Tuesday,
3 April 2018
Gettysburg
is a town, as well as a battlefield and a national monument, which I
keep forgetting. The 3-day battle in 1863 happened in and all around
the town.
Today
the town is charming, a mix of old and mid-century buildings (to my
untutored eye) – I didn’t see much that was new right in town. But according to historical markers, quite a few buildings there now
replaced buildings that were there during the revolution, but the
markers didn’t say when the replacements were built. They sure
didn’t look like 20th century, but who knows.
Because
I’m driving an RV, the Battlefield Visitor Center relegated me to
the bus parking lot, which is at enough of a distance that I decided
not to make the trek. I’d already gotten a map for the driving
tour, which was anyway what I wanted to do.
With
the weather feeling colder and rawer every time I got out to read a
marker, I thought it wasn’t an ideal time to be making the tour. On the other hand, I’ll bet that place is wall-to-wall visitors
when the weather’s better – there were plenty today. Quite a few
kids clearly making a school trip and many others also.
“More
people died during the Battle of Gettysburg than in any other battle
on American soil before or since.” That’s according to the
visitor info. It must have been hell on earth. 2,000 dying in one
skirmish alone. On June 1st, the Union army lost 9,000
and the Confederates lost 6,200 – that’s dead, wounded and
missing. The 2nd day another 20,000 died. Then on July
3rd, Confederate General Pickett led his charge: 12,000
Confederates crossing a field to take a hill from the Union. Of
those, 5,000 died in 1 hour.
The
South had bested the North on the first day, which is why Lee decided
to continue. They did pretty well on the second day, too, but it was
nearly a draw because the North had taken some good positions. During the night, the North fortified their line, which is why
Pickett and others did so poorly the next day. That made Lee decide
to give it up and it was apparently the pivotal point for the war,
which still dragged on for almost 2 more years. In all 51,000 men
were killed, wounded, or missing in this one battle. And many of the
wounded ended up dying of their wounds a few days later.
And
all I could think, all day long, was how incredibly futile and stupid
the whole thing was. To insist on splitting up the country – and
they said it was for states rights, but the only right I’ve ever
heard mentioned is the right to own slaves. For that, we not only
went through the War Between the States, but we also continue to deal
with racial divisions in our country.
I
absolutely believe that if Lincoln hadn’t been assassinated,
Reconstruction would have been an entirely different thing. And it
was Reconstruction that cemented many of the attitudes Southerners
have today about race and about the US government.
I’d have had to spend a week there to read every plaque and every monument. It looked like there were soldiers from every Confederate state and from many of the Union states – probably all of them, but I didn’t stop to read all the plaques. The style of monument design was incredibly wide-ranging. I took a few photos but they don’t begin to capture the variety.
I’d have had to spend a week there to read every plaque and every monument. It looked like there were soldiers from every Confederate state and from many of the Union states – probably all of them, but I didn’t stop to read all the plaques. The style of monument design was incredibly wide-ranging. I took a few photos but they don’t begin to capture the variety.
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| Interesting inscription |
This
Walmart parking lot isn’t anywhere near as nice as the one in
Jacksonville. No landscaping, no other shops except Sam’s Club. I
think it’ll be okay for tonight, but I think I’m going to have to
find something else for tomorrow night. I just saw the weather
report and it said tonight it’d only be down in the 40s but
tomorrow night it’ll be near freezing and they were predicting more
snow coming this way.
Harrisburg
is Pennsylvania’s capital and I want to see what it’s got to show
me, but I’m going to need to plug in tomorrow night. Otherwise,
I’d have to run the generator all night so I could keep the heat
going, and I seriously doubt I’d get much sleep that way.
Did
you know Abner Doubleday, of publishing fame, was a major general in
the Union army and served in many battles during the Civil War,
including Gettysburg?
Did
you know Gettysburg was named for Mr. Gettys? I saw the historical
marker as I drove into town but couldn’t see what Mr. Gettys’s
claim to fame was.
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| today's route |
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