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| playing games at the campground before heading out..... |
The battle of Gettysburg was a major turning
point in the Civil War....General Robert E. Lee, upon accidentally meeting up
with Grant’s troops, thought that he could win and make this a defining moment
for a Southern victory of the Civil War.....fortunately, he was wrong and the
North did win this horrific 3 day battle in July 1863 at the expense of thousands of young men’s lives. The fighting was intense, with soldiers
fighting in hand to hand combat amongst open fields and orchards. One regiment was given the charge not to fire
until “you see the whites of their eyes” (about 30 yds away). In some instances it was brother against
brother......Can you imagine? At times during the 3 day siege, the smoke was so
thick that the soldiers could not see more than a few feet in front of
themselves. One wonders how many died from friendly fire? I can only imagine that each
one that fought here was scared and anxious as they anticipated the next hours and days
events.
As the smoke cleared at battles end, there was
mass carnage in the fields surrounding this peaceful town.....dead bodies,
wounded men, dead horses, abandoned weapons......destruction as far as the eye
could see. The townspeople were overwhelmed with wounded soldiers to care for
and the dilemma of what to do with 7,863 bodies. It was a terrible situation.
Trying to avoid disease, a plea went out via the newspapers for volunteers to
help bury the dead...Families began to arrive in droves to search for the dead or
wounded bodies of their fathers, brothers, and sons.  |
| seeing the cyclorama |
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| just some of the many faces of Gettysburg..... |
Today, the cemetery contains the
remains of union soldiers, most confederate soldiers were buried in their home
states or in Virginia. As Lee had known, this battle did influence the results
of the Civil War, just not in the way that he had predicted. The end of the war
would not come for 2 more years but these men did not die in vain, the
Emancipation Proclamation would begin the process to free millions of enslaved
African Americans and begin to right a terrible wrong that been done in our
country. Abraham Lincoln made the most famous speech of his career at this
hallowed ground four and a half months after the battle and it has gone down in
time as some of the most profound words ever spoken. He was not the featured
speaker that day but his words were poignant and they have stayed in the hearts
of our countrymen these last 149 years. In this short, precise dialogue,
Lincoln not only touched on human equality referred to in the Declaration of
Independence but he redefined the Civil war as not just a struggle to hold the
Union together but a "a new birth of freedom" bringing equality to
all citizens. These were his words...."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."
Today we drove the battlefield route around Gettysburg stopping to ponder the things described on our tour. We walked the stone fence where Pickett’s charge took place.
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| stone fence of Pickett's Charge...I am facing Round Top, where Union troops held the high ground |
We met Mr. Lincoln......
The kids got their Jr. Ranger badges by learning a lot about the battle...... 
Gettysburg is a peaceful place now with more memorial statues than you can count and a cemetery....it is hard to imagine the smells and sounds on those fateful 3 days long ago. I pray that the millions that visit are moved to protect our country from such a devision ever reoccuring. Only time can tell....... |
| We visited all sides of the battlefield...... |
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