Gettysburg

[Mumbles]

Fellow AW's and Civil War buffs...

I rode up to Gettysburg this morning and spent the day up there. Absolutely incredible. I hadn't been in over 20 years and it's probably the best restored battlefield there is. The new Cyclorama/Visitor's center puts Epcot center to shame. One day is not enough to take it all in. I wanted to post a few pics of some of the more notorious places on the battlefield in the spirit of Veteran's Day this week.

The first pic is the view of the town from the top of Culp's Hill..which was the Federal right.
Second is a view of the boulder field, Devil's Den, from the top of Little Round Top....hellacious fighting down there.
The fourth is Bobby Lee with Traveller and the Sons of Virginia.
And, the last is the probable vantage point of Lee as he watched Pickett's, Trimble's, and Pettigrew's frontal assault of 13,000 men fail against the Federal center.

 

[Mumbles]

First pic is the Federal perspective looking out at a mile long expanse of field that Pickett's Confederate troops would have to traverse.
The second is the "high water mark" of the Confederacy...the Angle

 

[scoolbubba]

I enjoy Antietam, but it might be that I lived near it and can go pretty much whenever I wanted. Gettysburg was a little bit more of a drive, but not by much.

I'll have to go check out the new Cyclorama. I always thought Devil's Den was the coolest spot on the whole battlefield... I crawled all over it as a 2nd grader on a field trip.

Fall is definitely the best time to see the park, though. Thanks for the pics.

 

[Mumbles]

Here's a few of Antietam earlier this year.

The "Bloody Lane" and Burnside's bridge.

 

[nittany03]

I had a high school English teacher who was a Civil War reenactor. He was an artilleryman during the filming of the movie. They filmed the Confederate artillery barrage before Pickett's Charge, then went up the hill, put on Federal uniforms, and shot back at themselves as the Confederate infantry reenactors made Pickett's charge.

I can't remember the exact number of people who showed up to help film the movie, but at any rate it was a small fraction of the total forces massed on that field in 1863. But my teacher said that even so, when the Grey lines formed up again and advanced with a Rebel Yell, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.

I visited Gettysburg about 9 years ago. They say it's haunted. I didn't see anything whilst camping there, but it gave me a chill to look down the slopes of Little Round Top and stand at the Angle.

For you non-history buffs, many stories came to pass that day which still ring out through time. A few:

BGEN John Buford's cavalry screened the advance of the Federal army, spotted the lead infantry elements of the Rebels, and tied them up long enough for the rest of the army to get in position, taking horrible casualties to do so.

COL Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, a college professor from Maine who had just taken command of the 20th Maine Volunteers. Placed at Little Round Top at the extreme flank of the Union lines, he was directed to hold his position to the last. He almost had to. Ammunition ran low and the enemy kept coming. He couldn't retreat, and if he stayed, his regiment would be slaughtered. Against all odds, he gave the order to fix bayonets and charge. He would later recieve the Medal of Honor.

Major General Winfield Scott Hancock commanded II Corps, Army of the Potomac, which recieved Pickett's Charge. He stayed on horseback to go up and down his lines and motivate his troops as the Confederate artillery pounded his lines. His staff urged him to dismount and stay low, to which he replied, "There are times when a corps commander's life does not count."

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.

 

[Mumbles]

Buford, (I thought Sam Elliot did an outstanding job of playing him in the movie), Winfield Hancock, and the monument to 20th Maine, Chamberlain's regiment.

 

[Redux]

I know one can't but it would be so neat to go around that place with a metal detector. PLENTY of lead still to be found I'm sure.

 

[Raptor2216]

I took these back in 2006 when we had our little field trip out to the battlefield. It's quite a place.

 

[CWJones411]

As much as I like Civil War history (the movie is good too), I'd never been to Gettysburg. I can't wait to go though.

 

[Adam25sc]

I have been there a few times, it definitely has an extremely eerie feel to it when you are there. I think one of the coolest things I saw was an unexploded artillery shell stuck in a wall in the town. I'd definitely recommend visting there.

 

[moobyseviltwin]

here's a few shots from my trip there back in march.

 

[Mumbles]

Mooby...
great shots of Cordori's farmhouse and the Penn. monument.

I liked the statue of G. Warren as well on Little Round Top. He was the Engineer that recognized the vulnerability of the Federal left, if left undefended...

 

[HeyJoe]

BGEN John Buford's cavalry screened the advance of the Federal army, spotted the lead infantry elements of the Rebels, and tied them up long enough for the rest of the army to get in position, taking horrible casualties to do so.

Buford's critical role is sometimes overlooked, but he was first on the scene and saw the area around Gettysburg as a true cavalryman should. He set the stage for a Union victory by selecting and defending the ground that would prove so stubborn to Confederate pressure. Meanwhile, Lee was effectively blind because his "eyes", J.E.B. Stuart and his cavalry, were on another jaunt en route behind Union lines. By raiding Union supply trains on the way to Gettysburg, he was provisioned well at the price of being delayed and therefore depriving his commander with the crucial info he needed to deploy his forces and insight into what was arrayed against their thrust deep into Union territory. So one cavalry general heretofore unknown was crucial in setting conditions for success whereas the combat proven cavalry general of generals whose very name had become the epitome of audacity and success let his leader down.

 

[Mumbles]

July 2, 1863...

Little Round Top.


Pickett on the third day..

 

[nittany03]

Richard Ewell didn't do much better. He took command of II Corps, Army of Northern Virginia after Stonewall Jackson was killed at Chancellorsville. On the evening of the 1st, Confederate troops pushed the Federals off the heights Buford had secured and caused them to fall back through town to the heights in the South.

Ewell was ordered to take the northernmost hill, Culp's Hill, "if practical." It was only lightly defended at that time. Lee was used to dealing with Jackson, who would translate vague intent into specific orders. Ewell hesitated, and by the time he made up his mind, it was too dark to attack. Meade reinforced that position in the night.

Assaults on Culp's Hill did nothing, and resulted in the furious dash of both sides to outflank each other on the other end of the line of battle. This lead to the actions at the Peach Orchard, the Wheatfield, Devil's Den, and ultimately Little Round Top, where Longstreet's echelon attack ultimately failed.

If the Rebels had managed to take Culp's Hill and place artillery there, the entire Union position would have been untenable.