The meaning of Gettysburg.
Now we are engages in a great Civil War, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure ... We here highly resolve that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom ..."--Abraham Lincoln, the Gettysburg Address, Nov. 19, 1863.This year, America will observe the 141st anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War (1861) and millions of Americans will trek to battlefields. But clearly the most compelling source of fascination with the Civil War is Gettysburg. Every year more than a million visitors stroll the Pennsylvania meadows where, in midsummer 1863, the North and South clashed in one of history's goriest battles. More men fought and died at Gettysburg than in any other battle on North American soil.
Visitors to the battlefield learn that the nation sent nearly three million men off to war in 1861. Before the war ended four years later, a million were casualties of he conflict. More Americans died in, the Civil War than in all the wars combined from the Revolution through the Korean War.
July 1, 1863. After a great Southern victory at Chambersburg, Gen. Robert E. Lee and his 70,000-man army of northern Virginia invaded the North in Pennsylvania: They planned to capture its capitol, Harrisburg, and then go on to take the nation's capitol in Washington, D.C. Gen. George G. Meade, newly appointed commander of the Union Potomac Army, moved in for the defense. The first two days of battles resulted in Confederate victories north of Gettysburg. Union troops retreated through town to Cemetery Hill.
July 3, 1863. For two full hours, a thundering artillery duel raged. Then, Gen. Lee ordered Major Gen. George E. Pickett to charge.
They went pounding through the woods on horseback, swords flashing, carbines blazing, flags snapping in the wind. With pride and sweat, 12,000 men marched across the meadows toward Cemetery Ridge. With death-defying yells, they charged headlong into a murderous hail of cannon and rifle fire.
Blue-clad soldiers stood fast behind a stone wall to hold the line. Wrote one federal soldier: Bullets were "hissing, humming and whistling everywhere, and the cannons were roaring."
"We are met on a great battlefield," said Abraham Lincoln at the little town of Gettysburg, Pa., in November 1863. "The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it far and above our poor power to add or detract."
Sixty percent of the men who made the charge were killed. In 50 minutes, there were 10,000 casualties. With the failure of Pic-kett's charge, the battle was over; the Union was saved The dreadful cost of the three-day battle? Fifty-one thousand Americans were killed or wounded.
His words still ring true almost 139 years later. The guns of the Civil War are long silent, but Lincoln's 10-sentence address captured the awe and solemnity of Gettysburg.
Gettysburg National Military Park is America's largest battlefield shrine, with more than 1,000 monuments and cannons. A visit to Gettysburg can be a highly charged personal experience.
"Not only is it one of the nation's most significant historic resources, but many of the monuments have outstanding artistic value and were created by world famous artisans," said the superintendent of the park. "This extensive monumentation exemplifies the unique reverence people have for this battlefield."
Taking most first-time visitors by surprise are the 35 miles of avenues available to explore. The placement of 400 artillery guns along Union and Confederate battle lines creates an authentic air of history.
There are many ways to tour the 6,000 acres of scenic avenues. There are numerous bus tours, or visitors may take self-guided auto tours of the battlefields; audiotapes provide narration. The route can be driven in two to three hours. At most of the numbered, stops, markers describe significant action in chronological order. Those who wish may walk along the paths to see the monuments and cannons.
Parts of the battlefield look the same today as they did in 1863. Fences, hills, rocks, cannons and statues provide plenty of opportunities for a visitor to ponder what happened.
The National Park Service Visitor Center is a necessary stop for those who want to understand what happened. There, park rangers explain the tours and provide maps and background material. The center is also a museum, housing original artifacts that have been gathered from the battlefield over the years.
In 1938, Franklin Roosevelt dedicated the Peace Light, a continuous flame that symbolizes, the unity of the North and South. For the dedication of this memorial, 1,064 veterans returned to Gettysburg. Their average age was 94.
Also worth seeing is the Cyclorama, a spectacular 356-foot-long painting depicting Pickett's Charge, the climatic event of the battle.
Cemetery Ridge is the scene of the charge. It's obvious why this boulder-strewn knob was a strategic position. It's the reason that 7,000 Union soldiers were able to repulse 12,000 Southerners. Very few of Pickett's men made it to the stone and rock defenses. Despite the bravery of the charge, Union soldiers had a clear view and easily targeted the Confederates as they came out of the woods a mile away into the open, flat meadow.
Afterward, Gen. Lee said, "It's all my fault." A plaque proclaims. it, "the valley of death." It's hard to imagine that this hallowed ground, now manicured in green, once ran red.
The Lincoln Speech Memorial commemorates Lincoln's address and the spot on which he spoke. There's also the Historic Will House in which Lincoln spent the night of Nov. 18, 1863. The room he used is on view to the public, with a seated wax figure of Lincoln at work on the speech.
Visitors may also go to the Hall of Presidents, where 38 presidents and their first ladies are memorialized in wax. The National Civil War Wax Museum and the Gettysburg Battle Theatre are there, too.
More than 20 family-style restaurants are located in the town of Gettysburg. Some are located in original buildings that survived the battle, such as the historic Farnsworth House Inn that was occupied by sharpshooters. More than 100 bullet holes can be seen on the outside wall.
RELATED ARTICLE: A Home in Virginia
The "Last of the Dreadnoughts" has found a home.
The USS Wisconsin, the last and the largest of the Iowa-class battleships built for the U.S. Navy in World War II, has found a permanent home in Norfolk, Va.
The Wisconsin, which saw service in World War. II, the Korean War and :the Gulf War, was decommissioned in 1991. It was too antiquated for modern warfare; but too historically important to be scrapped, and the city of Norfolk invited the ship to have a permanent place of honor there. It was a tribute to the mighty ship and those who had served on it, and it represented the city's close relationship with the Navy.
The Wisconsin was rededicated April 16, 2000, at the Hampton Roads Naval Museum in the National Maritime Center in Norfolk.
Michael P. Quane South Hempstead, N.Y.
Joe Curreri is a writer from Philadelphia, Pa.
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| Author: | Curreri, Joe |
|---|---|
| Publication: | Grit |
| Geographic Code: | 1USA |
| Date: | May 26, 2002 |
| Words: | 1186 |
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