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| Paul, me and Steve in Gettysburg |
Gettysburg was what I call a "Twofer". Two for the price of one, so to speak. We got to do sightseeing here but we also got to visit a friend, so we won on both counts. We met up with Steve, a good friend of mine from high school, and spent the day at a museum, and viewing the Gettysburg battlefield.
Viewing the battlefield doesn't really describe what we did very well. The battlefield here was absolutely enormous and we drove around all afternoon checking out different areas. The Battle at Gettysburg lasted 3 days-July 1-3, 1863, and was the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. A total of about 165,00 men fought here and about 40,000 men were killed or injured. General Lee was in charge of the Confederate army and at one point in the fighting, it seemed as though they would be the victors. Unfortunately for them, on the 3rd day of fighting, they advanced across an open field, making several tactical errors along the way, and their troops were decimated by the Union Army. Soon after, it was clear that the Union Army would win the day but at a huge cost on both sides.
Left behind afterwards were over 20,000 injured men, that were cared for by a town of only 2500 residents. Most public buildings and many private ones were used as hospitals and the townspeople, including children, did what they could for the injured soldiers in the weeks following the battle.
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| This wall was as far as the confederates got before essentially giving up the fight and withdrawing. |
The amount of information here is overwhelming and the stories are endless. There are over 1300 monuments in this area, all representing something important to someone. One blog entry can't really adequately convey what I have learned about the war, the battle and the people, and I was only here for 2 days!
Today we took a tour of the Shriver home. The Shrivers lived here during the civil war. Mr. Shriver was away serving in the Union army and his wife and two young daughters were left alone in the family home. As the town started buzzing with the information that the confederate army was closing in, Mrs Shriver decided to take her daughters to her parent's farm outside of town, where she thought they would be safer. Unfortunately it turned out that some of the fiercest fighting took place at the farm, and the farmhouse was quickly made into a makeshift hospital, exposing her and her children to the horrors of the war first hand. Meanwhile their house in town was taken over by Confederate sharpshooters and although no damage was deliberately done to the house, holes were punched through the bricks, (to shoot out of) there are many bullets still in the walls, and bloodstains are still on the floors.
Of course I have known about the "Gettysburg Address" since I was a child, but only vaguely, as a speech given by President Lincoln during the Civil War. After the battle at Gettysburg, the North wanted a proper burial for their lost soldiers so the bodies were all moved to a new cemetery. President Lincoln was invited to attend the dedication and say a few words, and on November 14, came to Gettysburg and gave his famous "Address". The war didn't end until April of 1865, and President Lincoln was assasinated just 2 weeks later.
