Gettysburg National Military Park

Where do I start….at the beginning.

 

Rained last night..again.  Got up in the foggy, damp weather, but by 10 a.m. the sun began peeking through and we started our Auto Tour of Gettysburg.  It ended up being a warm (high 70's) day. 

 

We toured the entire battlefield around the city of Gettysburg (pop 2400 in 1863) using the CD and auto tour guide.  It was really good.  He did talk a bit too fast for me --  I need a slow Southern accent.  But we put the CD into my computer and could pause and back up at will. 

 

The Battle of Gettysburg took 3 days (July 1-3, 1863).  It was a brutal, bloody 3 days. 

 

Day 1:

 

The first battle took place at McPherson Ridge.  The first shot was fired when a Union soldier spied the Confederates advancing up toward the town and he fired.  From that point, the battle began.  It took place over acres and acres of fields.  They came across the fields from the white barn.

 

 

 

 

 

Confederate soldiers had taken shelter in this railroad cut through the McPherson Ridge.  It proved to be a wrong move as Union soldiers could advance without being seen and capture or kill them.  They had no place to escape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the end of the war, a monument called the Eternal Light Peace Memorial was erected and dedicated in 1938 by Roosevelt.  The flame still burns at the top.  At the dedication  over 2000 Civil War veterans attended, most over 95 years old; a few over 100.  They shook hands with one another and “beared no ill will.”

 

Day 2:

 

Little Round Top and the Valley Death

The second day’s battle was held around the area known as Little Round Top, a hill held by the Union.  The  Confederates advanced on Little Round Top from Warfield Ridge onto a huge outcropping of rocks known as Devil’s Den. 

 

Devil's Den

 

 

 

 

 

The valley between the two points became known as The Valley of Death.    The battlefield was so bloody, it was said that this little river ran red with the blood of all the killed and wounded.   Devil’s Den was a popular place for journalists and photographers to take pictures…some before the dead were removed.  It brought the war home to all those back home.

Water ran red

 

Another horrific battle on Day 2 was at the Wheatfield (the only time the word wheatfield is capitalized—when it refers to this battle).  It was located a little below where the battle at Little Round Top was carried out.  It was said that you could not walk across the field and step on ground, it was so covered in bodies.  The wheat was red. 

Cannon ball hole in barn

 

 

 

 

 

Day 3:

 

The Confederates came from this direction.

The High Water Mark or Pickett’s Charge—the beginning of the end for the Confederacy.  The Confederates, led by Longstreet (who disagreed with his superior, Lee, about this particular battle) marched straight across this field towards the rock wall to fight the Union army.  The battle of Gettysburg took 3 days and  23,000 Union soldiers and 28,000 Confederate soldiers were killed.  The movie, Of Gods and Generals, was about Pickett's Charge.

 

 

 

 

This 2.5-3 hour tour…we took nearly 6 hours.  And those 3 paragraphs are such a short description of all that we saw and heard from the CD.  It was a very good tour and I finally feel like I may have a grasp of what occurred.  However, I could go through it 15 more times before I could really understand it all. 

 

All states participating in the battle have monuments...many regiments, companies, battalians, also.  This is Arkansas. 

 

Many are located where so many of the regiments were killed ...as is this one for Michigan at the Valley of Death.

 

We have reservations at Dobbin House for dinner…a Civil War home.  Then we’ll come back to watch the debates.  An after statement:  It was wonderful!!!  Ronnie  had the prime rib; I had filet mignon and it was all perfectly done.  The entire house has been turned into the restaurant.  We ate in the upstairs bedroom area.  All period furniture..candlelight...really nice.  I'm stuffed.

 

Tomorrow, we’ll walk through historic downtown.  It’s a cute, quaint little village….with more than its share of tee shirts, official Civil War relics, and souvenirs.

 

It was a history filled day.  Emotional, mind-boggling.  I am honored to have stood today where these brave men stood, fought and died for our country...no matter what side they were on.  But, win or lose, I'm proud to be a Southerner!!