I find historic battlefields and cemeteries sobering, at times to the point of profound sadness. These sites starkly display humanity’s inability to resolve disagreements, overcome pride, and control greed and envy. For me, Gettysburg is a prime example. To help plan your visit, read Lolly’s article, Visitor’s Guide to Gettysburg, PA.

NOTE: My husband and trusty travel partner wrote this reflection.

Contents

Action at Gettysburg

Imagine society’s circumstances so grave that average citizens would willingly leave their families to stand shoulder to shoulder with others. Together, they form a line hundreds of yards wide, facing another line of men in different uniforms across a large field. A signal sounds, and the first line, six or more ranks deep, begins to march slowly toward the opposing line. Soon, cannonballs and other projectiles, including deadly grapeshot, fly through the air toward the advancing men. Some strike close enough to kill or wound several soldiers. Then another command rings out, and the men begin to trot forward. More cannon fire follows, along with more casualties.

Next comes the order to charge, and the men sprint toward the opposing line. Suddenly, the enemy soldiers, also arranged in a line hundreds of yards wide and six or more ranks deep, fire their rifles in unison directly into the charging men. A collective moan rises as bullets strike the front ranks, leaving many soldiers dead or wounded. The advancing men return fire, and the horrific battle begins in earnest, often escalating into hand-to-hand combat. Sometimes, the charging soldiers overwhelm the defenders; other times, the defenders repel the assault.

Many battles at Gettysburg unfolded this way, including Pickett’s Charge.

A picture of Little Round Top from afar at Gettysburg, PA — **Little Round Top was the site of a decisive battle on July 2, 1863. The Union forces defended this strategic point against Confederate forces.**

A picture of a statue of Brig Gen Warren in Gettysburg, PA. — This statue of Brig. Gen. Warren commemorates his scouting of Confederate forces on Little Big Top. General Meade sent him to assess the situation; Warren found that Little Big Top was not defended. He sent word back, and Union forces were quickly sent to Little Big Top to defend it.

Colonel Chamberlain’s Mission

Then there was the 20th Maine commanded by Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, a professor of modern languages at Maine’s Bowdoin College. On the second day of the Gettysburg battle (July 2, 1863), Colonel Chamberlain was told to defend his position at all costs. Till the last man! Why? His 20th Maine held the far left flank of the entire Union army, located on the northwest side of the large rocky hill known as Little Round Top. If the 20th Maine failed to hold its position, the Confederates could have gotten behind the Union army, giving them a tremendous battlefield advantage.

Time and again, the Confederates attacked up the rocky hill, each time thrown back by the 20th Maine. With heavy casualties and almost no ammunition left, Colonel Chamberlain decided his only chance to prevail was to order a fixed-bayonet charge down the hill. WOW! The 20th Maine charged down the rocky hill, surprised the Confederates, captured 101, and saved the Union army’s left flank.

A picture of gravestones and a cannon at Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, PA — Over 3,500 Union soldiers were buried at Gettysburg National Cemetery, where President Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg Address. In addition to the Civil War dead, soldiers from later conflicts are also laid to rest here.

Devastating Casualties

At Gettysburg, casualties totaled 51,112:

7,058 dead;
33,264 wounded;
10,790 missing.

Whether it’s Gettysburg or the beaches of Normandy (France), you can’t help but ask yourself, “Would I have been able to do that?” As a guy in his early sixties, getting up close to places like Gettysburg and Normandy has made me abandon the Hollywood versions of bravery and heroism. I have no words to describe what these men did, the sacrifices they and their families made for what they hoped would become a better world for their children and grandchildren. All I can say is that because of them, the world did become a better place. Thank you.

Abraham Lincoln’s Address

In closing, it’s worth revisiting Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, which was presented at the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery on November 19, 1863 (a little over five months after the battle):

“Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives, so that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground.

The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”