In my humble opinion, were it not for our common national history, we would not be as unified a nation as we are, and it is our responsibility, as the caretakers of our national history to preserve what we can for future generations. We vacation in Franklin, TN and we have relatives in Corinth, MS (as a matter of fact, I donated two contemporary artifacts to the museum in Corinth) and I know how strongly this issue is felt. Santayana wrote, ” Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” To me, preserving these battlefields is one way of keeping that history alive and ensuring that every generation of Americans has a tangible link to our past.
"why do we preserve baseball memories with such meticulous care, yet fail to preserve where the founder of baseball fought and gained his place in history?"
Retarmy, I presume you are talking about General Abner Doubleday and Morris Island. Contrary to legend, Doubleday was NOT the founder of baseball, "gained his place in history" (if at all) at Gettysburg, and didn't have anything to do with Morris Island (he served at Fort Sumter, instead).