Gettysburg

Gettysburg
We woke this morning to the lovely sight of thousands of leaves spiraling downward like feathers with no wind to stop them to the ground covering it with a blanket of soft carpet. What a sight somewhat like large snowflakes that just held your gaze. Of course there was also the crack of an occasional acorn on the roof as it to fell.
Next was a trip to the Gettysburg Visitor Center where we first watched a movie and then saw the cyclorama painting of the battlefield and then lastly of a bus tour of the battlefields. To say that this place is immense is an understatement. It surrounds the town of Gettysburg and is everywhere. The museum itself took us over two hours to complete.
The battle for Gettysburg was unique in that Lee wanted to take the battle to the North out of Virginia and hopping for a victory there the North would want to sign a peace that would give the South its sovereignty. He had won battles already in Virginia against the Army of the Potomac and felt that he could win again. Some 150,000 troops were engaged in the battle on both sides and there were over 50,000 dead, wounded or captured on both sides when it was finished.
On July 1 the cavalry ( Buford I think) of the North ( met the infantry of the South (Meade). The South was timid as it did not know that the North had only 2400 men and Buford fought a delaying action to Oak Ridge and McPhearson Ridge waiting for reinforcements from Reynolds. Meanwhile Lee had still not arrived and Meade (who had only held command for 48 hours was still not there either.
On July 2 the South advanced with more men taking over the town of Gettysburg and much of the surrounding area including Seminary Ridge . But the North still held to the high ground of Cemetery Hill and Culps Hill.
On July 3 Lee wanted a two strike offence at dawn by his generals Longfield on the southern flank and Ewell on the north side of the Meade’s forces who were now in a fishhook position.
The South lost on several counts first Longfellow received incorrect orders and did not attack at dawn as planned, next the South was just minutes away from taking Little Round Top Hill (there were no Northern troops there at the time) which would have given them the high ground looking down an exposed Northern flank.
Still Lee wanted a full frontal charge of the North’s center believing that he could still achieve victory. This meant that the Southern troops would have to cross 1 mile of exposed front a mile wide before reaching the Union Lines. They fought bravely with Picket’s charge and did breach briefly the Union lines but were repulsed.
During the night Lee retreated and the invasion of PA was thwarted. In his retreat the line of wagons carrying the wounded stretched 17 miles.
Thousands were left to be buried and dead horses were everywhere. The town was filled with wounded and dead. It was the governor of PA who got funds for a cemetery to bury the dead, some four months after the battle. It would be two more years before the Civil War ended.
In November of that year Lincoln traveled to Gettysburg to be not the main speaker but a secondary one ( a sort of afterthought). Of the first speaker, Governor Andrew Curtin, who went on for two hours little is remembered of his eloquence. The two minute speech given by the then unpopular President Abe Lincoln will remain one of the most memorable of his career.
There were 3,500 Union solders interned at Gettysburg and the 3,230 Confederate soldiers were all to cemeteries in the South after the war.
There are about 1000 memorials to the Union troops here at Gettysburg but there are only about a dozen to the Confederates.
It was a long day and we learned much about this battle and the things which preceded it and followed thereafter which shaped the country for decades to come.
1 Leaves fallig in the morning
2 View of the panoramic painting
3 The eternal floame at Oak Hill
4 View from Lottle Round Top Hill
5 View of the Confederate lines (far treeline)