Days 23 & 24: Gettysburg, PA - A Must See

Tuesday, October 12: Morning with Ginger & Lou and the Civil War

Don writes: 
The morning was clear and crisp, but warm enough to plan for breakfast outside. Visions of sardines and phone booth cramming had danced in our heads during the night as we worried that we would have to cram four of us in the trailer to keep warm for breakfast.  Now Linda would be able to fix a fancy meal - Maine blueberry pancakes accompanied by Taylor Pork Roll (it's a New Jersey thing) donated by cousin Sue DeCamp.  Really yummy!

Lou and Ginger arrived after touring the Civil War Cemetery behind their motel.  That was where Abe Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address.  Lou could have heard him from their room if they'd been 147 years earlier.  It's hard to imagine all the history that took place in this area!

As we finished Lin's scrumptious breakfast, we decided to do the first part of the Gettysburg Self-Guiding Auto Audio Tour before Ginger and Lou had to leave.  Popping the CD guide in the player, we hopped in the truck and started our tour on the west side of the battlefield where the Confederate troops had been positioned.  Being right there makes the battle come alive.

Gettysburg is a lot of open farmland with stone walls and cedar post fences.  Hills and large rocks make for an unsettled countryside with high spots that were used by the opposing armies to gain tactical advantage.  70,000 Confederates and 80,000 Union troops faced each other across about a mile of largely open space.  On the third and last day of the battle, using old tactics developed before guns became more accurate, 12,000 rebels attacked in a line that stretched a mile from north to south.  The Union forces raked them with cannon fire until they got within rifle range.  The Union infantry then opened fire.  There was no place for the Confederates to hide so they kept moving forward.  In spite of their terrible losses, the southerners almost breached the federal lines.  But "almost" wasn't enough and the south had to retreat. 

Lou & Ginger check out smooth bore cannon.

Confederate General Robert E. Lee realized that he had lost too many men to continue fighting the next day.  General Meade, the Union commander, knew that he couldn't counter-attack because his troops were exhausted and he'd lost too many men.  The Confederacy had lost this crucial battle in what became a turning point in the war.

As the four of us looked out over the Gettysburg countryside dotted with monuments and cannons, listening to the audio tour with its background sound effects of cannon and musket fire, I was amazed at the scale of this battle.  This is a big area!  I can't even imagine how the Confederate troops must have felt marching across the open fields heading toward the Union troops holding the high ground. With cannon shot raining over them followed by the withering musket fire from the infantry behind the stone walls and rocks above them, it must have been terrifying. 

Eternal flame monument.

There were monuments everywhere - all kinds, all shapes - honoring all the different state units that fought in the Civil War.

 

By the time sister and brother-in-law had to leave, we had completed about a third of the tour.  It had been enough to give all of us an idea of what the Battle of Gettysburg had been like.  Made the 4 hour drive to Yonkers, NY, that Gin and Lou were facing seem like a cake-walk.

Linda and I grabbed lunch in the trailer and hung around the campground until late afternoon when we went back to continue a few more stops on the audio tour.  Ended with a beautiful sundown at Little Round Top, the scene of some fierce fighting on the last day of the Gettysburg battle.  That put us in the mood for ice cream so we stopped in town for a milkshake and a couple of scoops.  Nice way to end the day.

Wednesday, October 13 - The Gettysburg Visitor Center

Quiet moment with Abe outside the visitor center.

Another sunny, beautiful day to run around the Gettysburg area.  First stop was the new (3 years old) Visitor Center and museum, a beautiful place designed to look like some of the period farmhouses and barns.  We saw the 20-minute movie about the Civil War and the battle of Gettysburg narrated by Morgan Freeman.  That was followed by a viewing of the Cyclorama oil painting that was completed in 1884 by a french artist and his assistants. It has been completely restored within the last ten years and is now permanently on display at the visitor center. The Cyclorama painting is 42' high and 375' long and is displayed in a 360 degree round gallery.  It depicts the third and last day of battle of the Gettysburg campaign.  The detail is amazing! Remember back in the late 1800's, this was a way of showing people an epic event, as cameras were relatively new (really rough black & white photos). They did use lights and sound to add to the effect of the battle.

Part of the painting - You walked in a full circle to get the full effect.

Another view of the battle in the painting.

After seeing the Cyclorama, we spent a couple hours in the museum looking at Civil War artifacts and watching short videos covering various aspects of the battle.  There was a lot to see and the displays covered the personal sides of the soldiers and their families as well as the military side of the battle. 

We got lunch at the Visitor Center before heading out to complete the audio tour of the battlefield.  I continued to be in awe of the bravery of the men who fought at Gettysburg.  There's just no way that I would want to go running up a hill at guys hiding behind stone walls shooting miniballs at me.  On the other hand, I wouldn't want to be one of the Union soldiers behind the walls looking at thousands of Confederates screaming the rebel yell running directly at my position.

Joshua Chamberlain led the 20th Maine at Gettysburg.

20th Maine Monument.

Pennsylvania has the biggest and most expensive of all the monuments. Each PA soldier's name is listed around the base.

By the time we completed the tour, we had learned a lot about one of the pivotal battles of the Civil War.  This is definitely a place we would recommend for a visit (or revisit if you haven't been here for years).  When we got back to the campground, I got a campfire going, mixed some drinks, and we enjoyed our last night in Gettysburg.