Gettysburg... Part 1

Emmy fights off the bitter breeze by snuggling down in her jacket.

One nippy Monday morning, we loaded up the car with snacks and podcasts...

... quite the unassuming, unsuspecting little village ...

then hit the road toward the little town of Gettysburg. 

The Eternal Light Peace Memorial :: "All of [the veterans] we honor, not asking under which Flag they fought then -- thankful that they stand together under one Flag now." 

At the visitor's center, we viewed a setting-the-stage film, an incredible cyclorama, and the best Civil War museum we've seen yet. Then off we drove armed with maps and pamphlets and an audio tour.

Seminary Ridge, where the Confederate forces lined up for battle

Taking a break from our scheduled medieval history program, we immersed ourselves in Civil War history the week before, focusing much of our time on that fateful three days in 1863. No book or documentary can compare, however, to actually being there where it happened.

Standing upon Little Round top, at the end of the Union line, with Devil's Den in full view

With beautiful skies, just grey enough to provide the proper sobriety for the occasion, we drove around skirmish sites whose names had been swimming in our heads for days: Seminary Ridge and Cemetery Ridge, Big Round Top and Little Round Top, the Wheat Field and the Peach Orchard, Devil's Den and the Slaughter Pen, and the list goes on and on.

Monuments and memorials

What an amazing place, filled with so much memory, that fateful battlefield, now dotted by monuments of marble and bronze. That evening we had the great privilege to spend the evening with dear friends from church who live on a 5th generation farm just down the road from the battlefield. Our day in Gettysburg was wonderful and sobering, but we're not done yet -- we only made it halfway 'round. Oh well, I guess that means we'll have to go back... ;-)