A Visit To Gettysburg National Battlefield

Looking forward to your photos and commentary Bruce.

Oh. I did drive past Cowpens (Revolutionary War) a few years ago. General Daniel Morgan.....lines of collapsing militia and regulars with cavalry saving the day. Couldn't stop in as time didn't allow. I envy you my friend......

 

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Indeed a must see for Civil War and history buffs. I got the chance to stop for a couple hours on my way through that part of PA last summer. We stopped at the visitor center first and I spent the whole time we were there in the museum. I could have spent a couple more hours in it easily. I definitly will go back and see the rest of the displays and battlefields.
Anyone that is a gun collector would love the museum, I think they have one of, if not the most extensive pistol and rifle collections of the era.

 

I've been to Vicksburg, Shiloh, and Corinth. Someday I'll educate myself more on what took place in the east and get to some of those battlefields, but probably not until I've read and seen everything associated with the campaigns in the west.

It's incredible when you are there and think about what took place.

I thought it was a great year for coins with the Vicksburg and Gettysburg Military Park quarters.

 

The timeless words of Lincoln regarding Gettysburg.

"
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

 

That is absolutely true. It is one thing to read about a battle and study maps of a battle but it is something else entirely when you can stand in the exact spot and envision the events. (Of course, you must first have a fairly good understanding of the events.) For example, when you are standing on top or Little Round Top (at Gettysburg) you can really appreciate how important it was for the Union to hold that position and how difficult it was for the Confederate troops to attack it. Just a couple of hundred yards away it was amazing to stand exactly where Chamberlain held his position at the end of the Union line by mounting a bayonet charge when their ammunition ran out. And standing down below Little Round Top at the Devil's Den and the Valley of Death one can imagine the sense of futility the Confederate troops must have felt when they were told to attach Little Round Top.

Standing at the Peach Orchard one can understand why Gen. Sickles wanted to move his troops out of the low ground and up to the high ground of the Peach Orchard and why that proved to be a nearly disasterous decision.

It was also amazing to look out across the open fields where Pickett's Charge happened. You can stand where Lee surveyed the landscaped, made his battle plans and watched his worst defeat. You can stand at The Angle and envision 12,500 Confederate troops making their way across the open fields while under fire from three sides by Union artillery and understand how the few that made it across the stone walls had no hope of holding that position.

At both Gettysburg and Antietam they are trying to restore the landscape to how it was at the time of the battles. They are cutting trees that were not there at the time of the battles and planting trees that have been removed since the battles. That way visitors can better envision the battles.

 

We visited there and Antietam back in the fall of 2007. It was an amazing experience for me. You know, you get used to seeing the movies about it which show relatively small groups clashing in front of the cameras.

But when you get there, the actual scope and magnitude of it sets in. We ate at that restaurant where Picketts charge happened. One of the workers seemed to be very knowledgable of the subject. He pointed out the tree lines that the confederate lines stretched over to and I was amazed. Then he said there were three lines that long! Then you stand on little round top and imagine fighting for your life as the waves are driving up it. Thinking if they get there, you're a goner. It makes you realize how relatively easy we have it nowadays.

I thought it was cool how much battle damage was left in it's original condition around the town. There's a building downtown with a random artilery shell still stuck in the wall up by the eves and a building that had a wall facing cemetery hill. The wall has about 100 bullet holes in it and was left that way. It's a restaurant now that we ate at while staying nearby.

At Antietam, you can walk down the "Bloody Lane" and realize thousands of confederates died right there in that trench. You look out of it at the short hill in front of you and can imagine union lines charging over it at you.
I can't imagine having to march as far as they did, let alone having to fight afterwards. On a side note, it is a beautiful area with the mountains all around.