Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Day 1 and 2 - Gettysburg

I was so excited to come here. I kind of was a history nerd, and ate up the lesson on the civil war. It was amazing to come here. Gettysburg is absolutely beautiful. It is so hard to believe that these grounds were covered in blood, and so many died here.John looking at the Gettysburg.

Monument of Gen. Reynolds (they had monuments like this everywhere) Just a little tid-bit: If horse on the monument has one leg up, that means the officer on the horse was wounded in that battle in that general spot. If the horse is on two legs, it means that officer was killed in that general spot. As you can see, Gen. Reynolds didn't make it too far into the battle.
This monument was made for the 75th anniversary of the civil war. The remaining soldiers (both confederate and union), who were in their 90's and even 100's, came for the celebration. This monument means we are now one.
Another view of Gettysburg
This specific place was called Devil's Den. Many, many men died here. And there was lots and lots of blood here. So, they told us to have our lunch here. (I don't know how respectful that was now that I think of it, but it was a nice little picnic area). The orange we were holding fell...
...off this rock. (we were sitting on top of it). I still ate it. The orange was just easier to peel. Good Times.
This was on a hill they called Little Round Top. In this specific spot, the union beat the confederates... with no ammo. Of course the confederates didn't know that. Again, it was so neat to be here.
Gettysburg
Gettysburg Cemetery. Rows of unknown soldiers.
This monument is in the Gettysburg Cemetery. It marks the spot where Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address: "Four scores and Seven Years ago.." This monument was later built after the speech was delivered.

2 comments:

Lisa said...

I haven't been to these civil war sights but would LOVE it. One of my favorite books is "The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara. It is historical fiction set at the Battle of Gettysburg and is from the generals and soldiers viewpoints on both sides (journal accounts of their real thoughts) and does a great job of laying out the strategic maneuvering of the Battle and showing how tragic it was for the country/brothers/friends to be divided. Most of the Leaders were friends y'know. It won the Pulitzer prize... Really cool! you both would love the book even more for having been there. Fav scene in it is Little Round top! Awesome that you stood right on the spot! This just moved up to 2nd place on my wish-I-could-go-there list. Thanks for sharing!

Lisa and McCord said...

WOW. That's so great that you guys got to go and experience Gettysburg. I know that I'll get there some day. It's on the list of things to see.