Oct 22, 2012 Gettysburg
This is an awesome place. The fighting lasted for 3 days, and occurred over a wide area, involving thousands
of soldiers on both sides, from nearly every state. Almost 8,000
died, over 25,000 wounded.
We spent two days on the self-guided
tour of the battlefields, seeing where the different armies were
encamped and where the fighting took place. There were several
separate encounters between various units. Walking on the hills and
looking across the valleys you can get a very clear idea of how the
fighting went, how the tactics were adapted to the terrain, and how
each side exploited their advantages and overcame their
disadvantages.
This is the view from Northwest of the
town, where the Confederates first arrived and pushed the Union
forces back.
One of the monuments. Confederates
camped and set up artillery on this hill.
Views from Cemetery Ridge, where the
Union repulsed the Confederate attacks from Seminary Ridge, on the
other side of the valley.
The Cemetery where the soldiers from
both sides are buried, and where Lincoln gave the famous speech.
One of the Union Generals was Abner
Doubleday, who later went on to invent baseball.
