Day 4 - Gettysburg

It is Sunday, June 03, 2012 and a beautiful day.  Thank goodness, as we are going to be doing a lot of touring and sightseeing in this very historic area.  I don’t have a very good memory as far as history is involved but we sure got a quick lesson today about the Civil War.

Quick recap:   In Gettysburg the war only lasted three days, July l, 2 and 3rd, l863 but total casualties (killed, wounded, captured and missing) were 23,000 for the Union army and 28,000 for the Confederate army.  We stopped at 16 tour stops(total of 24 miles)  to read about the over 1400 monuments, tablets, and markers that have been erected over the years to indicate the positions where infantry, artillery and cavalry units fought.  I didn't get the reason for the war at first but after visiting the Museum which contains the film "A New Birth of Freedom" it explained about the survival of the Union, the fate of slavery and the common rights of citizenship - what it means to be an American.  If anyone hasn't  been here before, I would highly suggest making this trip.
 

Memorials

Diorama - Miniature display of Gettysburg

It was so sad to see so many markers with "Unknown" recorded.   President Lincoln read the Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the cemetery.

It was a great day seeing all the sights.  We have a lot more lined up for tomorrow visiting the museum, etc. so need to call it a night.