Historians Miffed at Gettysburg Gambling Proposal

An investor group has announced plans to open a casino and spa near the historic Gettysburg battlefield site – a project contingent on the group winning a slots license. According to the History News Network, some historians are upset about the thought of slot machines cranking away only a few miles from the historic battle site many consider to be the turning point in the Civil War. Critics complain the casino operation would demean one of the nation's most sacred historic sites, where more than 40,000 Union and Confederate soldiers were killed during a three-day battle in July of 1863. Princeton University historian James McPherson, who helped to nix a community planned on part of the Manassas battlefield in Virginia in 1994, said the Gettysburg slots proposal is insulting: "Nothing could be a greater besmirchment of the sacrifice of the men who fought and died there," McPherson wrote in an e-mail to The Patriot-News of Harrisburg. "By failing to honor their memory in this fashion, we would dishonor ourselves." Newsmax.com