Gettysburg

The name seems to always affect people, even when they don’t know too much about it.  It’s probably the one battle from the Civil War that everyone knows.  I got there about 11 this morning, and didn’t leave till about 7, and still had stuff I had to miss out on.  The largest battle of the Civil War, in the whole Western Hemisphere, in fact.  Nearly 170,000 men fought there, and 51,000 men were casualties, with about 7500 of those dead.  3 days of intense fighting in the hot July sun.  I won’t bore you with any more details, I would be here typing all night, and no one would read my post.  Suffice it to say, there’s a lot to see and do there.  If you go, I highly recommend the video and the cyclorama, which is a giant painting that wraps 360 degrees around you showing the chaos of Pickett’s Charge on the third day of the battle.  No pictures of it, but here’s a few from the battlefield.

Top is a view of the center of the field from Robert E. Lee’s view point, about where he might have watched Pickett’s Charge from.  the big picture on the bottom is the Virginia Monument, with General Lee riding Traveller on top of the monument.  Upper right is the federal view of where the charge took place.  If you look carefully, you can see the Virginia monument on the other side of the field.  Bottom right is General Meade, riding his horse, Old Baldy.

I did notice some behavior that saddened me as I was touring.  There is a monument to James Longstreet, shown here:

As I was walking up to it to get a picture, I saw a father taking a picture of his teenage son sitting on the back of the horse, as if riding with Longstreet, and after his son got off, his daughter climbed up on it.  Later, I saw a mother and young son rubbing their hands across a stone monument to read the words.  These monuments, some of which are nearly a century old, if not older, need to be shown respect, not used for a fun picture. Hands off, unless you are told otherwise by a park employee.  Please, and thank you.   Anyway, enough of the rant, but it bothers me.  Enjoy looking at the wonderful sights, but remember that most of them are not to be touched.  Happy Road-Tripping!

Author: ramblingsofawanderingman

I'm a man who feels more at home driving down the road on an adventure than almost anywhere else. View all posts by ramblingsofawanderingman