The first organization in charge of the battlefield was the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association, upon which the Legislature of Pennsylvania, on April 30th, 1864, conferred the rights of a corporation. In 1867-68 the Legislature appropriated $6,000 to be applied to the purchase of portions of the battlegrounds and the general purposes for which the Association was incorporated. The money was used to secure the portion of Culp’s Hill upon which the breastworks were still standing; the section of East Cemetery Hill where Stewart’s, Reynolds’, Ricketts’, Cooper’s and Weidrick’s batteries were posted, where the lunettes still remain; and also a small piece of ground on the slope and summit of Little Round Top. This purchase was the nucleus of what became, by additional purchases of the Association and later of the Gettysburg National Park Commission, the present Gettysburg National Military Park. [Illustration: View from Culp’s Hill.—Gettysburg’s fine trees. In the distance is the Phillipoteaux Cyclorama with its vivid representation of Pickett’s Charge] The Legislatures of the Northern States represented in the battle contributed various sums for the prosecution of the work, and from time to time new members of the Association were appointed. As the appropriations were received, additional land was acquired and avenues were laid out. The erection of monuments to the different regiments was begun by the State of Massachusetts in 1879. In 1894, the whole property, about 600 acres of land, with 17 miles of avenues, giving access to 320 monuments, was transferred to the United States Government. The Gettysburg National Military Park was established by Act of Congress, approved February 11th, 1895, and the Secretary of War appointed the Gettysburg National Park Commission: Colonel John P. Nicholson, Pennsylvania, Chairman, John B. Bachelder, Massachusetts, and Brigadier General William H. Forney, Alabama. Colonel E. B. Cope was selected as topographical engineer. Upon the death of General Forney, Major William M. Robbins, of North Carolina, was appointed to fill the vacancy. John B. Bachelder was succeeded by Major Charles A. Richardson, of New York. On the death of Major Robbins, General L. L. Lomax, of Virginia, was appointed. General Lomax died May 28th, 1913, and Major Richardson on January 24th, 1917. Colonel Nicholson, the last surviving member of the Commission, died on March 8th, 1922. All Commissioners, with the exception of John B. Bachelder, served in the Battle of Gettysburg, and he reached the field immediately after the battle, continuing his interest and his historical researches until his death. On the death of Colonel Nicholson, Colonel E. B. Cope was appointed Superintendent.