I have always wanted to go to the Gettysburg Battlefield...

We started at the Visitor Center (of course) to see what there is to see, do, watch.  There are bus tours, hire your own tour guide, virtual tours, buy a CD and do your own tour.  We thought about the hire your own tour guide, but then decided on the CD because then we are at no one's mercy of their time schedule and what they want to teach us.

There were three different CD's to choose from in the gift shop, so we went with the one from the History Channel, how could you go wrong?  We got our purchases, got the free map from the park and started our journey to learn more about the 3 days of the Gettysburg Battle.

If you are interested in learning more about the battle and Gettysburg, here are a few websites (and there are SO many) that I found to be of interest:  Photo Gallery from NPS.gov; a few podcasts that you can watch at your convenience: Podcasts

If you want to see more, here is a great Virtual Tour from NPS.gov of what we saw and heard on our journey.

The Gettysburg Address

Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon 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 battlefield 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 this nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate - we cannot consecrate - we cannot 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 this earth.

note: There are only five known manuscript copies of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. The one above is believed to be the Nicolay copy and the original (1st) copy.  Interestingly, it does not include the words, "under God" which Lincoln added during his address on November 19, 1863. Where are the five copies of the famous speech located today? Two copies are at the Library of Congress. A third is at the Illinois State Historical Library in Springfield. the fourth is at Cornell University and the fifth is in the Lincoln Room at the White House.

Did You Know?
The first shot of the Battle of Gettysburg was fired by an Illinois cavalry officer who used a carbine borrowed from his sergeant. He missed his target.

The battle was three long days, starting on Wednesday, July 1, 1863 and ending on Friday, July 3, 1863. More people were lost at the Gettysburg Battle than any of the other battles during the Civil War.

 Total casualties for Gettysburg:

Federal: 23,053

Confederate: 28,063

Every state that fought in the battle has a memorial, there are also markers everywhere that show where the different troops were located and fought, there are statues for generals, memorials to peace and cannons everywhere.  You can't look around for not seeing a monument to something or someone.  It just proves how many people were a part of these 3 days of our American History.

We got to check out the new and improved Museum & Visitor Center, they had their grand opening the weekend of Sept. 26th, 27th & 28th, 2008.

Major General John Reynolds of the Union forces dispatched a message to his commander, General Meade: "The enemy is advancing in force. I will fight him inch by inch. And if driven into the town, I will barricade the streets and hold him back as long as possible."  This is from McPherson's Ridge.

People drive cars, ride bikes, take closed & open tour buses to view the battlefield.

The dedication of the memorial by President Roosevelt (on July 3, 1938) was the highlight of four days of activities commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the battle and hosted by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. More than 1,800 aged Civil War veterans attended the last great reunion.

Real life creeps into the battlefield.  If you look closely, you can see some of the monuments as they go down the road, behind you see a local High School and part of the town.

Doubleday Avenue and the Doubleday Inn B & B.  Named for one of the Generals (Abner Doubleday) that fought in the war and also just happens to be the name synonymous with having invented the great American past-time, baseball (most sports people will tell you otherwise :)

The North Carolina Memorial depicts a wounded officer urging his men forward, as he points to the enemy.

This is a 10-Pounder Parrott Rifle, a type of rifled cannon.  All the cannon in the park are actually placed where they were during the the three days of battle.  It blows your mind, because everywhere you look, there are more cannons.  No wonder there were so many casualties.

More cannon along the way, these happen to be the 12-Pounder Napoleons.  This is where the Virginia Memorial is (but not in the picture).

Looking out over the battle area, you can see many of the monuments that are placed all over the battlefield.

Little Round Top looked out over Devil's Den (the rock formation towards the back and to the left). After the battle, the area between Devil's Den and the Round Tops was nicknamed "The Slaughter Pen" and Plum Run Valley referred to as the "Valley of Death". The names have remained to this very day. Dead of both armies littered the landscape and it was over a week after the battle ended before all of the bodies were buried.

Looking up at Little Round Top.

During the afternoon of July 2, 1863, the Wheatfield witnessed some of the heaviest fighting of the entire Civil War. Over 4,000 dead and wounded were strewn in the field and near by woods.

The statue to honor Father Corby was placed on the battlefield in 1910. It depicts the father at the moment of pronouncing absolution to the men of the Irish Brigade. Although disputed, some accounts indicate that the statue is mounted on the exact boulder where the event took place. After the war, Corby returned to his pre-war occupation of teaching at Notre Dame University and was appointed university president.  Father William Corby died in 1897 and is buried at Notre Dame where a similar statue to Father Corby stands today.

Did you know?

Despite the fact that army clergy were noncombatants, no fewer than eleven Union chaplains were killed in action during the Civil War.

Ninety bronze tablets contain the 34,500 names of every Pennsylvania soldier who was present during the Gettysburg campaign. Each tablet represents a single regiment. A star next to a soldier's name identifies those who were killed or mortally wounded in the battle.

Me up on top of the Pennsylvania Memorial.

Monuments up on Culp's Hill.  It shows that not all troops were out in the open, nor were all the skirmishes out in the open.

This small grove or "copse" of trees had little or no significance prior to the Battle of Gettysburg, but on July 3, 1863, it was the focal point around which swept vicious hand-to-hand combat during the climax of "Pickett's Charge".

The title of "High Water Mark of the Rebellion" was bestowed upon the copse by John B. Bachelder, the first government historian of the Gettysburg battlefield, who realized its significance during a visit to the site with a veteran of General Pickett's Division. It was through Bachelder's influence that the "High Water Mark of the Rebellion Monument" was placed here and dedicated in 1892. The monument lists the commands of both armies that participated in Pickett's Charge.

Brig. General Lewis A. Armistead was the only Confederate brigade commander in Pickett's Charge to pierce the Union line. His marker was placed where he was mortally wounded in the battle.

Our next stop on the visit to Gettysburg...

You will find military markers & cannons in lots of places, including the National Cemetery.

Military straight, traditional headstones for a National Cemetery.  This is one of the smaller Nat'l Cemeteries I have been to.