The purple asters are blooming, and the goldenrod is still golden here. Who knew that fall wildflowers could be so beautiful? But the flowers pictured above are overlooking a very somber battlefield. Our new camping site is just 23 miles away from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, so we spent an afternoon there.
These 1860's cannons are pointed toward the battlefields of one of the most remembered places of the Civil War. We took an auto tour route, that lead us around the three-day battle that started here on July 1, 1863.
By July 2 the two armies faced each other, about a mile apart. The Confederates were positioned here on Seminary Ridge. This North Carolina Memorial is one of the many beautiful statues that commemorate the brave soldiers that fought here. This statue was designed by Gutzon Borglum, most famous for creating Mount Rushmore. North Carolina sacrificed more than any other state in the Confederacy with 6,100 fatalities.
We spent most of our time in the car, slowly driving the 25-mile route that circles the battlefields. But there are several towers to climb to see the area from a bird's eye view. Just for the exercise, we climbed each one. You can barely see Mark, half-way up the tower in the picture below.
From there we could see the tree tops, and evidence that autumn is coming to this southern section of Pennsylvania.
The sun was streaming through breaks in the clouds, as we looked over what is now a peaceful valley. The white barn in the left hand corner is on the farm owned by Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower. Now a national memorial, tourists can only visit the farm via a national park shuttle bus. The ranger mentioned that is because Mamie never liked large groups parking on her lawn.
Just like we found northern Pennsylvania to be covered with rocks, the same seems to be true here in the southern part of the state. A different shape than the flat rocks we saw earlier, these cobblestones were also used for stone fences at Gettysburg.
The stops on the auto-tour route present a summary of the battle in chronological order, and Mark is now standing at a memorial on Little Round Top. This was the vantage point of the Union army on the evening of July 2.
From our view on Little Round Top we can look down on one of the bloodiest battlefields at Gettysburg. The Confederates were based around Devils Den, the pile of rocks in the left hand side of the picture below. When they attempted to cross this valley to storm up Little Round Top, 1,200 confederate soldiers were lost.
We normally are light-hearted as we enjoy climbing up and around boulders. But this is a somber and almost religious place, as we know that so many men lost their lives defending this pile of rocks.
Our next stop was the largest memorial on the battlefield. The Pennsylvania Memorial stands near the center of the fighting, and can be seen from almost any location in the national park. The bronze plates at the base includes the engraved names of all of the 34,530 Pennsylvania soldiers that participated in the Battle of Gettysburg.
Since we are temporarily living in the state of Pennsylvania, this feels a little like our home state memorial. Besides, Oklahoma didn't become a state until over forty years after the Civil War. We climbed to the top to get a view, and you can see Denisa with up-raised arms on the top balcony.
From that vantage point, we look over a small section of the national park and can see over 50 memorials around us. Gettysburg national park has more monuments than any other park with a total of 1,328.
Another of the beautiful memorials was built in honor of the Virginia soldiers. Atop the memorial is General Lee riding his favorite horse, Traveler. The open field to the east is where the last Confederate assault of 12,000 soldiers, known as "Pickett's Charge" occurred on July 3.
The one hour battle cost 5,000 Confederate casualties.When that assault was repulsed, General Lee rode his horse to this point to meet his demoralized soldiers. It was then that he knew this battle was over and his forces would begin retreating on July 4. In total this Battle of Gettysburg had left behind 51,000 soldiers that were dead, wounded, or missing.
The last stop in our tour took us to the Soldiers' National Cemetery in the town of Gettysburg.
A group thought that a dignified resting place was needed for the Union soldiers that were hurriedly buried in shallow or mass graves on the battlefield. So four months after the battle, they started moving 3,512 soldiers into individual grave sites in this new cemetery at the edge of town. Since most of the soldiers' names were unknown, they were given a number.
Just like the battlefield, this cemetery has many beautiful memorials to the soldiers that lost their lives at Gettysburg in 1863.
At the dedication of the cemetery in November 1863, Edward Everett delivered an eloquent two-hour speech to the large group that had gathered. But the most remembered speech of the day was the two minute talk given by a tall man. President Lincoln recited the 272 words of the Gettysburg Address while standing in the area that Mark stands today.
We considered not coming to Gettysburg, since we visited here with our sons about 15 years ago. But much has changed, and we are glad that we made the short trip to come again. One of the changes is that a brand new visitor's center now hosts the film, diorama, and battlefield museum. The bad news is that it is owned by the Gettysburg Foundation instead of the national park, so entrance to those things is not covered by our national park pass. We opted for the free option of visiting the battlefields in our car, but there are certainly other options now. One of those is via segways with a guide that gives narrative through headphones.
There are also huge bus tours or smaller van tours. We saw many people with private guides that drive your car through the park while they tell the stories that the individuals ask to hear. Another option is to view the battlegrounds on the back of a horse.
There are plenty of entrepreneurs offering services to the thousands of tourists that visit Gettysburg every day. We were surprised to see that most of the parking lots were full on this weekday in October. It is obviously a place that many Americans feel should be remembered with a prayerful attitude. Even our wildlife picture of the day believes that. As we walked back to our car, we saw a large praying mantis in our parking lot. He was so willing to pose for pictures that we just have to include one.
We have stayed in Gettysburg often..... even before RVing. We like Artillery Ridge... a Passport America affiliate. We were just there again in late August. Most of those horseback tours originate from Artillery Ridge right across from the battlefield. We took the tour a few years back, was well worth it. As is getting the CD Auto tour. Also worth going to the Eisenhower farm.
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