Gettysburg

While we were in Washington DC, we rented a car for a couple days and drove up to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  We spent a whole day at Gettysburg and I was amazed at how large the battlefield was.  We prepared for our trip to Gettysburg by watching "Gettysburg" on the flight out to Washington DC, which was helpful for us to gain a better understanding with our limited preparation time.  Also, Ben and Alyse let us use an audio tour they had purchased when they visited Gettysburg, which was very informative to listen to as we drove around the national park there.

 

 There are so many monuments and memorials there that it was hard to know which ones to take pictures of.  Each of the states involved in the Battle of Gettysburg have built memorials there.  Below is the Virginia memorial, with Robert E. Lee on top of his horse at the place he was during the battle.

 

 We ended up joining a group of students led by a park ranger and we crossed the field of Pickett's Charge.  We stopped at various points along the way and talked about different things that happened during those minutes of the Confederate charge.

  

 After about a mile, we reached where the Union army had been, and the park ranger finished telling about the charge.  We then realized that the students' bus had driven around to where we were while our car was back at the Confederate side of the field, so we marched a mile back and continued our tour of Gettysburg.

Below is a picture taken from Little Round Top, where Joshua Chamberlain led the 20th Maine and held the extreme left flank of the Union Army against General James Longstreet's charge. 

 

 This is the High Water Mark, the furthest point that the Confederate Army reached in their charge before being turned back and losing the battle.

 

 We then went to the Soldier's National Cemetery where Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address.

 

It was interesting to me to hear more of the Union perspective of the Civil War when we visited Gettysburg because much of the focus was on slavery for the North, which contrasted with the South's focus on states' rights.  It amazes me that friends and family were willing to fight one another for these different causes.  One of the quotes that really stood out to me from the audio tour was that prior to the Civil War, we said, "The United States are..." and after the Civil War, we say, "The United States is..."

The loss of life at Gettysburg is something that I can't comprehend, but I'm grateful that we were able to visit that ground made sacred by those who gave their lives there.