Gettysburg

 

As mentioned in the last post, we don't get "home" to Virginia very much and when we do have time here, it's limited. Kelvin, however, always impressed by the proximity of eastern states, often  suggests that we do some day-trips crossing state lines... and so this trip, instead of shopping on Black Friday, we did something much more interesting and headed past Maryland to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania which is only about an hour and a half from my parents' home in McLean. 

Although I am definitely drawn to "social-injustice" history and appreciate books and movies set in the Civil War era, I didn't know that much about all the military intricacies of the three-day battle at Gettysburg and we definitely both learned a lot visiting the national military park in what is the 150th anniversary year of the pivotal battle.

We started with viewing a short film, A New Birth of Freedom (narrated by Morgan Freeman) and then gaped at the 1880's Cyclorama (a circular painting) by Frenchman Paul Philippoteaux called The Battle of Gettysburg which, at 377 feet in diameter and 42 feet high, is a truly amazing sight.

Philippoteaux painted himself into the painting here as the man with the sword

This fallen soldier has Lincoln's face

Good ol' Abe!

The Visitors' Center had a very nicely done and new museum with many Civil War Relics and informational and multimedia exhibits.

K with Confederate [left] and Union [right] uniforms

 

Generals Meade (left, Union) and Lee (right, Confederate) who led the armies at Gettysburg

Kelvin and I just watched 12 Years a Slave (well-acted, powerful, and well done) and it's so hard to believe that the evils of last century actually existed...

 

Slave (red) and free (green) states

We went on a private two-hour driving tour of the battlefields and monuments with a very enthusiastic history buff, Ed, who relocated from his native (and first secessionist) state South Carolina so that he could teach this rich history to visitors like us.

Many original buildings (with cannonball and bulletholes in them) still stand in the town of Gettysburg.

The Carrie Sheads House

There are hundreds of memorials throughout the battlegrounds, most erected in the 1890s. While most are either Confederate or Union tributes, this was a combined monument with an eternal flame.

Cannon (with a range of a mile!)

(I think this hexagonal cannon had a range of about 5 miles!)

 (Pep does PA!)

More cannons...

Virginia Memorial (one of the largest), with Robert E. Lee at the top

 Confederate General James Longstreet

(Massive) Pennsylvania Monument

Pep and me atop Little Round Top, a hill where the Union defense helped turn the tides of the battle

 

Little Round Top view 

 

 Soldiers' or Gettysburg National Cemetary is where more than 3500 Union soldiers are buried, and where, on November 19, 1963, President Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous Gettysburg Address.

Lincoln's speech was actually the post-script to a 2-hour speech by Massachussetts politician Edward Everett but was far more profound and influential.

Eerily, on the 100the Anniversary of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address in 1963, President John F. Kennedy was asked to visit the site, but declined, instead heading to (and getting assassinated in) Dallas (to read about some other eerie Lincoln- Kennedy coincidences, go here).

"... 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 the earth." 

We highly recommend a day trip to Gettysburg if you're ever in the area!