We walked around town a little bit before the shops closed for the night. Farnsworth House (which is now a restaurant) was used by CSA (Confederate States of America) soldiers as a vantage point, firing out of the upper windows. Union soldiers naturally fired back, so now there are about about 150 bullet holes in one side of the building.
Jenny Wade is famous in Gettysburg as the only civilian who died from the battle, but she wasn’t actually in the battle; stray bullets went through her door. They honor her by converting the house she was born in, into a wine shop - good job! We didn’t buy wine, but we did get some good apple butter.
And today we went to the National Cemetery. It was dedicated to Civil War casualties, but soldiers from every war, ending with the Vietnam War, have been buried there. It’s a beautiful site. The Civil War remains are grouped by state, and there are 3 sections for Unknown soldiers. There were 979 unknown soldiers buried there, as well as some unknowns who were buried with their regiments. Originally I thought these “unknowns” might be CSA soldiers, but it turns out they cannot be buried in a National cemetery because they were in rebellion against the nation. Most of their remains were shipped to relatives in the South where they were reburied in private cemeteries. However, 5 or 6 Confederate soldiers are buried here. For example, one soldier was identified as belonging MASS (Massachusetts), but later it was determined that he was from MISS (Mississippi). However, unless his relatives ask for him back, he stays where he is.
The Civil War graves are flat stones, but the other war graves are marked with the more standard US service stones.
This cemetery is where, on November 18, Abraham Lincoln gave his Gettysburg Address there. No matter how many times we hear that speech, it always sounds amazing.
Next we wen to see the battlefields. There are several monuments on the battlefield and most commemorate specific troops, rather than battles.
Gettysburg is famous for the significant of the outcome as well as the scope of the casualties. The term “casualties” includes soldiers killed, wounded or missing, and the numbers are appalling: 22,897 Union casualties (3,149 actually killed), and 22,557 Confederate casualties (4,559 killed). But about 15% of the almost 27,000 wounded ended up dying from their wounds, which would be another 4,000 deaths.
There’s a open field called the Wheat Field, but it’s real name is Bloody Wheat Field. On the second day of the battle, this small bit of land changed hands six times in just 2 ½ hours.
Little Round top is a strategic, rocky hilltop that was left unfortified when Union Gen.Sickles decided to move his troops without letting anyone know. When both sides realized this, there was a rush to get to the top. Union troops won the race by about 5 minutes, piled up some rocks as breastworks, and defended themselves successfully. Since they now had the high ground, they were in a better fighting position than the CSA. The CSA fought from a couple of places that, when you hear their names, you how the battles turned out. First is Devil’s Den - a rocky outcropping in one of the field. Then there’s Slaughter Pen - a watery section of lower ground to the left of Devil’s Den. It wasn’t all one-sided, though. Sharpshooters of the time could hit a target at 1,000 yards if their rifle had a good scope. Confederate sharpshooters at Devil’s Den were only 500 yards from Little Round Top, so they killed a lot of Union soldiers.
On the 3rd day of the battle, the event known as Pickett’s Charge changed the outcome of the battle, and perhaps the war. After a couple of hours of exchanging cannon fire, the CSA marched out the field and headed towards the Union troops, who were entrenched behind a low stone wall.
The field was long and wide, and the CSA was in full view, so when they got close it wasn’t too hard for the Union to mow them down. For example, of the 29th Virginia Infantrys' 88 men, 81 were killed, wounded or missing. (Side note: Their Commander Lt. Thomas Holland was wounded, and 50 years later he returned to here and shook the hand of the Union soldier who had shot him). Incredibly, a small group of about 250 CSA soldiers made it over the wall. When they realized they could not possible defeat all those Union soldiers, they dashed to a small group of trees for shelter where eventually they were captured.
When we walked over to the short stone wall that the Union soldiers used as shelter, for the first time I felt like I was walking on someone’s grave. Perhaps it was because of the natural white stones in the ground, or perhaps it was something else. Ghost tours are big in Gettysburg, but we didn’t go looking for ghosts, nor did we see any. But sometimes, especially as evening set, it felt like the land was waiting for something. Perhaps it was just that those open fields seemed too quiet, too empty - like a stage that is set for the next act.
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