Gettysburg 13 June 08

On our way to visit at the visitor's center. Here we watched a Morgan Freeman narrated short Gettysburg movie. We also chose between two options: Paying for a guide to ride in your car as you toured the battlefield, or buying a cd that directed, guided, and explained. We chose the cd.

The CD gave directions to different stops across the 25 mile battlefield. When you came to the stop, it gave the history of that specific area of the battle. I believe there were 17 stops in all. This view shows a small part of the battlefield, where I'm sure their blood remains.

There were hundreds of momentos, statues, commemorations, cannons, etc., scattered everywhere. There are some very impressive statues. This is just a small (but nice) one.

Rushing into battle. "The Union victory in the summer of 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg, was a turning point in the Civil War."

Mom's favorite statue of an angel taking a valiant soldier home.

"Little Round Top is the smaller of two rocky hills south of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It was the site of an unsuccessful assault by Confederate troops against the Union left flank on July 2, 1863, the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg."

"The Battle of Gettysburg was one of the most critical battles of the Civil War having occurred at a time when the fate of the nation hung in the balance- the summer of 1863." The soldiers faced 600 cannons.

"The Union victory at the Battle of Gettysburg resulted in Lee's retreat to Virginia and an end to the hopes of the Confederacy for independence."

The states eagerly erected monuments to the brave soldiers at Gettysburg.

This is a huge, beautiful statue.

"In the aftermath of the battle, every farm field was a graveyard and every church, public building and even private homes were hospitals."

"Shortly after the Battle of Gettysburg, the site was purchased and Union dead were moved from shallow and inadequate burial sites on the battlefield to the cemetery."

Confederate Soldiers' remains:

According to the historian at Gettysburg National Military Park, "The majority of southern dead remained in the hasty and scattered field burials until 1877 when ladies' memorial societies in South and North Carolina undertook efforts to have the bodies removed. South Carolina soldiers from the Charleston area that could be located were removed to a cemetery at Charleston, South Carolina. A large number of North Carolina soldiers were taken to Oakwood Cemetery in North Carolina. The remainder were removed and shipped to Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia in 1878-79."

Monument to Lincoln's address (the address was NOT given from this location)

Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg address in Washington DC, on an evelope. When he got to Gettysburg, he revised it. His two minute speech followed the "headliner",Edward Everett's 3 hour oration, seemed to disappoint the assembled congregation.....at least in Lincoln's opinion. Obviously, he mis-read the sentiments of the assembly.

This small monument with the text of Lincoln's address, marks the actual spot where Lincoln delivered his speech.

"The Soldiers National Monument was erected in the central portion of the cemetery, its marble sculptures overlooking the circle of graves around it."

It's huge and beautiful.

Soldier's grave sites marked by ~ 6 inch by 6 inch stones, in a gradually curving configuration.

"Contains the remains of over 6,000 individuals who served in a number of American wars, from the Mexican-American war to the present day. 3512 soldiers have been buried in the Cemetery, 979 of those soldiers are unknown."

I'm sure there's a key located somewhere that identifies the soldiers' resting spots.

Every so often was a larger stone representing upwards of 500 unidentified soldiers interred at the stone's location.

I was awe-struck at the enormity of the battlefield (25 square miles); the battle line was 3 MILES long (that's a lot of men). I was also surprised by the quality and quantity of statues spread about, some are huge edifices with interior stairs leading to a battleground viewing platform.

Nearly 170 THOUSAND soldiers fought in the battle.