The Battle of Gettysburg

I'm in Gettysburg for "leadership training," but I'll willingly confess that my personal highlight of this trip is the chance to see the battlefield.  Now, the American Civil War is not my primary area of interest as far as history goes (I prefer European history, though I have a pretty wide definition of that term), but it's just a little bit important.  You know, the whole turning point in the war thing.  So the chance to walk about - even if chaperoned by well-trained guides and a bombastic consultant with bitter winter wind blowing across the fields - was kind of neat.  So if you'd like to see what it's like, you'll be glad that I have a few pictures to share.  Remember, though, that the battlefield is more of a field than anything else, and also that the actual Battle of Gettysburg happened on July 1-3 of 1863.  Right now it's January, so as far as historical accuracy...well, not in the weather.   Bearing that in mind, follow my photos for a brief tour of the historic battlefield:

At the time of the battle, Gettysburg was a small town of barely 2,000 people.  It's not much bigger now, but it was important because eight roads converged there.  The battle, however, didn't really involve the town too much.  Most of the action took place on the fields and ridges south of Gettysburg which, thanks to historic preservationists, have not been developed (though the roads have been paved - I mean, with all those tourists you've got to do that, at least).

The buildings which are present on the battlefield were there at the time of the battle.  The second and third days of the battle took place on farmland, so the related barns and farmhouses were caught up in the crossfire.  Some of the buildings here (and some of the buildings in town) still bear bullet-holes.

Of course, there are some things about the battlefield which have changed since 1863, the most prominent being the placement of numerous monuments.  This is the largest, dedicated to the sizable Pennsylvania contingent that was present.  Most of the monuments are Union - understandably, since they won - but there are some Confederate monuments, too.  They were put in much later than their Union counterparts, which began to spring up in the 1890s.

The most interesting part of our time on the battlefield, however, was walking Pickett's Charge.  You know, where a large chunk of the Confederate army charged across open ground for a mile and the troops were mowed down in droves?  That one.

The charge started here, where a memorial to General Lee now stands (sorry about the head):

The troops then left the shelter of the treeline and proceeded across open ground.

Really open ground.  Fortunately for the Confederates, they were behind a bit of a ridge, so they were out of range of the Union cannon.  The land all looks flat, but there are actually dips and ridges and flat parts which made all the difference in the battle.  To demonstrate the existence of the ridge, look here:

That dome on the right is the Pennsylvania monument - remember  it from above - and the ridge comes up between my vantage point and the site of the monument, such that I can only see the top half of the monument.  Of course, when I come up to the top of that ridge, guess what I'll be in range of?  If you said "an entire army's worth of cannon," you're right!  And if you're in my place on July 3rd, 1863, chances are you're also dead.

Beyond the ridge is a road, and once you come across the road, this is your view:

The tree marks the goal of Pickett's Charge, the middle of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge (it's a very gentle ridge, and it doesn't look like a ridge here because we're already on its slopes).  Now we're only about 30 yards from the Union lines - by the time the charge got to this point, it was well on its way to failure.  Looking out from Union lines as the bedraggled Confederates emerged from the smoke of cannon-fire, you would have seen this:

Minus these particular people, of course.  But do you see that white patch just above the line of people in the left-center?  The speck of gray above it is the Lee Monument, where our walk (and the charge) began.  That's a mile, and although the Confederates weren't able to see their goal at all times, the view from the top of Cemetery Ridge (you can tell it's a ridge now, can't you?), is pretty good.  If you want to blow an army to pieces with some cannon, that is.

So we walked the mile and "charged" the last 30 yards.  And then hustled back into the buses to return to the hotel (more on that soon) and thaw.  As we climbed over the stone wall on the ridge I took this picture.  It seems a bit apocalyptic, or perhaps like what you might see when you die - but given where I was, isn't that appropriate?