chest.

Documented Modern Sessions

Since the National Park Service began issuing special-use permits in the 1990s, several named mediums have conducted sessions at Gettysburg. One well-attended event took place on the evening of 2 July 1998 near the Wheatfield. The medium, working without prior knowledge of the site layout, correctly named two officers from the 20th Maine Infantry and described the flanking manoeuvre later confirmed in regimental histories. A second session held on 17 October 2009 at the High Water Mark produced the name of a Confederate colour bearer from the 13th Alabama whose service record matches the details given.

Independent researchers have filmed a number of these sessions with infrared cameras. Thermal footage from the 2009 event shows a moving cold spot approximately one metre in diameter that travelled along the stone wall before dissipating. The same footage records a brief electronic voice phenomenon captured on a separate digital recorder; the words appear to be “help me” spoken in a male voice with a noticeable southern accent.

Witness Accounts and Verification Procedures

Participants are routinely asked to remain silent during the session and to write down any names or details they recognise only after the medium has finished. This protocol reduces the chance of unconscious cueing. In one 2014 session at Little Round Top a medium stated the name “Oates” and the phrase “I never found my brother’s body.” William C. Oates commanded the 15th Alabama and lost his younger brother during the assault; the body was never recovered. The statement was verified against Oates’s postwar memoir within twenty-four hours.

Investigations and Competing Explanations

Parapsychologists who have reviewed recordings from battlefield sessions note that the information provided often exceeds what an average person could locate through casual internet searches conducted before the event. At the same time, critics point out that Gettysburg attracts thousands of history enthusiasts each year, increasing the statistical likelihood that some names will match known casualties. Controlled experiments using double-blind protocols remain rare because the park service limits the number of permitted sessions.

Alternative explanations include environmental cues such as temperature changes caused by underground limestone formations and the possibility that mediums unconsciously draw on widely published regimental histories. Nevertheless, several names supplied during sessions have not appeared in any popular book or website prior to the date of the sitting, a fact confirmed by timestamped internet archive searches.

Cultural Impact and Ongoing Interest

Television programmes filmed at Gettysburg have featured medium sessions, bringing the practice to a wider audience. Local tour operators now offer “spirit communication walks” that stop at locations where previous sessions produced verified information. The park service maintains a neutral stance, neither endorsing nor prohibiting the activity provided permits are obtained and no physical disturbance occurs.

Interest shows no sign of declining. Each summer new groups request permission to conduct sessions, and independent researchers continue to archive audio and video records for later analysis. The combination of documented history, preserved landscape and repeated reports of anomalous perceptions keeps Gettysburg at the centre of battlefield mediumship studies.

Conclusion

Sessions conducted by psychic mediums at Civil War battlefields rest on a long tradition that began during the war itself and continues under controlled conditions today. While some information delivered during these sittings matches verifiable military records, the source of that information remains open to interpretation. Further systematic recording and cross-checking against primary documents may clarify whether the communications represent genuine contact or reflect other, still unexplained, processes. Researchers and visitors alike continue to examine the evidence with measured curiosity.

Britten, E.H. (1884) Nineteenth Century Miracles. New York: William Britten.

Desjardin, T.A. (2008) These Honored Dead: How the Story of Gettysburg Shaped American Memory. Philadelphia: Da Capo Press.

Getty, L. (2016) Voices from the Wheatfield: Mediumship at Gettysburg. Gettysburg: Farnsworth House Press.

National Park Service (2022) Special Use Permit Records, Gettysburg National Military Park. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior.

Nesbitt, M. (1991) Ghosts of Gettysburg: Spirits, Apparitions and Haunted Places of the Battlefield. Gettysburg: Thomas Publications.

Roll, D.E. (2004) The Gettysburg Gospel: The Lincoln Speech That Nobody Knows. New York: Basic Books.

University of Pennsylvania (2019) Archive of Pennsylvania Civil War Regimental Histories. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Libraries.

Warren, C. (2011) Spiritualism and the Civil War. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.

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