Prior to the Civil War, did Americans visit Revolutionary War battlefields to learn about American history?

by leftyrightalayo
lord_mayor_of_reddit

Yes. Here is an article from Harper's magazine in 1850 written by Benson J. Lossing in which he writes about visiting various American Revolution sites. It is illustrated, and he illustrates monuments at Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill.

Lossing was a prolific historian and illustrator of the 19th Century, and this Harper's article seems to actually be some excerpts from his book published the following year called The Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution. The book has even more mentions and illustrations of American Revolution sites, including memorials to a pastor named Rev. James Caldwell who served as a chaplain during the war and fought at the Battle of Springfield but was murdered by a fellow American (who was subsequently hanged for the crime); another to Col. David Humphreys, an aid to General Washington; and another to Major-General Joseph Warren who died at the Battle of Bunker Hill.

Prior to the advent of the railroads, there were likely few Americans who had the time or money to visit such battlefields or monuments unless they lived nearby. But by the 1850s, it was being done at least by someone of the status of Lossing.