Historic Gettysburg

Stan . . .

Leaving the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia we moved up into Pennsylvania to spend a week in the Gettysburg area soaking up as much of the history of the area as we could.

The Civil War battle at Gettysburg took place from July 1 - July 3, 1863 and resulted in the highest casualty numbers of any Civil War battle.  There were over 50,000 Union & Confederate soldiers killed, wounded or missing by the time the battle ended.  The 2,200 townspeople of the previously sleepy little town of Gettysburg were left to deal with aftermath of the battle spread out over a 60 square mile area when the Union & Confederate forces left the area beginning on July 4, 1863.

President Abraham Lincoln traveled to Gettysburg in November 19,1863 and spoke for just over 2 minutes to the crowd gathered to dedicate the Soldiers National Cemetery.  That speech - the Gettysburg Address - would become one of the most historic presidential speeches ever made.

Below is a view of the battlefield from Little Round Top as would have been seen by Union soldiers.

Another view of a portion of the battlefield is shown below.

Within a few years after the battle many states began to erect monuments located around the battlefield on the sites where soldiers from their respective states were positioned during the battle.  Pennsylvania had the largest number of soldiers involved in the battle and consequently has the largest commemorative monument located on the battlefield.  Below are several pictures of the Pennsylvania monument.

The National Park Service opened a new Gettysburg National Military Park Visitor/Museum Center in 2008 located on the eastern edge of the battlefield.  Within the Visitor Center was a 360 degree painted cyclorama depicting scenes from the battlefield.  Below is a picture of one area of the cyclorama.

And finally a bronze statue outside the Visitor Center depicting Abraham Lincoln as he awaited his turn to speak at the dedication of the Soldiers National Cemetery at Gettysburg.