GETTYSBURG
Gettysburg, the images its name
conjures are both heroic and horrific. Fertile fields covered in the
blood of Americans by Americans. The land of opposites forever entwined
within the context of brutal history. One side fighting for unity and the
scars on a darker skin, the other struggling to embolden state's rights and the
fruits of free labor. Right or wrong, they both ask for God's strength at
the tip of their sword. No more hallowed ground exists between our
oceans. The deaths of thousands upon thousands stir echoes forevermore in
a place that time can never forget.
I travel to these hallowed
acres with the hope of a history lesson. And I leave with a sense of
lessened history. I will forever ponder on the loss of things unimagined.
The man who could have prevented World War I could have died on this
spot. The man who could have found the cure for the pandemic flu of 1919
may have been stabbed on this rock instead of saving 20 million lives.
The great-great grandson of a man who became cannon fodder here could have been
the man who cured AIDS. It is unfathomable to think of the waste but yet;
their efforts were not wasted. Their exploits forged, in blood, the
United States of Superpower that we have today. No country's history has
been more studied, muddied and exalted as our own. These men knew their
conflict would ripple throughout the ages and the ripple still exudes from
Gettysburg.
Gettysburg resides in the
bucolic countryside of south-central Pennsylvania. Amongst the sycamores
and laurels next to quaint little towns, such as, Chambersburg. The war
never seemed to envelope its doorstep. As you pass through this perfect
piece of Americana you are then greeted at Gettysburg by, the soon to be
ubiquitous, cannons. As you pass along the tidy streets you are stricken
with a patriotism that few other places could evoke. Flags at most every
storefront, Bed & Breakfast's named after Civil War heroes and memorials to
their exploits at every turn. As you meander your way to Main Street, you
find friendly faces sweeping sidewalks and curbing their pooch. Main
Street is crammed with antique shops and tourist bait traders. From
kitchen magnets to shards of pumpkin balls to actual swords of the combatants,
there is something for everyone. We tarry around the shops until I find
the ultimate Gettysburg souvenir, a US Calvary cutlass. Sharp to the
touch with an ornate hilt it shall hang on my wall along with my collection of
other war items. It is not an official sword but everyone isn't going to
read this story. Also along this street you'll find the Dobbins House. It
is a bed and breakfast that pre-dates the war. There are also numerous
signs for walking ghost tours that only the bravest of souls would dare.
We begin our tour of the
battlefield and cemetery at the Cyclorama. Considered the IMAX's of
yesteryear, this one depicts Pickett's charge on the final day of the
Gettysburg battle, July 3rd, 1863. This massive painting, 26 feet by 356
feet long, is in a circle to give you a 360-degree view of a moment on the
battlefield. One of only two Civil War cycloramas to survive, the other
is in Atlanta; it was painted in 1884 by French artist, Paul
Philippoteaux. It's detail and dimension is awesome. The museum is
full of enough facts and artifacts that a general visitor could spend days
here. We press on and cross the street to the official Gettysburg
Cemetery. Hundreds of small, pocked, white headstones are processionally
aligned behind a marble memorial of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
We have purchased an
audiocassette, available at most gift shops that will give us a self-guided
tour of the battlefield and its monuments. Encompassing 18-miles of
touring, there are different lengths of tours available. We have chosen
the two-hour tour to give ourselves plenty of time for photos and
reflection. We head out of the museum parking lot, pop the tape in, and
begin our journey back to the mists of the morning of July 1st, 1863 when
General Lee, buoyed by his victory in Chancellorsville, decided to bring the
war to the North's doorstep. Pushing his troops to engage the enemy in
their homes, in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. and New York, one of his
scouting parties encountered a northern regiment in this area. The largest
cavalry battle of the war ensued and the rest, as they say, was history.
The tape guides you along
the tidy streets to memorial after memorial to the various regiments that
participated in the pitch battle. Filled with facts and the sounds of
battle, they advise you stop at different points to read, touch, photograph and
embrace the horror. The overcast sky of the day adds to the somberness
felt. You would expect all days here to be overcast.
With over 1300 monuments,
Gettysburg has the feel of a tremendous cemetery. With over 30,000 killed
in its three-day battle...it is. But the monuments range from the small
and forgotten to the majestic. Among the most prominent is the
Pennsylvania State Monument. Rising to 110 feet and domed like the U.S.
Capitol it was built in 1910 for a cost of $150,000. The monuments are
mainly dedicated to the regiments of both sides that participated in the
war. The 20th Massachusetts, the New York Irish Brigade, the Alabama
Regiment, are just some of the more spectacular marble memorials that dot the
landscape. As we listen to the exploits of Generals Wadsworth, Longstreet
and Hood we find a monument to General Abner Doubleday. Doubleday,
credited with not only inventing baseball, he also fought at Gettysburg with
distinction.
We come across an outlook
tower and decide to scale the four stories of steps to a sweeping view of the
whole battlefield. The various signs give you an overview of what you are
seeing and points out landmarks. The steps will take your breath away and
so will the view.
From here we take a winding
road to the heart of the battle, Little Round Top. This rocky outcropping
rising above the southern end of Cemetery Ridge became the focal point of a
battle of who could own the high ground. Union troops made the mad dash
to secure this prime vantage point under the direction of Brigadier General
Warren. Shooting from their positions here they were able to decimate the
Rebels advances from Devil's Den down below.
The 140th New York Monument
stands in grandeur on the highest point. Displaying the men of its
regiment in classic Greek statuary. A figure stands alone on one
outcropping of Colonel Patrick O'Rourke who led the charge with the words,
"Here they are boys!" Before he fell between the boulders,
dead. His men continued to charge and pushed back the Texans to their
peril. The cannons still line the top of Little Round Top and the echoes
are loud.
Down below, in Devil's Den,
we are awed by the immensity of the granite boulders, which are strewn about
like some giant's toys. There is no eerier place in Gettysburg than
Devil's Den. Hundreds died in the areas between the two Round Tops (Big
& Little). These areas became known as the Valley of Death. The
boulder choked gorge by the name of Devil's Den's had always been known as
so. It still lives up to its name as you half expect someone or something
to come crawling out of the crevices of the rocks. Cool and moist, as the
sun cannot penetrate some of its hidden passages, it is a place that people
walk around in quiet reverence. From here you can see Little Round Top, a
mere two hundred yards distant. The rock-strewn incline between must have
looked impregnable to the boys in gray. They charged fearlessly to their
deaths again and again and for, what must now feel, useless ardor. The
sins of their forbearers brought down in blood.
After the emotional pull of
Devil's Den it is time to cleanse our souls and look for redemption. We
pass hundreds of monuments to find solace at the Eternal Light Peace Memorial
built on a bluff in Gettysburg and dedicated 75 years later by FDR. A gas
flame burns continuously reminding us that the fratricidal war should never
happen again. Messages of hope and unity carved in stone as a way of
asking forgiveness from each other as the pain still ran deep in 1938. I
find it ironic that this symbol of peace is surrounded by the symbols of
war...cannons.
Our last stop on this
exhausting, emotionally spent day is at Monument Row. Where monuments are
aligned like telephone poles, only with more frequency. To stop and read
them all would take days. Most of their names forgotten, some of the
names have been glorified, but not one of their names can be vilified.
Daniel Rush
May, 2003