I'm sure at some point in the year, we will become very busy with school and work and I won't have exciting things to report on a weekly basis. However for now, the days are long, our work/class days are somewhat short and we are soaking Philly in as best we can. If it's any indication, today there is an awesome sounding beer and food festival in one of Philly's neighborhoods that we would normally love to go to but quite frankly we've just had a lot of good food and beer this week and decided to take a rain check til next year. If not for the mugginess, summer in this city is pretty wonderful.
Yesterday Ben and I drove out to Gettysburg, but not before watching 4.5 hours of cinematic greatness to brush up on our Civil War history and whet our appetite for more.
The town of Gettysburg is in Adams County (named after John Adams) and according to our cider tasting bar tender, it produces the most fruit out of any county in America. Peaches, pears, apples, cherries, and plums to name a few. So needless to say we tasted some fresh Adam's county cider while in the town and planned a trip to come back in the fall for the harvest weekend.
We also ate some lunch on the square...the same square through which the Union cavalry retreated on July 1st, 1863 when they were pushed back by the Confederate Army. Gettysburg is a really cool town and we definitely plan to come back.
Next we visited the Gettysburg Museum. I was really interested to learn more about how the town of Gettysburg recovered after the battle. The number of men killed on the first day of battle outnumbered the people living in Gettysburg at the time. After three days of battle the two armies began to leave and the residents of Gettysburg were left with thousands of decaying bodies all over their fields, houses, and town. Pretty crazy to think about.
Also at the museum they had on display an incredible painting of Pickett's charge, the famous and final move made by the Confederate Army at Gettysburg (more about that later). This painting was 360 degrees. We walked into a circular room resembling a planetarium of sorts. Every inch of wall was covered by this massive painting and there was a light show that illuminated various parts of the painting. It was awesome.
We stopped at the book store to pick up an audio guide CD for our tour of the battlefield and ran into this gentleman.
Finally to the battlefield! First we visited the Eternal Light Peace Memorial. 75 years after the end of the Civil War, President Roosevelt summoned every living veteran to attend the dedication of this memorial. About 2,000 of them were able to make it, all of them in their 90's or 100's. Men who had previously fought against each other in the war stood next to one another in friendship. For some reason it made me think of Robben Island. The monument is made out of limestone from Alabama and granite from Maine.
Here is the North Carolina monument. The same guy that carved out the faces of the presidents at Mount Rushmore carved out the faces of these soldiers.
Next stop: General Robert E. Lee's memorial. He is looking towards the field where he commanded Pickett to lead a charge across a mile of undefended field into the Union's defenses. The Union's artillery blasted holes through the mile-long Confederate charge and only a few men actually made it to the stone wall they were aiming for. Among those few men was Lo Armistead who, upon arriving at the wall and being shot three times, was informed that his good friend had been commanding the defense on the Union side. They had known each other through serving in California and had parted ways when each was called back home to fight in the Civil War.
Ben is pointing to the "copse of trees" which was the goal and focal point for the Confederate charge. Can you believe how far they had to run!
It was around here that General Lee apologized to his men as they returned from the failed charge. Pretty amazing for such a revered general to exhibit that sort of humility. In the distance is the Pennsylvania monument.
This was Ben's favorite part. Apparently as a kid there was not time for him to see Devil's Den which is on the slope of Little Round Top (this is the opposite side of the hill where the 20th Maine held off the Rebel Army). So we made sure to visit it this time.
And here is where Chamberlin and the 20th Maine held off the Rebel Army. It was so chilling to stand there in the woods and picture what it would be like to have an army charging up the side of the hill towards you. At one point the men ran out of ammunition and so Chamberlin ordered them to fasten their bayonets and charge down the side of the hill! This was really significant because these men made up the extreme left side of the Union's line...had they allowed the "Rebs" to take Little Round Top, the whole Union defense would have been compromised. They were told to defend it "at all hazards" and that they did. Seriously, if they hadn't succeeded, Gettysburg might have had a totally different outcome.
There were a lot more places we visited but I think these were our favorites. After a real scorcher of a day, ice cream sounded grand. We found this place that makes their own ice cream in the shop and uses local ingredients to flavor it. Amazing!
Also, 2 interesting things about this ice cream shop:
1. It originally was home to a seminary student during the battle and he and the family he was living with hid in the cellar during the fighting. They could literally hear Confederate soldiers raiding the house upstairs and shooting through the windows at Union soldiers camped out at the house across the street. Crazy!
2. There was this "game" out front that we kept seeing people trying over and over to win. You win by swinging that string with a metal ring on the end towards the wooden post. Can you see the hook on the post? You are supposed to catch the ring on the hook. No one in the group of people could get it to catch. After they left, Ben picked up the string, tried once, figured out the strategy, and got it on his second try. He's pretty awesome like that.
On our way home we drove through Lancaster County (home to the Amish). We ate at the Lancaster Brewing Co. and saw lots of candles in windows along the way. I really look forward to going back and exploring more of this beautiful part of the state.
I'm so thankful to have visited Gettysburg. I suppose in school they sort of try to simplify the details of the Civil War. I remember learning that the North was good and the South was wrong. Obviously I'm glad slavery was eventually abolished, but visiting this place and reading the stories, you begin to understand how complex the situation was (Lee himself wanted slavery abolished but he believed in remaining true to his Virginia), and in some ways you can appreciate the bravery and the faults of both sides. Walking away from Valley Forge I felt a sense of pride for my country and what was accomplished there. Walking away from Gettysburg I instead felt a deep sadness for what was lost there. Either way, I feel really fortunate to be living on this side of the country where we have easy access to explore these historical landmarks. You should probably come visit and we'll take you there.
No comments:
Post a Comment