Gettysburg battlefield monuments

Gettysburg is not just a delightful town in Pennsylvania, it is the site of the biggest battle of the Civil War. It took place over three days, (July 1-3, 1863), covered 17 square miles, and involved 165,000 soldiers. It is so complex that many hire licensed battlefield guides, who have taken a test so particular in the details, that only 10% pass. (The California Bar has a higher passing rate.) We elected to buy an app for our battlefield tour that activates based on location. A professional actor narrates, interspersed with period music. But honestly, the National Park Service (NPS) has a free audio tour that is just as good, maybe better, without the music. You just follow the tour signs.

After spending quality time at the Gettysburg Battlefield Museum, we headed out to see the battlefields. It took at least five hours, even with skipping a few sites. Be forewarned, there are approximately 1,300 monuments scattered over the 17 square miles! You can't throw a stick without hitting a plaque or monument. But we saw the major ones. (Here you see the monument to North Carolinians. Fun fact, I was born in NC. I feel a certain kinship here.)

But let me start at the absolute end, if I may. I mark it with the 75th anniversary of the end of the Civil War, where a huge Eternal Light Peace Memorial was dedicated by FDR in 1938. It was the last reunion, with remaining veterans on average 94 years old. The last living link to the war. The talk was about the preservation of the union and reconciliation. Soldiers on the blue side shook hands with those on the gray side. The end of slavery and continued oppression of black Americans was not touched on.

The other end was the last desparate battle at Gettysburg, known as Pickett's Charge (and sometimes Longstreet's Assault). The Union soldiers had the high ground. The Confederates rushed out on open flat ground after an artillery barrage that often missed its target, only to be picked off by Union soldiers. Those that survived limped back to Lee, who acknowledged he had erred, an unsual mistake for this master warrior. The place of Pickett's Charge where the Union prevailed (the "high watermark") is commemmorated by not only multiple monuments, including an open book (perhaps the only book among statues of generals) but by a stand of trees that have been fenced off. This copse of trees sheltered soldiers, but covers no more than a large backyard. Nonetheless, all is memorialized for Gettsyburg, like the "The Wheatfield" and the "The Peach Orchard."

I found General Lee's statue most interesting. It's a big monument as befits the general, and he's sitting very regally atop his horse Traveller. But he's also facing the battlefield of Pickett's Charge where his army met their final defeat at Gettysburg. Intentional? My Internet sources say yes. Lee's was the first Confederate statue to be erected at Gettysburg, and not until 1917. Now it has a sign that says $500 fine for defacing it (presumably to ward off attempts by Progressives to remove it).

Other monuments that stood out for me: - The Tammany regiment of New York, featuring Delaware Indian Chief Tammany on top, standing fierce next to his teepee.

- The monument to Pennsylvania - the biggest for all the states, but deservedly so, as Pennsylvania contributed the most soldiers to the battle. President Lincoln and Pennsylvania Governor Curtin have their own statues at the front of the monument, and a copper lined circular stairway leads you up to a deck for more views. The monument is circled by the names of some 30,000 Pennsylvanians who fought at Gettysburg.

- New York's "castle" on Little Round Top, next to the "breastworks" where soldiers built a stone wall overnight for further protection.

- Army Engineer Gouvenor Warren, whose statue perches on a boulder on Little Round Top. You can feel that he is looking out on the meadows below, with both dismay and resolve. He's often referred to as the "Hero of Little Round Top" for getting reinforcements up to Little Round Top just in time, after General Sickles, against orders, moved his troops out of position.

And now back to the beginning. By July 1863, the Confederates had won some decisive battles and most said they were winning the war two years in. Their military mastermind, General Robert E. Lee, knew he had to win quickly, as the Union soldiers had the long game won, with better equipment and weapons overall. In June 1863, he marched about 75,000 of his troops to Gettysburg to meet Union soldiers in their home turf. They were told not to do any looting, but they bought provisions in Confederate currency and scared the locals. (Most fled or hid in their cellars during the duration of the battle.) General Lee set up his headquarters' at a widow's house. General Meade, for the Union Army, requisitioned a house as well. Over three days, and after initial victories, it all "went South" for the South. The biggest battle ever of an American war, and the turning point for the Northern Army, the Blues, the Yanks, the Army of the Potomacs. Our flag would look different today if not for Gettysburg.