I put Gettysburg and Antietam at the top of my list also. I’ve always susupected that one of the reasons for their popularity with most folks was what I call the “icon” factor. Gettysburg has the Devil’s Den, the copse of trees, the Round Tops etc. Antietam has the stone bridge, Bloody Lane etc. These are visually interesting even to the casual observer and are so well known world wide. My first sighting of the Devil’s Den blew me away, simply because I’d always read about it and because it was a physical feature you could touch and feel. I think it’s harder to get the average battlefield visitor interested in flat, featureless sites, whether they are open or wooded (The Wilderness comes to mind). One qualifier to the “icon” factor is the “my side won” factor. I took a group of southerners (mostly) on a tour of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville last weekend. I took the same group to Gettysburg last May. Many of the group later told me they preferred Fredericksburg/Chancellorsville because “we won”. So much for my “icon” theory!

Randy