Gettysburg

We spent 2 more days in Gettysburg, toured the battlefield again in the truck to try to pick up and understand some of it that we missed or couldn't visualize from horseback, and then walked around downtown looking at the different points of interest.  We saw where Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address, and where he wrote most of it.  Many of the buildings are still standing that were there during the battle.  I'll tell you, even for non Civil War buffs as we are, it is a very interesting and sobering place.

The synopsis of the end of the battle from my perspective.  The Confederates were winning from the very beginning of the battle, which was not planned by the way.  It began north and west of town of Gettysburg with 2400 inhabitants.   After, the Confederates set up along Seminary Ridge, south and west of town, and the Union was, actually retreated back to Cemetery Ridge, south and east of town.  Downtown was pretty much no man's land, as the Confederates set up snipers in many of the buildings, and would pick off anyone that moved out on the streets.  The townspeople retreated into their cellars, those that were not attending wounded.  In fact, here is a shot of a building that was used as a sniper point and you can still see the bullet holes and scars.

They shot out of the tiny window at the top
and since this side of the building faced the
Union lines you can see all the bullet holes

The shooting started on July 1st, and it was hot.  It was on July 2nd that they had taken up positions as described.  Meade had instructed Major General Sickle to hold the line from Little Round Top to Cemetery Ridge, but he disobeyed orders and moved his men forward to a Peach Orchard, a full mile ahead of his ordered position, where he formed a salient or "bend" in his line that was attacked and overrun by the South.  This was the effective end of his career.  They fell back to Little Round Top which was held by the North, but the valley below became a killing field referred to as the "Valley of Death".

The rock pile on the left was "Devil's Den" where the south set up sharpshooters
The valley directly below and around the road is the "Valley of Death"

The string of monuments in the distance is the approximate location
of the Union line along Cemetery Ridge anchored by Little Round
Top where we are standing

On July 3rd, both sides started the artillery barrage, likely the largest of the war, both sides firing hundreds of guns for 1 to 2 hours.  The problem was they both were for the most part overfiring each other, and as the wind was calm, visibility lowered so they could not see what they were firing.  Gen Hunt, the Union general for the artillery ordered his guns to stop firing and to conserve ammunition.  He even ordered the cannons to cease firing one by one to make the South believe they were being destroyed.  The South believed when this happened that they had decimated the North's cannons.  Gen Longstreet was ordered to attack, and although was against it indicated to Pickett to charge the Union lines, so the famous "Pickett's Charge" began with 12,500 men moving towards the Union lines.  The artillery that was not destroyed started decimating the Confederates, but on they came, hindered further by having to cross several fence lines from the farms in the area, still they came up to as close as several hundred feet.  In only 45 minutes the South retreated leaving some 6,000 killed and wounded on the battlefield.  Yes, a very sobering event.

Pickett's Charge came from behind the farm back along the trees in
the distance, Seminary Ridge.  If you look close, you can see some of the
fence lines they had to cross.  The stone wall in the foreground is as far as they got.

Another view, more of the charge came from the right as well

This is the Pennsylvania Monument placed on the Union line along
Cemetery Ridge.  It has all 34,000+ Pennsylvania soldier's names that participated
in the battle.  Very impressive.

 After the charge was put down, Lee ordered Pickett who was inconsolable about the charge who disagreed with Lee about the charge, to rally his division for the defense, he answered, "General Lee, I have no division."  Meade never attacked again and Lee moved his troops off the the west and south, and although Meade once he got reassembled followed did not catch up to Lee in his retreat.  No one ever learned what Lee's thinking was and why he ordered the charge, he never wrote memoirs, and his battle report was cursory, most of the other officers involved were casualties so those reports were never written either.

This was a turning point for the Civil War, even though it went on for 2 more years.  Total casualties were 51,000 killed, wounded, or captured for the 3 days.