Gettysburg, with a private guide

One word, wow! We have many thanks for Diana for spending her Friday morning giving us all an amazing private driving tour of Gettysburg. She was so energetic, and such an amazing story teller; she didn't just throw the bare facts out at us, but wove them into the background stories for a truly one of a kind experience.

This is the "first" eternal flame, Jackie O got the idea from Gettysburg

Last year Eric read the three Shaara books about the Civil War. And although he didn't have time to re-read them this year, he did insist we stay awake far too late for my tastes to watch day 1 and the battle of Little Round Top on Gettysburg. And I'm glad he did, it made it all much clearer to me. Seeing the landscape in real life (very hilly and boulder strewn) juxtaposition against the battle scenes from the movie gave me a greater understanding for just how devastating the battle was.

After day one, no one thought it would continue for two more days, the soldiers spent the night burying the dead. I can't even imagine how they got up the next day to fight again, and then yet again. And to see the space that 55,000+ men fought in, I still am in awe of how they all fit in there.

General Robert E. Lee's monument, looking across the field of Picket's Charge

I'm so glad that we got to hike up Little Round Top to the far left flank, to the site of the 20th Maine's astounding victory (and at such terrible costs). To picture the bayonet charge down the hill, over the boulders and the bodies (both wounded and dead), it was quite surreal. And then to the very top itself, to look across the battlefield, to see Devil's Den and Big Round Top.

I loved hearing about the artillery. It must be the math geek in me. The first shot might be a bit high, the second shot might be a bit low, but that third shot always hit its mark. The army corp of engineers was amazing. To have such accuracy at 1, 3, and 5 miles, with such rudimentary (by today's standards) equipment. And boy were those shells devastating: whole shells, tin coated buckshot (shrapnel) that left nothing behind, and exploding shells.

We ended our tour at cemetery ridge, so named because of an existing cemetery. It was here that they buried much of the dead, so many are "unknown"s. The unclaimed dead were buried by state and regiment. This was the last time that regiments were done by town, after the civil war, whole towns were lost.

There is a beautiful poem written up there, about war and death, and the eternal encampment of tents. This picture is part of an enormous monument there, you're looking at Death, Peace is seated next to him, along with the three other muse.

And this is a story for another time, about an amazing Englishman named Marse Buckingham, he was the flag bearer for his regiment. It was both a great honor, and a very dangerous assignment.