JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: The Civil War battle we all read about in school has drawn millions over the years to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Later today, a controversial observation deck built there for tourists is coming down, to the relief of preservationists. CNN's Bob Franken joins us from Gettysburg now. Hi, Bob.</s>BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Jeanne. And you can look over my shoulder and take a look at the tower and make your own decision about whether it is as the preservationists claim, a horrendous, monstrous, to use their word, intrusion on the serenity of this battlefield that 137 years ago, was anything but serene. This is where they fought the most decisive battle of the Civil War. This is where Pickett's charge occurred at 3:00 in the afternoon, Eastern time, when the Rebel forces where just mowed down by the Union forces who were firing from where I am right now. Over the years, the preservationists have complained bitterly that that tower in back of me was in fact an intrusion on the history, that it destroyed the entire effect as people wandered quietly through the grounds, the hallowed grounds here and into the cemetery that had been dedicated by Abraham Lincoln. But the owners of the property had successfully fought closing it down for a long time. Now the federal government has taken it over, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt had promised that he was going to get rid of it before he left office. He's just about barely going to make that. This afternoon 5:03 Eastern time, an explosive charge will be set off. And if all goes well, the tower will come tumbling down exactly where it stands. It will become rubble and will join the rubble of history -- Jeanne.</s>MESERVE: Bob Franken, in Gettysburg, thank you.
Observation Tower at Gettysburg to be Destroyed