Gettysburg

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. ...

 May 1863, after successful victories over the Army of the Potomac in Northern Virginia, General Robert E. Lee decides to end the war by invading Pennsylvania, destroying support infrastructure for the Union army, and thus sapping the will of the Northern States to continue their efforts to subdue the rebellion.  His troops move unopposed and undetected through the Shenandoah Valley.  Gen. Hooker, as always, is slow to respond, but finally begins moving Union troops to head off the invasion.  He is relieved of command by President Lincoln.  On June 30, 1863 Union Calvary General Buford, riding well in advance of the main Union forces, runs into elements of Confederate forces scavenging around Gettysburg for supplies and engages in brief skirmish.   Early the next morning, July 1, Confederate Gen. Pettigrew decides to engage Buford troops to determine their size and strength.  Buford men, reinforced by Reynolds troops, are slowly driven out of Gettyburg, but occupy and hold the large rolling hills including Culp's Hill southeast of the town.  Throughout the day and into the night both Confederate and Union troops send hurried word to their main armies to move quickly before the other can gain the decisive advantage. Lee decides this is the place he can finish off the Union army and engages all his forces.  General Hancock, the de facto commanding general in the field, decides this is the place the Union army must hold or perish.  So suddenly, unexpectedly, the two armies are fully engaged.  

Observation Tower from Confederate lines looking at Round Tops.  We used it to watch for the Goates.

On the morning of July 2, Confederate forces form a large arc coming from the northwest, while Union troops form a fishhook with Culp's Hill most northern position, and occupy Cemetery Ridge in the the center of the fishhook.  Union Gen. Warren surveys the area,  recognizes the vulnerability of the Union flank, sends a regiment to hold at all c occupy Little Round Top at their southern most flank.  Confederate forces under Longstreet  sweep through Devil's Den and the wheatfields at the lower slopes of the Round Tops and nearly completely surround the Union flanks at Little Round Top, but at the end of the day, the Union troops still possess the high ground thanks to the 20th Maine and Josh Chamberlain desperate bayonet counter charge.   Thousands of men lie dead strewn everywhere on the battlefield. 

ME looking out over Devil's Den from the crest of Big Round Top, the labyrinth of rocks that slowed the Confederate advance , but cost many lives to defend.

 

 

Another view from Big Round Top

Gen. Warren statue

Deep into the night, the Confederate generals decide on their strategy.  Against the advice of Longstreet, Lee decides he will engage in an all-out frontal assault of the Union center.  His plan is to overwhelm and destroy the Army of the Potomac.  The copse of trees at the center of Cemetery Ridge will be the reference point for the attack.  Union Gen. Hancock's men defend the center.  His dear friend, Confederate Gen. Armistead under the command of Gen. Pickett leads the charge against Union center,.  Against devastating cannon and musket fire, the confederate troops advance, losing men with every step.  For a brief moment, Armistead and a small group of men break through, but they arequickly shot down or captured.  The battle is over. 

The Angle, point of the Confederate breakthrough.

The copse of trees.  Landmark used for Confederate advance.

The open fields through which Pickett's men charged.

The Pennsylvania Monument to Union Troops who defended the center line.

23,000 Union troops are dead, wounded, or captured.  About the same number of Confederate troops are casualties.   As the Confederate troops retreat, the Union troops follow and the town of Gettysburg is left to bury the dead.  The stench of death is everywhere.  Many of the dead can not by identified.  Confederate dead thrown together in large burial trench.  

Some of headstones for Union Troops

Several months later, the town ask President Lincoln to attend a ceremony honoring the buried dead and a newly erected memorial to these dead.  He speaks briefly.  His words will be remembered for eternity.

The monument Lincoln came to dedicate.

I highly recommend the Museum for those 12 and over.  Its a bit pricey to do the film, cyclorama, and museum, but we've been to lots of Civil War museums and few invest in telling the story of the conflict, not just the single battle, in the great detail of this one.

The girls sit with Abe.

Photo of the cyclorama depicting Pickett's Charge.

The museum had a large section detailing the political debate and actions that finally resulted in the armed rebellion by Southerns against their federal government.  It is hard not to hear echos of the sentiments of the political debate today in the violent rhetoric and hyperbole thrown at Lincoln and arguing for succession.  There are those who would claim that the federal government seeks to enslave them, to trample on their rights, and who threaten open rebellion against the federal government.  To those that espouse this rhetoric, I beg of them to come to Gettysburg, to let its spirit distill into them and to come away resolved that these honored dead shall not have died in vain and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth. 

It is worth remembering Lincoln's earlier words:

"In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and defend it."

I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."

More Washington, D.C. Photos

AM standing by Giuseppe Arcimboldo's art "WINTER"

Lincoln Memorial (wow my 2 older kids are taller than me)

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Why we went to Washington.

We had talked about a Washington D.C. trip during fall break last year, before JP band scheduled practices throughout the break.  This year they didn’t have practiced schedule so we were debating whether we should.  The deciding factor was a conversation I had with JA a few weeks ago, where I mentioned to her something about Thomas Jefferson and she looked at me blankly and said, “Who was Thomas Jefferson”. I probed deeper and found that she knew almost nothing about the Declaration of Independence, what the three branches of government were, or such.  Now I had previously realized that we have horrible public schools here in Tennessee, but I had not realized how bad.  So my mission was to teach her about the origins of our government and those who had shaped it for good or ill.  So in my mind our trip became a four day civic lesson.

In the book store of the National Archives we picked up one of those President’s Brain Quest games that has lots of questions about various presidents and historical events. I am happy to report that now on our way home she can answer probably over 90% of them. So I feel our mission was accomplished.

An overview of what we did and saw.
National Art Gallery (East wing.
Sculpture Gardens.
Air and Space Museum (including a Wright Brothers glider, the Spirit of St. Louis, the Apollo 11 command module, Space Ship One.)
Competitive Kickball tournament.
US History Museum (including the Star-Spangled Banner).
Viet Nam War Memorial
Lincoln Memorial
Gettysburg Battlefield ( including the Visitor Center film, cyclorama, and Museum and stops at Big and Little Round Top, the Pennsylvania Memorial, the High Mark of Pickett’s Charge, and the Solider’s Monument where the Gettysburg Address was given.)
Shippensberg.
A Mennonite market (to pick up some extremely tasty apples).
Turkey Run State Park (for an emergency pit stop.)
U.S. Capitol building (which has a beautiful new visitor center.)
Library of Congress
Supreme Court (walked by only.)
National Archives (houses original copies of Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights.)
Smithsonian Natural History Museum (including the Hope Diamond and lots of bones.)
Jefferson Memorial.
George Mason Memorial.
Trip up to top of Washington Memorial (except AM who is afraid of heights)
World War II Memorial


Some general travel tips we got out of it:
Expect to walk about five miles each day, probably good to get the kids prepped for this with regular work-outs carrying 10 pound packs.
In the fall, the Smithsonians and most other locations open at 10 am and close at 5:30 pm. Everything is much less crowded after the summer season, so it’s a much better time to go. Memorials are open until 9 pm (perhaps later in some cases.) so these are best visited in the evening or early morning.
All major sites require screening, which mostly consists of metal detector and bag x-ray. In general, small backpacks are allowed and you can bring unopened food and water bottles inside. U.S. capitol is more strict. Cameras are allowed everywhere, but there are some exhibits that one can not photograph. The Declaration and Constitution can no longer be photographed.


Making reservations for visits. You can get a better tour if your arrange with your Congressman for tours of the Capitol building or the White House, but this needs to be done 30-60 days in advance, so plan ahead.(We didn’t, so we didn’t get to go inside the White House but it will be in friendly hands for at least another two years.)

Hotels near the National Mall usually range from $200-$350 per night. Much cheaper to stay outside the beltway and commute in. It is slightly cheaper for a family to park in Washington D.C. than to take the Metro.All day parking on weekends is $10, and for weekdays is $18. Metro fares are $2.50 one way, for off hours and $5 for peak hours which is pretty much when you will be traveling. There is free 3 hr parking on the perimeter of the National Mall is you arrive promptly at 9:30 am (you can’t park before then). Might be available after 9:35 am if you are very lucky. Later on in the evening it might be possible to find spots as well.

Visiting the Billy Goats Gruff

Some of our dear friends from TN relocated to Pennsylvania several years ago.  Since we were in the neighborhood (sort of), we stopped by.  We were suppose to meet them at their stake conference just outside of Gettysburg, but thanks to a very late start (not used to just having one shower and being on EDT) we just ended up meeting them at the battlefield. After a ranger-shortened picnic , (and after we toured the battlefield), we made the very scenic drive over to Shippensberg.

Ain't he a cutie.  Hard to imagine that just last year he was battling cancer.

Superstar is getting pretty big as well!

An intense discussion on the merits of various iPod apps.


It such a pleasure to meet up with old friends.

I'm Just A Bill

The new visitor's entrance to the US capitol.  Much nicer than the old tent they used to use.  The underground entrance was apparently the old metro station, no longer in use since 9/11.  They have moved many of the statues previously in the old House of Representatives chamber (Statuary Hall).  Also not so many guys standing around with M-16s like last time I visited in 2007.

Washington's Accession, the Inner Dome of the Capitol Building.

Some rather famous painting hang in the Rotunda.  You know you've made history if your image makes it here.  Almost as a high an honor is if you are allowed to lay in state here.

Only Mississippi would be so silly as to chose Jefferson Davis as one of their two allowed statues for the capitol.  The old House of Representative chamber is now called statuary hall.  But many of the statues have now been moved to the visitors center.

We took the secret tunnel from the Capitol to Congress's library...

...but couldn't get a library card to check out the Gutenberg Bible.

And I still don't understand the filing system...