Alex and I just returned from a quick trip to Gettysburg this weekend - it was the third time for me, and the first time for him. We met up with a friend of mine from San Diego, his daughters, and his parents at the battlefield for the bus tour and a tour of the museum and the cemetery and then went back to his parent’s house over near Breezewood, Pennsylvania to spend the night. Alex conducted a small seminar with Dan’s daughters Ellyn and Claire in the intricacies of catching the elusive northern firefly (amazing what they don’t have in San Diego - in a small way it seems to make up for that year around 72 degree weather!). Everyone had a good time, but my son can be a bit….er, overwhelming at times - but we got through the weekend and he was fairly good for being eight years old and a de facto only child.

I brought Alex along on this trip because I wanted to be there with him for this first visit. As a child I can remember always wanting to go to Gettysburg from the time I was 9 or 10 years old, but it was never anything my parents were interested in, so I was 30 before I finally managed to visit.

That trip came together almost by accident - at that time a company we were doing work for had contracted for Disaster Recovery hosting with a vendor located in Philadelphia, PA. For our first test, I had flown out but once I realized how close Philadelphia was to Gettysburg I resolved to drive the next test so I could stop on the way home. So, for the second test I rented a car, packed up my wife, and drove first to the DR test in Philly and then stopped in Gettysburg.

Before the trip, I had read a great deal about the Civil War in general and Gettysburg in particular, from Edward Stackpole’s excellent historical treatment of the battle “They Met at Gettysburg” to the fictional “The Killer Angels” by Michael Shaara. Although I knew quite a bit about the battle, I was totally unprepared for the feel of the actual battlefield. Standing on Cemetery Ridge, looking down to Little Round Top, looking across to Seminary Ridge. Seeing the Emmitsburg Pike, picturing the men of Pettigrew and Picket marching (not running) across that expanse into the guns of the Army of the Potomac…..

Wow.

Park Map Beth and I spent the better part of two days there, and I have to say she was a good sport about the whole thing. Not very easy when your husband is gibbering like an excited child running from monument to monument, pointing out sight-lines across the field, and in general acting like an idiot. Now, she did enjoy the Cyclorama and some aspects of the museum, but this wasn’t exactly her first choice for a romantic getaway for two.

Probably the most talked about and well-know part of the Battle Of Gettysburg occurred on the third day (3 July 1863) and involved a frontal assault by of Cemetery Ridge (the Union position) by Confederate troops jumping off from Seminary Ridge. This assault, which is known as either Pickett’s charge (or more appropriately) the Pettigrew-Pickett charge, has become the stuff of legend. During this trip, I walked the route taken by these men to get some sense, however small, of what it was like that afternoon almost 150 years ago. This excellent site served as my guide.

I was prepared for the walk being physically rough, as it was a very hot August day and I would be walking around two miles over fairly uneven terrain. What I wasn’t prepared for was the emotional impact of the walk. For me It wasn’t hard to think back to the penultimate scene from the movie “Gettysburg” or to think of the numerous descriptions and accounts that I had read of the assault. As I walked, I could hear the whine of minnie balls, the roar of the cannons, the dull thunk of bullets impacting flesh. I could smell the cordite and the sweat and blood. And as I came up and across the Emmitsburg road I reached back and tasted just a bit of what those men did. Fast forward to the present. Alex enjoyed the trip, which was a big relief for me. Before I had gone I had reminded myself that he is only 8 and that I probably wouldn’t be having detailed discussions regarding troop movements or strategy, so I needed to keep it light and fun and let him dictate the pace. He did show a surprising interest in cannons while he was there - he asked the guide a few questions during the tour, walked around the display of tubes in the museum they have, and watched the demonstration movie at the visitor’s center at least 4 times.

One of the last things we did that day was to walk through the cemetery - Alex and I visited the Ohio section of graves and the Ohio monuments and we picked a few buckeyes from the trees that grew nearby. Responding to his question, I tried to explain to Alex why wars are fought. He got sad when we talked about all the killing, and sadder still when we talked about all the graves of the UNKNOWN that were marked only with numbers. We talked a bit about Iraq and Afghanistan and the friends we know that are or have been there. We talked about how sometimes you need to separate the warrior from the war, and how it’s OK to not agree with a war or a cause but to honor those who serve and who fall. In the end, he seemed to make some sense of it internally and cheered up. It was in the cemetery that Dan mentioned something to be about how creepy it can seem at times with all the visitors to the battlefield. I’m not sure if he was referring to the cemetery specifically or the battle in general. Either way, it made me think of this quote from Joshua Chamberlain speaking at the dedication of the 20th Maine monument on Little Round Top on October 3rd, 1889

“In great deeds something abides. On great fields something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear, but spirits linger, to consecrate ground for the vision-place of souls. And reverent men and women from afar, and generations that know us not and that we know not of, heart-drawn to see where and by whom great things were suffered and done for them, shall come to this deathless field to ponder and dream; And lo! the shadow of a mighty presence shall wrap them in its bosom, and the power of the vision pass into their souls.”

Notes:

  • There are some inaccuracies with “The Killer Angels” , as it is a fictionalization. However, with that being said it is an excellent read and in my opinion captures the feel of the time.
  • Pictures included with this post are from Flickr and are licensed by their creators under a creative commons license. Pictures are from users A-Wix (top) and Green Destiny (bottom).
  • The map in the middle is from the NPS’s website - I have taken the liberty of grabbing a screen capture, cropping it (badly), and converting it to a jpg format. Readers who want to see a good version of the map should go to this site

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