Gettysburg

Our last day took us to Gettysburg. It was in the 40s and raining so it definitely set the somber mood of the battlefield. They had a great new visitor’s center (well new since I’d been there last in 2001) where we bought some knockoff soldier hats: mine in the Confederate gray and Jess in the Union blue. This may sound contrary since Jess is from Florida and I am from New York but Jess had done some family research and discovered she had some ancestors on the Union side. My Grandmother is from Louisiana and raised us grandkids to be Confederates and my cousin is a re-enactor for the 34^th North Carolina so we are rebels at heart. We did end up getting lots of stares and comments on our opposing allegiances.

I had last been to Gettysburg in 2001 with my family and my dad had purchased an auto tour cassette and I brought it along since it is a great way to see the highlights and learn at the same time. It took me awhile to get on the right route since I think some of the directions had changed but once I figured out where the first stop was, we were on our way.

The highlights of the auto tour were:

John Burns Statue (no relation ;) This guy has an amazing story that you should check out : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_L._Burns)

Eternal Flame: The dedication of the Eternal Flame memorial by President Roosevelt was the highlight of four days of activities commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the battle. More than 1,800 aged Civil War veterans attended the last great reunion. Roosevelt had a great quote at the dedication: “All of them we honor, not asking under which Flag they fought then- thankful that they stand together under one Flag now."

Oak Ridge Tower where most of the first day of battle took place One of the cutest things I saw all day was the statue with “Sallie” curled up at the bottom who has an amazing story: Sallie was a stray; a small mixed breed dog that one day wandered into the camp of the 11th Pennsylvania and became attached to one of the regiment's soldiers. Sallie went into the fighting on July 1st alongside her human comrade. When the Union line collapsed that afternoon, survivors of the 11th Pennsylvania staggered through Gettysburg to Cemetery Hill, where they reformed and counted their losses. Among the missing was the small dog. Late on July 5th, a burial detail from the regiment made their way back to the scene where the regiment fought on Oak Ridge. Here they discovered Sallie lying among the corpses of the regiment which had adopted her. Very much alive and loyal to a fault, she had remained with her fallen master. Sallie was taken back to the regiment and informally adopted by the men as the regiment's mascot. Sallie remained with her regiment, sharing in the dangers and duties that her masters faced until she was killed at the Battle of Hatcher's Run, Virginia, in 1864.When the veterans of the 11th Pennsylvania Infantry erected their monument at Gettysburg in 1890, they chose to add the likeness of the homely little dog that brought happiness to their lives as soldiers, for she was the most humble symbol of loyalty they had experienced during the war.

North Carolina Memorial: An interesting fact about this memorial is that it was sculpted by Gutzon Borglum. Sound familiar? He designed Mount Rushmore! North Carolina provided 14,147 men to the Army of Northern Virginia at Gettysburg, the second largest state contingent after Virginia. It lost close to 6,000 casualties (over 40% of its men engaged) and, as the monument states, over one fourth of all Confederate casualties.

Virginia Memorial:The Virginia monument was the first of the Confederate State monuments at Gettysburg and the largest of the Confederate monuments, a fitting tribute for the state that provided the largest contingent to the Army of Northern Virginia, its commander, and its name. Lee is shown astride his favorite horse, Traveller and this horse is considered to be one of the finest sculptures ever made. Virginia contributed over 19,000 men to the Army of Northern Virginia at Gettysburg. Almost 4,500 of these became casualties.

One of the oddest statues I've ever seen was that of Longstreet. Jess told me that traditionally rider/horse statues were mounted above ground level on a platform or base. To keep the perspective right for someone on the ground looking up, the statues were made with the horse about 2/3 the size of the rider. One story says that the Longstreet statue was intended to be on a base, but because of some people who were upset about Longstreet's writings against Lee, there was a delay in actually putting his statue on the Park. When if was finally placed, it was on the ground, and not in a prominent place. Thus, the size of the horse to the rider is off. Another story says that the monument is not on a pedestal, “to become not less heroic, but more personal and approachable". So approach I did