## Facts

- Congress appropriated funds to preserve the Gettysburg battlefield by marking troop positions, preserving battle lines, and opening and improving avenues.
- A joint resolution authorized the Secretary of War to acquire, by purchase or condemnation, lands on or near the Gettysburg battlefield to prevent defacement and to carry out the preservation program.
- The United States invoked a general federal condemnation statute authorizing acquisition of real estate for “public uses” when condemnation was deemed necessary or advantageous.
- The United States filed condemnation proceedings in the U.S. Circuit Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to take a strip of land occupied by the Gettysburg Electric Railway Company, a private trolley line crossing parts of the battlefield.
- The circuit court ruled against the United States, rejecting the asserted federal authority to condemn for this historic-preservation purpose.
- Both parties sought Supreme Court review via writs of error presenting the same central questions.

## Issues

1. Whether preserving and commemorating the Gettysburg battlefield by acquiring land to mark positions, preserve battle lines, and build avenues constitutes a “public use” permitting federal eminent domain.
2. Whether the United States may condemn land occupied by a railroad company for that preservation purpose, subject to just compensation.
3. Whether any deficiency in alleging the Secretary of War’s determination of necessity could be addressed on remand.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court reversed the circuit court.
- The Court held that the federal program to preserve and mark the Gettysburg battlefield was a public use for which the United States may condemn private property upon payment of just compensation.
- The Court concluded that land occupied by a railroad company may be taken for this public use; effects on the railroad’s operations bear on compensation, not on the power to take.
- The Court indicated the lower court could allow amendment of pleadings regarding the Secretary of War’s determination of necessity, if needed, and remanded for further proceedings consistent with its opinion.

## Legal Principles

- A congressional appropriation and authorization to acquire land to preserve and commemorate a nationally significant battlefield can satisfy the Fifth Amendment “public use” requirement.
- A use may qualify as public when it is closely connected to enumerated federal powers, including national defense and war-related interests, and serves national purposes such as preserving sites central to the nation’s history.
- Once a public use is established, the amount of land to be taken is primarily a legislative determination rather than a judicial one.
- Property already devoted to another public-facing activity, including railroad operations, is not immune from condemnation for a different public use; operational impacts are relevant to valuation and damages in just compensation.

## Conclusion

The Court upheld federal eminent domain authority to condemn land on the Gettysburg battlefield for preservation, commemoration, and access improvements, treating that objective as a constitutionally sufficient public use and leaving questions of scope and compensation for further proceedings on remand.


United States v. Gettysburg Elec. Ry. Co., 160 U.S. 668 (1896)