GETTYSBURG - THE LAST FULL MEASURE

THE LAST FULL MEASURE

GETTYSBURG 

I love history and a good story.  I majored in history, mostly Eastern European from Vienna to Versailles but also enjoyed studying the Civil War period.  I know some things about the war, overall economic causes and political strategies but have not studied the actual battles in any depth.  Coming to Gettysburg, you walk the battles and cannot help but feel the energy that still emanates from these hallowed grounds.  There are many stories of people who have seen or felt ghosts while on these grounds.  I did not but would not have been surprised if I had. 

 The Civil War wasn’t just about slavery but preserving a way of life.  There is so much more to this story and some of it can be translated to what is going on today.  The divisions between the North and the South had been broiling for many years with many different issues.    

However, slavery was fundamental to the south with seventy five percent of the world’s cotton coming from the south.  One-third of southern families were slave owners.  It wasn’t just the south that didn’t want to change the status quo.

The North depended on the South for their textile mills, shipping, banking and commerce.  All of this depended on southern commerce.  Immigrants feared competition for their jobs if slavery was abolished.  The seeds for support of slavery was embedded in the US Constitution.   Because of this, movement to abolish slavery was not enough to change the constitution. 

The larger question was whether to expand slavery into the new territories.   The future of freedom for the US depended upon the westward movement and the Kansas/Nebraska Act served to answer that question.  In the new territories, slavery would not be legal.  The South reacted – if you can pass legislation that abolishes slavery in the new territories, what will keep you from then turning it on the South

During the 1860’s it was the Republicans who wanted to stop the expansion of slavery although Lincoln, at that time, was not an abolitionist.  The southern states threatened to secede if Lincoln was elected.  South Carolina was the first in 1860 followed by six more states.  When Lincoln ordered troops on Ft Sumter, four more states seceded. 

Lincoln’s goal was to preserve the Union at all costs.  That was his primary goal.  However, as time went on, he felt the need to abolish slavery entirely and in January 1863 the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.  Unfortunately it took 100 years, through the Civil Rights Act, before the full effect of freedom would be felt.

The cost of the war was astounding.  86,000 killed in battle; 270,000 died of diseases, 251,000 wounded.  In the Battle of Gettysburg, alone, 8,171 soldiers were killed. 

The devastation was complete for the south.  Nearly a quarter of all Southern white males were dead.  Perhaps 50,000 civilians in the Confederacy perished.  The war killed roughly 40% of the livestock of the south.     The southern economy lost 75% of its wealth and would take nearly a century to recover from the devastation of the war.

 October 10, 2012

Arrived at Artillery Ridge CG Tuesday afternoon in time to meet up with Barb and John who are camped a few sites over.  Barb was gracious enough to start a pot roast in her crockpot earlier in the day so we had a scrumptious dinner waiting for us.  It was so great to see them again.  Seemed like forever since we sat down and visited.

At their recommendation, we headed for to the Diorama on Wednesday morning to get a feel for the Battle of Gettysburg. 

DIORAMA

 TOWN OF GETTYSBURG 

THE SHEAR NUMBERS OF SOLDIERS ON THIS BATTLEFIELD

This is definitely the place to start and Artillery Ridge provided tickets to the exhibit when we checked in.  With 60,000 miniature soldiers, positioned historically correct and to scale,  the battlefield of Gettysburg was laid out in front of us. 

This is a three dimensional landscape of the largest military diorama in the United States.  There is a 30 minute movie that narrates the three days of Gettysburg in conjunction with lights and sound from the diorama.  You can see the troop positions and maneuverings.   It would be the only way to really understand the scope of these battles as it is spread out over 24 miles.

DRIVING THE BATTLEFIELD

Barb and John had purchased an audio tour CD so we joined them after lunch to begin our tour of the battlefield.  Plaques, monuments and roadside tables  showed brigade positions and explained the actual battle.  Canons are situated where they were during the war so that you are walking the history of this hallowed ground.  Dave and I actually drove this Battlefield over three days.....it takes that long to really get a feel for how the battles were laid out and where the regiments were on each day.

You begin to get a feel for it when you realize that on your right there are plaques and monuments for the NY regiments and to your left are the Alabama regiments.  

The fighting was fierce and close.  The people of Gettysburg were hiding in their cellars dodging bullets as the war was fought around them.

THE UNION STATE MEMORIALS

THE CONFEDERATE STATE MEMORIALS

The first Confederate monument on the battlefield was dedicated in 1884 to the 1^st Maryland Battalion.  It took years for the next to follow.  Southern states were impoverished after the war; Gettysburg was a Union victory fought on Union soil, the battlefield commission was controlled by Union veterans discouraging meaningful placement of Confederate monuments.  As time went on, there was a growing spirit of reconciliation and many veterans associated with regiments had passed on.  Virginia was the first in 1917 with the last Confederate state monument of Tennessee dedicated in 1982.

 NORTH CAROLINA MONUMENT  - 32 NC regiments were in action at Gettysburg on all three days.  One Confederate soldier in every four who fell here was a North Carolinian.  NC regiment was on Seminary Ridge.

MISSISSIPPI

 11^th Mississippi Infantry Regiment formed west of tree line on Seminary Ridge.  Although clusters of men reached the stone wall, the attack was driven back with heavy loss with remnants of the regiment reformed.  Combatants (393), Killed in action/died of wounds (110), Wounded/Captured (193), Captured unwounded (37), non casualty (53)

BARKSDALE CHARGE

By July 2^nd, General Longstreet’s Confederate Corp were engaged in battles from Little Round Top to the Peach Orchard.  Barksdale was chomping at the bit to get into the battles.  Finally Longstreet gave the OK and Barksdale’s Brigade charged the Union position in the Peach Orchard and overwhelmed them. 

He rode in front, white hair gleaming, leading a chorus of rebel yells.  Barksdale drove his Mississippians onward but the Union forces drove them back.  While attempting to rally his men, Barksdale was riddled with bullets and died that night at a Union field hospital.

SOUTHERN STATES MEMORIAL 

A memorial to soldiers and sailors of the Confederacy.  The following states contributed:  South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Texas, Arkansas, North Carolina, Maryland, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi.  Dedicated in 1965 honors all members of the Confederate armed forces.  It depicts a charging color bearer calling for his comrades to follow.  

LOUISANA

Represents the Spirit of Alabama pointing the way forward while a wounded soldier passes a cartridge box to his comrade, representing determination to continue the struggle.  It stands where General Evander Law’s brigade of Alabamans began their assault towards Little Round Top on July 2^nd.

THE BEGINNING

JULY 1, 1863 

Why Gettysburg?  There were ten major roads that led to Gettysburg making it a strategic location with bridges and hills offering defensive positions.

  

Robert E. Lee, confident after his win in Chancellorsville, VA in May 1863, and capitalizing on the good morale of his troops made the decision to push north into Pennsylvania. 

He thought he would be surprising the Union armies who were guarding Washington DC, however Union Cavalry under Brig Gen John Buford received word that the Confederate army was advancing down the Chambersburg Pike so set up his regiment in hopes of receiving reinforcements.  Union was outnumbered but carbines can fire faster.  Buford holds the line then drops back to McPherson’s ridge. 

McPHERSON RIDGE – July 1, 1863

 The Edward McPherson farm, located west of Gettysburg on the Chambersburg Road became the scene of the opening battle of Gettysburg.  Buford took up positions here due to the two ridges perpendicular to the Pike enabling cover for the arriving infantry and cavalry.  He had 3,200 cavalrymen to the 7,000 Confederates but Buford held them and moved back using delaying tactics until the Union 1^st and 11^th Corp under John F. Reynolds could come with reinforcements.  

 Reynolds’ I Corp arrived with reinforcements but was killed on the field of battle.  The command passed to his Maj Gen Abner Doubleday. 

Fighting continued all day.  Reinforcements on both sides arrived and 30,000 Confederates defeated 20,000 Union soldiers pushing them through town falling back to Cemetery Hill and Culp’s Hill. 

At the end of the first day, 16,000 men were killed, wounded or captured.  The  Confederates won the day but the Union won the high ground.

RAILROAD CUT

DAVE, BARB AND JOHN READING ABOUT THE RR CUT DOWN BELOW

  

On the first day of the battle some of the most horrendous fighting took place in the unfinished railroad cut north of the Chambersburg Pike.  More than 200 confederates were trapped in what they thought would be a safe haven.  The Union army fired down on the trapped soldiers killing them like fish in a barrel.  They were forced to surrender. This was one of the last good moments for the North on that day.  

July 2, 1863 – Day Two
The Fishhook

The Union defended a fishhook-shaped range of hills and ridges with around 90,000 soldiers.   The top of the hook was Little Round Top and swooped down through the Peach Orchard and along Cemetery Hill where the long shaft of Union regiments were waiting.

Confederates wrapped around the union with 70,000 soldiers.  Lee launched an assault on Union left flank with fierce fighting raging at Devil’s Den, Little Round Top, The Wheathfield, the Peach Orchard and Cemetery Ridge.  On the Union's  right full-scale assaults on Culp’s Hill and East Cemetery Hill.    Again Confederates gained ground but Union held strong positions.

SEMINARY RIDGE
CONFEDERATE POSITIONS
Lutheran Seminary

Confederate army positioned high ground here along Seminary Ridge through town and north of Cemetery and Culp’s Hills.  The Union occupied Culp’s Hill and Cemetery Ridge south to Round Top.  Both armies formed two parallel “fishhooks”.

Aimed at Cemetery Ridge and the Union Regiments across the field.  Pickett will eventually charge here.

Regiments of NY, Vermont and Pennsylvania can be seen in the distance.

CANNONS POSITIONED FOR BATTLE

DAY TWO  JULY 2, 1863 

PEACH ORCHARD

Maj Gen D Sickles is assigned a position near Little Round Top,  Without orders to advance, took his 10,000 man Union 3^rd Corp to a position on high ground around Sherfy’s peach orchard believing it was a stronger position.  The position formed a salient which could be attacked on multiple sides and he was forced to occupy lines much longer than his two-division corp could defend.  Meade was upset but it was too late to do anything about it.

Notice behind this monument, all of the monuments scattered around the field.  These monuments, large and small, represented where the various regiments were holding.  They are everywhere, in the trees, on top of the fields, behind the rocks, fences and trees.

 The Confederate infantry struck the Peach Orchard “Shrieking like Indians” driving the Union defenders back toward Cemetery Ridge.  Sickles’ “salient” was crushed.

WHEAT FIELD

BLOODY VALLEY BENEATH LITTLE ROUND TOP

Charge and counter-charge left this field and woods strewn with over 4,000 dead and wounded.    The Confederates had fought six brigades against 13 (somewhat smaller) Federal brigades, and of the 20,444 men engaged, about 30% were casualties. Some of the wounded managed to crawl to Plum Run but could not cross it. The river ran red with

DEVILS DEN

A labyrinth of boulders and crevices was the scene of a bloody struggle.  

The Union infantry under Willis from New York took position on the rocky ledge. 

Coming up from the field and hiding behind the stone walls, a Texas marksman silenced the cannon and it could not be aimed low enough to hit them.  

Nearing the upper wall, Col Ellis fired, halting the Texans; however Brig Gen Benning from Georgia Brigade came up through the field in support of the Texans and took Devil’s Den.  From this position, they were protected looking up at Little Round Top.

The gorge in front of Devil’s Den at the base of the hill is called Slaughter Pen for the number of Confederates killed here during their attack on Little Round Top.

LITTLE ROUND TOP

Brig Gen Gouverneur K. Warren, Meade’s chief engineer, saw the Confederate threat in the lower fields of Devil’s Den and Wheat Field.  He alerted the Union officers which brought Federal reinforcements to defend this position.

EAST CEMETERY HILL – Union Forces pushed the Confederate assault and reached the crest of Cemetery Hill.  Again Confederates gained ground but Union had the high defensive positions.

Behind the lines of the Confederate camps on Seminary Hill are two statues representing the 1^ST US sharpshooters organized in Vermont in 1861.  

Day Three

PICKETT'S CHARGE

July 3^rd 1863 – Lee believes he has victory and Pickett’s division finally arrived.  The plan was for Longstreet to renew an attack on Left, Ewell on Culps Hill.   However, the Culps Hill attack fails and Longstreet doesn’t attack at all.   Lee reformulates a plan concentrating on the Union center now.  

Late in the afternoon with 12,000 Confederates Pickett’s charge against the Union line on Cemetery Ridge.  The cannons fired for two hours, smoke filled the air and visibility was practically nill.  7,000 Union soldiers repulsed the bulk of the 12,000 man Pickett’s Charge.  Robert E. Lee was posted on the high point looking down at this losing battle. 

This was the decisive battle.  Lee led his army on a retreat back to Virginia.  His train of wounded stretched more than fourteen miles. 

Vermont regiment positions  in relation to the Pennsylvania Memorial

Pennsylvania Volunteers alongside the Vermont Regiments fighting in Pickett's Charge

New York regiments alongside Massachusetts and Vermont Regiments

VIRGINIA MEMORIAL - ROBERT E. LEE

Lee looking from Seminary Ridge at Pickett's Charge

Robert E. Lee was posted on the high point looking down at this losing battle.  General Lee reflected, “I never saw troops behave more magnificently….” Yet this last assault at Gettysburg failed to crumble the Union defenses. 

Looking across field from Cemetery Ridge (Union side) at Pickett's Charge with Lee's vantage point in the back of the picture.  

Confederates marched across the fields with exploding shells and flags flying.  As wounded fell, others took their places.  When the gray crossed Emmitsburg Road and neared the stone wall the Union defenders decimated them with rounds of canister and volleys of musket fire.   The exhausted Confederates, outnumbered and low on ammunition, could not prevail.

Armies from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Minn, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Mass, Vermont and Me were fighting on their own soil.  “Home court advantage”

Hurrahs rose from Union soldiers as Confederates receded 12,000 Confederates threw themselves against the Union line, nearly half had been killed, wounded or captured.  General Meade prepared for another attack on the 4^th but it never came.  Lee’s army began a muddy retreat into Virginia.

This was the decisive battle. His train of wounded stretched more than fourteen miles. 

COMMANDS HONORED:  IN RECOGNITION OF THE PATRIOTISM AND GALLANTRY DISPLAYED BY THEIR RESPECTIVE TROOPS WHO MET OR ASSISTED TO REPULSE LONGSTREET’S ASSAULT THE FOLLOWING STATES CONTRIBUTED TO ERECT THIS TABLET:  NEW HAMPSHIRE, VERMONT, MASS, RHODE ISLAND, CT, NY, NY, DEL, PA, W VA, MI AND MINNESOTA.

Pickett’s Charge and its failure became known as the “High Water Mark of Confederacy”.  Although the war continued for nearly two more years, Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia would not invade the north again. 

Union Memorials on Cemetery Ridge

PENNSYLVANIA MEMORIAL

Union held the line here on Cemetery Ridge.  Pennsylvania and Vermont were located in this area.  Meade called for infantry from Culp’s Hill and other areas to strengthen this position.

 13TH VERMONT CALVARY HOLDING WITH PENNSYLVANIA

1ST VERMONT CALVARY STATIONED BEHIND LITTLE ROUND TOP

VERMONT FIRST CALVARY

Fought with Gen Elon J Farnsworth who died near here, charged through First Texas Infantry  located near Big Round Top.  At 5PM July 3^rd Major William Wells charged over stone walls and rocks through woods until they encountered five regiments of Law’s Confederate Brigade near where the regimental monument stands.   A struggle on the hill carried by the 1^st Vermont.  

Soon came under fire of the 4^th Alabama Infantry and 9^th Georgia Infantry.  Having no exit they charged the Alabama Infantry.  Those unhurt escaped mostly to the south.  The memorial signalizes the valor of the officers and men of the First Vermont Calvary.   Major William Wells was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions here

GEN MEADE, HEAD OF THE UNION FORCES

CIVIL WAR HOSPITAL NEAR MEADE'S HQ

NATIONAL CEMETERY

Soldiers’ National Cemetery contains graves of more than 6,000 US servicemen including 3580 union soldiers killed in the Civil War.  Nearly half of the Civil War burials were unknown soldiers.      The grave markers are grouped by State and within the state, marked with the name or “Unknown”. 

Four months after the battle, President Lincoln used the dedication ceremony for Gettysburg’s Soldiers National Cemetery to honor the fallen Union soldiers with the historic Gettysburg Address.

As I walked through these battlefields and then this cemetery, I could not help but feel empathy for the poor mothers, wives and sisters who had men fighting on either side.  What if it was my sons fighting in this war.  

If you were from the south, you would probably never know where your loved ones were buried.  Only the Union soldiers were brought here to be placed in marked graves.  Confederates soldiers were enemies of the state and buried in the fields and woods where they had fallen.

AUSTRALIAN TODAYS SHOW REWRITE CIVIL WAR HISTORY!

As we drove past the Pennsylvania Memorial we saw this activity going on in front.  Apparently the Australian TODAY show was being filmed live in front of the memorial.  We heard the host read off all the temperatures for Australian towns an then proceed with his segment of the show.  Standing next to him was Robert E. Lee serving up some victuals that his troops would have eaten.  They sampled Spoon Bread which is a favorite of mine, meat pie and bread pudding.  I wonder if the Australians realized that the show had the Confederate General standing in front of the Pennsylvania Memorial on Cemetery Ridge just steps from where Pickett's Charge was defeated!   They would have been more authentic if they had Meade on there, although probably no one had heard of Meade!  A little revisionism of our US History.

OCT 11   GETTYSBURG NATIONAL MILITARY PARK

This morning we headed over to the Gettysburg Museum where we saw a movie about the battle of Gettysburg.  By the time it came to the wheat field I had tears in my eyes imaging the horror and bloodshed that we happening.  From the movie we went into the Cyclorama which is fabulous.

The Cyclorama was a popular form of entertainment in the late 1800’s.  They were massive oil-on-canvas paintings displayed in special auditoriums enhanced with landscaped foregrounds featuring trees, grass, fences and even life sized figures.  It resulted in a three dimensional effect surrounding viewers. 

The Battle of Gettysburg survived and brings the fury of the final Confederate assault on July 3, 1863 to life.  It was captured on canvas by French artist Paul Philippoteaux.  He went to Gettysburg after the war taking notes, sketches and photographs.  He hired a photographer to take pictures of Cemetery Ridge, the Angle and the High Water Mark and the field of Pickett’s Charge.  The Cyclorama opened in Chicago in 1883.  

He painted a second version which opened in Boston in 1884.  It was exhibited for 20 years before it was purchased by an entrepreneur and brought to Gettysburg.  It was restored and opened in 1913 for exhibition where it stayed for approx 40 years.

NPS purchased it in late 1940’s, moved to the park visitor center in 1962 and underwent massive restoration.  It is 359’ long x 27’ high and weighs estimated 3 tons.

The battle of Pickett’s Charge came alive in the cyclorama.  It was truly a unique experience.

We are leaving Gettysburg and all of its history behind.  There is so much to see here, especially if you're a Civil War history enthusiast.  Next year is the 150th anniversary and the park is planning an entire summer of events culminating with the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address.  I'm sure it will be crowded here!  Think we'll be somewhere else!

In leaving here, it is always good to be reminded of the faces of the men who fought so bravely for what they believed in.  May we NEVER repeat this experience again!

FACES OF THE CONFEDERACY

FACES OF THE UNION