Gettysburg June 2

June 2 Gettysburg
After we left Philadelphia we had about a 2-1/2 hour bus ride to Gettysburg during which we watched the DVD Gettysburg. This entire area is a historical area. It’s really disheartening to think that of all the people that we’ve lost in battle throughout our nation’s history, we did so fighting against ourselves, brother and against brother, countrymen against countrymen.

To see the scope and size of the battlefield at Gettysburg makes me sad. Of course, that is the only really battlefield I’ve ever seen. But this is American soil. They spoke the same language, they had the same ancestors, they were the descendents of those that had fought side by side against the British for their freedom.

The NPS tour guide met us a the motel and gave us an interesting and entertaining talk prior to going to the battlefield. What surprised me the most was the fact that leading up to this conflict Gettysburg was even not the top choice to do battle on. It was just circumstance that led to both sides being there. Also, the Confederates were 8-0-1 and so they came into the battle with a lot of confidence. While most of the monuments we stopped at did not mean much, there were so many that it helped put into perspective the size of the conflict. Also, we were there on the eve of the anniversary, July 1-3, 1863.

The Battle of Gettysburg (July 1 – July 3, 1863), fought in, and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, as part of the Gettysburg Campaign, was the battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War[1] and is frequently cited as the war's turning point.[2] Union Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac defeated attacks by Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, ending Lee's invasion of the North.
Following his success at Chancellorsville in May 1863, Lee led his army through the Shenandoah Valley for his second invasion of the North, hoping to reach as far as Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, or even Philadelphia, and to influence Northern politicians to give up their prosecution of the war. Prodded by President Abraham Lincoln, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker moved his army in pursuit but was relieved almost on the eve of battle and replaced by Meade.
The two armies began to collide at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863, as Lee urgently concentrated his forces there. Low ridges to the northwest of town were defended initially by a Union cavalry division, which was soon reinforced with two corps of Union infantry. However, two large Confederate corps assaulted them from the northwest and north, collapsing the hastily developed Union lines, sending the defenders retreating through the streets of town to the hills just to the south.
On the second day of battle, most of both armies had assembled. The Union line was laid out in a defensive formation resembling a fishhook. Lee launched a heavy assault on the Union left flank, and fierce fighting raged at Little Round Top, the Wheatfield, Devil's Den, and the Peach Orchard. On the Union right, demonstrations escalated into full-scale assaults on Culp's Hill and Cemetery Hill. Across the battlefield, despite significant losses, the Union defenders held their lines.
On the third day of battle, July 3, fighting resumed on Culp's Hill, and cavalry battles raged to the east and south, but the main event was a dramatic infantry assault by 12,500 Confederates against the center of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge. Pickett's Charge was repulsed by Union rifle and artillery fire at great losses to the Confederate army. Lee led his army on a torturous retreat back to Virginia. Between 46,000 and 51,000 Americans were casualties in the three-day battle. That November, President Lincoln used the dedication ceremony for the Gettysburg National Cemetery to honor the dead, both Union and Confederate, and redefine the purpose of the war in his historic Gettysburg Address.
-Wikipedia

It was sad to see the very ground that men and women had died in such a horrific war. The conditions were terrible at best; hot, humid, exhausted troops, little to no rations, trying to lie down where they could without being bitten by the snakes. The bravery that these men exhibited was amazing. They both totally believed in their cause. If the Confederates had won, there very well be slavery alive and well in what is now the United States.

I stood on the very ground where Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address. Again, it was as if I were standing in the presence of greatness. It really is a hallowed ground. The very blades of grass are nourished by the blood spilled on these grounds. It really makes me believe that there are people called to do things that are beyond a normal human capacity. This trip makes me realize how much sacrifice has been given to allow the freedom we have today. It is only in our small window of time that we equate what we have, and in reality, we are only the beneficiaries of the freedoms that others have died for. It so easy to say, but there is so much to comprehend.

Pics:http://picasaweb.google.com/jnshoop/Gettysburg7207?authkey=JuqBTeJDe2U