We went to Gettysburg on Saturday. I had not been there since I was a kid, and I have to be honest, I may as well have never been there before. I did not remember a thing about it.
I was so impressed with the whole town and how they have preserved the battle site. We took a guided tour (though between Ed and Scott and their expertise, it probably wasn't necessary). For me the best part was "Devil's Den" (shown in the top left of the painting above). It was ominous and spooky. It reminded me of Stonehenge in a way. The whole experience was awe inspiring though. And though my attention span only lasted about 3-4 hours (much to the chagrin of my fellow travelers who could have spent much more time poking around), I would highly recommend it (especially if you are living in Pa and haven't made the short trip).
Most astounding of all to me is what is not known: the stories of each and every soldier that fought there. We get the big-wigs' drama, but to think that thousands of soldiers fought and gave their lives, who probably had fascinating stories we will never hear...I can't even put into words how that makes me feel.
Anybody been to other awe inspiring historical sites??
1 comment:
We went to Gettysburg last summer. We took the self tour on CD but we would always listen in on the narrative tours because the stories were much more interesting.
If I remember correctly, Devil's Den is the area below Little Round Top. The turning point in the Gettysburg campaign and possibly the entire Civil War was the 10 minutes that the Union forces beat the Confederates to the top of LRT. The southern troops took Big Round Top because they were looking to control the highest ground. They did not realize that their field of fire would be blocked by the trees. By the time they realized their mistake, the Union troops were on their way up LRT. Poor intel had doomed the South.
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