A few days after the armies left the smoldering battlefield of Gettysburg in July, 1863, local residents began to guide curiosity seekers and grieving family members through the sites associated with the recent conflict. Over the last decades of the 19th century many individuals took up guiding as veterans and visitors from around the world arrived at what was fast developing as the premier battlefield park commemorating the American Civil War.

Shortly after the Federal Government instituted a licensing process to regulate the quality of the existing battlefield guides in the summer of 1915, these newly licensed guides met to establish an organization providing a common voice in promoting guide services. Today, the A.L.B.G. is incorporated in the State of Pennsylvania as a 501 (C) (6) non-profit organization with the mission of promoting the benefits of a licensed guided tour of this and other battlefields of the American Civil War.

Today, more than one hundred and thirty Association guides conduct thousands of visitors around Gettysburg and other battlefields of the Civil War each year.

Learn more at GettysburgTourGuides.org