Gettysburg Oct 23

Pennsylvania Monument

We left Newburgh and drove and drove and drove until we arrived at Gettysburg.  Along the way we went through the Poconos and the Catskills and saw miles and miles of trees turning into glorious reds, yellows, and golds.  We went through Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and Harrisburg.  Did you know that Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania?   I didn’t. 

 We arrived at Gettysburg to stay at the Artillery Ridge RV park and stables.  You can bring your horse here or rent one of the nags they have here and  ride in the battlefield.  This is a  and huge RV park and this weekend it is packed.  We have pretty much stayed in sparsely populated parks and camps since labor day, it was a real surprise to see all this activity here.  Not only the horseback riding they are doing a big Halloween thing for little kids and folks have decorated their RVs with Halloween stuff.

Union cannon

The battle field is quite large, 6-7 miles long, 4 miles wide or more.  Over 165,000 troops participated over 3 days.  It was pretty much a draw, until Pickett’s Charge where the Army of the Potomac eventually prevailed.  Fifty one thousand either perished or were wounded  and it was a turning point in the war which continued on for another two years.   Of course this is where Lincoln delivered his “Gettysburg Address” five months after the battle.

Eternal Flame

Today it is a National Military Park with hundreds of monuments erected by the states who provided the military units dedicated to the soldiers who served.  There are cannons in place where the artillery was used in the battles, and plaques explaining the events that happened at those places during the three day battle.

At the visitor center there is a movie (narrated by Morgan Freeman,  of course) explaining the events leading  up to the war, and of the battle, and Lincolns address.   There is also a 360 degree painting  40ft tall and 380 ft long painted  in the round in 1884  depicting the battle.  You stand in the middle of the room and the picture is all around you.    With all depiction of death and privation it is a sobering experience.  The visit to the battlefield is by a self guided car tour.  Follow the signs and stop along the way at the sights that interest you.  I don’t think it would be possible to stop at each spot in one day, I certainly didn’t have the attention span to do it.  But it gives one a good perspective of where the battles were fought and size and scope of the encounters.  I think this would be an excellent place for our West Point cadets to visit.

General Meade's view of the field of battle