Gettysburg - 150 years later this July 2nd
In just a couple of weeks, 200,000 Americans and some foreign visitors will mob the site of America's most famous Civil War battlefield in central Pennsylvania - the little town of Gettysburg. The biggest accidental gun battle of our civil strife that pretty much settled the end of our war.
All the actors were there, the television movie, twenty years ago, did much to educate the average American - "Gettysburg" angled the fight towards the bravery of the valiant efforts of the doomed strategy of the southerners.
It's hard to find an American who, if he or she tried hard enough in their family history, could find someone who fought or died there. I lost two ancestors at Gettysburg, both officers in the calvary from New York. My great, great aunt was smoking a pipe, cradling a shot-gun and protecting her two teen aged sons hiding up stairs when two federal cavalrymen rode up and asked if her sons were home.
She answered with a cock of the double barrel, " No."
Many local merchants in Gettysburg and public officials have tried to change the landscape over the decades to fit various commercial interests. Some have tried and changed the landscape, many have failed. Happily, I report, that 90% of the battlefield and town is still there. Born in nearby Philadelphia, I've spent alot of time in Gettsburg, walked the ground, sat on the spot where Lincoln gave his famous address, pondered the fear and anguish at the cemetery angle where the Union troops beat back the Confederates with rifle butts and bayonets, and wondered if I was there - could I have done it?
Lo Armistead fell behind Federal lines, cared for gently by Union Forces. His spot marked by a cement headstone decorated by flowers. He died the next day at a house nearby. The man's courage is unmeasured, his hat piersed on a sword during the Confederate charge.
The dead that final day were greater than all killed during our entire Revolution, both sides, all years. One wonders what secrets still are hidden just below the grass. What voices can you hear quietly roaming the landscape during the dark night?
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All the actors were there, the television movie, twenty years ago, did much to educate the average American - "Gettysburg" angled the fight towards the bravery of the valiant efforts of the doomed strategy of the southerners.
It's hard to find an American who, if he or she tried hard enough in their family history, could find someone who fought or died there. I lost two ancestors at Gettysburg, both officers in the calvary from New York. My great, great aunt was smoking a pipe, cradling a shot-gun and protecting her two teen aged sons hiding up stairs when two federal cavalrymen rode up and asked if her sons were home.
She answered with a cock of the double barrel, " No."
Many local merchants in Gettysburg and public officials have tried to change the landscape over the decades to fit various commercial interests. Some have tried and changed the landscape, many have failed. Happily, I report, that 90% of the battlefield and town is still there. Born in nearby Philadelphia, I've spent alot of time in Gettsburg, walked the ground, sat on the spot where Lincoln gave his famous address, pondered the fear and anguish at the cemetery angle where the Union troops beat back the Confederates with rifle butts and bayonets, and wondered if I was there - could I have done it?
Lo Armistead fell behind Federal lines, cared for gently by Union Forces. His spot marked by a cement headstone decorated by flowers. He died the next day at a house nearby. The man's courage is unmeasured, his hat piersed on a sword during the Confederate charge.
The dead that final day were greater than all killed during our entire Revolution, both sides, all years. One wonders what secrets still are hidden just below the grass. What voices can you hear quietly roaming the landscape during the dark night?
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