06-09 Gettysburg – Day 1

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We moved from Virginia to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on Wednesday June 17th. We are in a good campground very near the Gettysburg National Military Park, which covers a huge area with sections almost all the way around the town. This is another pretty area similar to our location in Virginia, but we do not have so many of the long vistas across open fields and pastures. There are more close woods along the roads. The rains continue to follow us. We were able to tour the battlefield on Friday, but I think that is the first day we have had without rain. We drove here in the rain and had to set up in the rain – no fun!

There is a new museum and visitors center in the Park with excellent displays about the battle and the Civil War in general, probably the best collection of weapons, uniforms, etc. that I have seen. One display is a Cyclorama about the battle. This link tells the story of the Cyclorama and its recent $16 million restoration. This is a painting made in 1884 that surrounds you in a round room. It puts you in the middle of the Union lines for the climatic battle of Pickett’s Charge. As part of the restoration and new display, dramatic light and sound have been added to tell the story of the battle. This really helped me understand the battle when we toured that section of the Park. The terrain today looks very much like that depicted in the painting. Allow at least 2-4 hours to tour the museum, longer if you study and read every display.

In the bookstore we purchased an audio CD and guide book that does an excellent job of explaining the battle and telling stores about some of the individual participants as you drive from point to point. We like this option because it lets us set our own (slow) pace. Many also recommend the narrated bus tours. An even better option is to hire a guide to drive your car and give you a personal tour of about 2 hours. I overheard several of these and would highly recommend this option. I do not think the cost is much more than two adults taking the bus tour.

There are 16 stops on the parks tour map. The first day we covered 6. The stops generally follow the sequence of the battle which lasted 3 days. As it turns out we also broke our tour up into 3 segments over 3 days. Below are some pictures from the first day. Also if you click on this link, you will go to the associated Picassa album for our 1st day where I have some descriptions below many of the pictures.

The 1st day's fighting of the three day battle began near here west of town as Confederate Infantry encountered Union Calvary. The fighting escalated as both sides rushed in more troops. By the end of the day the Confederates had driven the Union forces back through Gettysburg where they took up strong positions just south of town along Cemetery Ridge. This barn was used as one of many Confederate hospitals.

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One story from the tour CD told of a group of Union Infantry being sent forward to drive out Confederate sharpshooters from the barn in the picture below. In the group was a German emigrant. He passed a group of Confederate prisoners being led to the rear. In the group was his brother who he did not know was fighting for the Confederates much less on the battlefield. They stopped briefly to embrace and then moved on. The Union brother was killed later in the day. One of many sad stores from the battle.

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This is the North Carolina Monument. North Carolina suffered the greatest losses among the Confederate troops. One in four of the Confederate losses were from NC.

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Confederate cannon near the center of Seminary Ridge where Pickett's charge began.

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The climatic fight was on the 3rd day forever know as Pickett's Charge as General George Pickett's Division was the spearhead of 12,500 soldiers who march 3/4 of a mile across this field under constant rifle and cannon fire. It took them almost 30 minutes to cross. They reached the other side along the far ridge but could advance no further. That was called the high water mark both of the battle and of the whole war for the Confederacy.

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It rained all Friday night until early Saturday. Mid-morning we went back the battlefield and toured another third of the stops on the self-guided tour. Then late Saturday we went back to retake a few pictures after the sky had cleared and drove around a bit more.

When I bought the Tour CD, it said it took about 2 1/2 hours but that is the amount of recording. It does not consider the time you spend getting out reading plaques and looking over the grounds. So it has taken us much longer than anticipated. This National Park and the battlefield are so large. The two battle lines stretched over 3 miles and moved to different locations from the 1st day to the 2nd and 3rd day. We also spent some time talking to some interesting people. One couple was here because the husband is a real Civil War buff. (We saw lots of people carrying history books or who also sounded like rear students of the War.) They live nearby in Virginia and he has been reading a book just about the 2nd day’s fighting. So they came up so he could visualize what he is reading about. He really added to our stop at Little Round Top as he added details about the fighting. Another man we met at Devil’s Den was a former National Park Interpreter from Oregon who was backpacking and hiking around the park for a week. He had slept out there in the rain. He looked a bit rough after 3 days in the field, but we gave him a ride across the park to another location along our route back to the RV. Late Saturday evening near the Pennsylvania Monument (by far the largest in the Park),

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We came across a camp set up by Union Civil War reenactors.

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There we met this young man. His father is originally from England. The two of them were portraying British observers there to watch the fighting, which really happened during the war. They live in Maryland, but he mimicked a nice British accent and was a delight to talk with.

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Here are a few sunset pictures from our late evening visit. Click this link to see more pictures with brief explanations from our 2nd day touring.

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President Eisenhower only owned one home in his life since he had been a career Army Officer. That home and farm was next to the Gettysburg Battle field and can be seen in the photo below. You can catch a tour bus at the Visitor Center to tour his home.

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Monday we returned for our final visit to the Gettysburg battlefield. This time we visited Spangler’s Spring

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Culp’s Hill

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and the site of the climatic battle known as Pickett’s Charge. The lanes mowed in the grass mark the approximate route the Confederate Troops converged on the Union lines.

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General George Pickett’s troops were the spearhead of the attack. Pickett commanded about 1/3 of the 12,500 Confederate soldiers who attacked that final day. They were spread along a front about 1 mile wide and marched 3/4 mile across the field under constant artillery fire. When they reached the road in front of the Union lines, constant rifle fire was added. After the battle, Union soldiers counted over 800 bullet holes in one 16 foot section of rail fence the Confederates had to cross.

The High Water Mark was the point where a few Confederate Troops crossed the Union low stone wall at a point know as “The Angle”.

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This monument marks where Confederate General Armistead was killed and the attack faltered with Confederate troops retreating back across the field again under enemy fire.

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Confederates suffered over 50% casualties with some of Pickett’s Divisions over 90%. There were about 93,000 Union soldiers and 73,000 Confederate soldiers in the Battle of Gettysburg. Somewhere around 50,000 casualties were reported. It is hard to imagine that many people being killed, wounded and/or captured. What a different scene it would have been in the days after the battle than the beautiful landscape Monique and I have viewed. But it is fitting that such peace and beauty should be seen across this hallowed ground. We have been saddened by much of what we have learned, yet we have learned much about the bravery of our ancestors who fought on both sides. We are very glad we came and highly recommend your coming to Gettysburg for a visit.

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