Gettysburg - The Battlefield

Today we did the auto tour of the battlefield.

We encountered a just a few issues getting the narrations going.

We started with the CDs as we have a CD player and would be

easy to hear and operate.

Well....

I popped the first CD in the player and got a read disc error

and then found I couldn't eject said disc.

We tried for over an hour to get that puppy out of there.

 SO

we marched back to the visitor's center and told

I told them my sad story so bless their hearts

they gave me the iPhone APP tour.

Download mytours app put in the code and shazam..

 A soldier's point of view..

Well.

We sat for another hour trying to get it

to run over a blue tooth app on the radio.

 And then we were off, making a wrong turn because

you are follow - auto tour signs that are not

numbered on the streets.

(Only numbered when you get to the monument).

 And not everything is clearly marked, but Tom figured

things out and we finally got rolling.

 It was very informative with sound effects and everything,

but I missed a lot of it because I was hopping

in and out of the car taking pictures.

 As you can see the battlefield is stunning and

I can't fathom 51,000 soldiers from both sides died in a 3 day battle.

 The monuments are amazing and there one each

for each state fighting on both sides.

 It was a hard fought battle on both sides, with the

Union being victorious.

 People that lived there came out to watch the battle.

I can't even imagine watching such carnage.

It had to be horrific. 

 Gettysburg was a turning point in the Civil War.

 Yankee soldiers.

 80 cannons were used in the biggest artillary bombardment 

of the confederate soldiers.

 12,500 Confederate soldiers advanced to Cemetary Ridge

in what's known as Pickett's charge.

 It was a tight fight, soldiers were using hand-to-hand

combat, bayonets, rocks and fists with

the South coming close to take it the hill.

 There were 2 civilian casualties in the war:

Jenny Wade who was shot in her sister's kitchen by

a stray bullet while she was baking bread for the soldiers.

 Her's is a sad tale of star crossed lovers.

 John Burns was 69 years old when he

joined the front lines as a volunteer and received

numerous wounds.

 Gettysburg had a population of 2, 400 people that

had to take care of 14,000 Union troops and 8,000 Conferate prisoners.

 The results of this victory are priceless. ... The charm of Robert E. Lee's invincibility is broken. The Army of the Potomac has at last found a general that can handle it, and has stood nobly up to its terrible work in spite of its long disheartening list of hard-fought failures. ... Copperheads are palsied and dumb for the moment at least. ... Government is strengthened four-fold at home and abroad.

— George Templeton Strong, Diary, p. 330.

 On November 19, 1863 President Lincoln

delivered the Gettysburg Address and dedicated

 Soldier's National Cemetery.

It's a beautiful park honoring the fallen soldiers that

fought to keep the Union together.

Put this on your bucket list.

We went back to the battlefield after sunset.
Gorgeous.

Bucket list.

Beautiful any time of day.
Pennsylvania Monument.
My birth state.