Gettysburg

We went to Gettysburg last weekend. It was pretty neat, although it started out meh.

We drove around following the auto tour route on the park map. At first it was pretty much the same. Open fields. Woods. Cannons. There are monuments from each state and also monuments to different military divisions and various people dispersed throughout the park. When we got to the second half of the auto tour, I was more familiar with the sites so it was more engaging. For instance, here's a statue of General Webb looking over Little Round Top.

General Alexander Webb

I like how they placed it so that he's looking down from the top of the hill. Here he is from the front.

We also saw Civil War reenactors at Little Round Top. I thought we would see more than we did. They were pretty cool, and Dave had his picture taken with a Union aide-de-camp. As we were driving around, I saw small monuments for all the other states but not for Pennsylvania. I kept saying "Where's Pennsylvania?!!" Oh, here is Pennsylvania.

Our state had the grand daddy of all monuments!

Cool. Toward the end of the day was saw where Pickett's Charge occurred.

Here is where the tide turned for the Union. From those trees, a line a mile across of 12,000 men approached the Union lines behind this stone wall. A fraction of them made it to the wall, and soon after the Confederates were retreating from Gettysburg. Here more than anywhere else, it was hard not to stand there and try to imagine what it must have been like that day. How horrible it must have been. Loud noises from cannons, gunfire, and the Rebel Yell. Smoke. Friends and enemies dying all around. War is a terrible thing.

We ended our day at the cemetery, where Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address. Alas, I forgot my phone in the car, so I don't have any photos to share. It ended up being a nice day and worth a trip if you live nearby.