And the Oh, Welcome everyone to the Battle of Gettysburg Podcast. I am your co-host

licensed battlefield guide Eric Lindblade and as always I am joined by my co-host

licensed battlefield guide Jim Hessler.. Jim Hesseler.

Jim, what's today's episode?

Well, as one modern historian summarized, quote,

he was not present at the battle, nor was he a military man.

He had no formal training as a historian,

but, though little known today,

John Badger Batchelder had a more profound effect

on the story of Gettysburg than any other person.

Eric, as you may recall in season one during our book review episode,

we recommended and greatly increased awareness of John Batchelder and the then out of print Batchelder papers.

We heard from many listeners who asked us how they could acquire these mythic papers.

Since then, the Batchelder Papers have been reprinted by my publisher,

Savas Spady, and for a time the year 2020 might have been remembered is the year that

Batchelder Mania swept the globe.

But John Batchelder was much more than a compiler of some obscure papers.

In the late 19th century, he was the leading authority on the Battle of Gettysburg and we're not going to simply do a boring stuffy biography filled with only names and dates because maps,

maps, guidebooks, battlefield tours, art, and even Cottington.

All owe something to John Batchelder, and perhaps the most important among his many legacies was the designation of the cops of trees and the high watermark as the decisive landmarks at the Battle of Gettysburg.

So we've got a lot to unpack here today. Join us as we discuss

John Batchelder, the man, the myth, the papers here on the Battle of Gettysburg

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