Gettysburg! The name brings forth so many images, so many different feelings about our nation's history it's hard to put it all in perspective. This is the first civil war battleground Linda and I have visited. What a way to start. We've visited the Little Big Horn battlefield in Wyoming but, not to take away from those who perished there, it just doesn't compare for emotional impact. First off, Custer lost a couple of hundred men. The dead and injured at Gettysburg numbered over 51,000. Also, I felt bad for the men who died under Custer's command but in some way, you felt he kind of did it too himself. The men of Gettysburg died for a much greater cause, to save the union or to protect State's Rights, depending on which side of the conflict they had chosen.

We arrived at the battlefield around 10:00 in the morning and had a difficult time finding a parking place. I ended up parking the Goldwing on a wet lawn and had to use a rock under the kickstand to keep it from sinking into the ground and falling over (photo 1 & 2). After arriving at the Visitor's Center, we joined a Living History Walking Performance through the Battlefield Cemetery on Cemetery Ridge, where an actor played a newspaperman for the New York Times who had been at the battle and was telling his "friends" about it (photo 3). He did a very nice job.

President Abraham Lincoln (photo 4) gave his most famous speech at this cemetery almost 150 years ago this November (photos 5, 6, 7, 8). The scene at Gettysburg has greatly changed from 150 years ago but there is still much to see and it's possible to envision what it must have been like on those three days in July of 1863. The heat, the smoke, the noise, and the confusion and, of course, the dead men and horses. The bravery required to walk across one mile of open ground to charge a well defended hilltop is unimaginable in this day of age when "Hell no, we won't go" is still something we remember from the Vietnam days. It was a different time, maybe a better time, I'm not sure.

More men died in the American Civil War (620,000 estimated), than in all of America's other wars put together. Gettysburg was the high water mark for the Confederacy and there were more casualties here (51,112 - the most of any battle in the Civil War). It was this battle that turned the tide of success for the Union and a battle that could have turned in a different direction except for the whimsy of chance. Such as the North holding at Little Round Top and the center of the line holding on the third day. For the South, Steward's Calvary, Lee's eyes and ears, was not there until the second day of battle when Lee needed him on the first day. On and on it goes.

I had not imagined that being here, seeing these markers and knowing the lives sacrificed here, would be so emotional for me. Knowing that our nation, with all of its faults, would be a much different place if the North had not succeeded. I have a relative, on my mother's side, who lived in Tennessee. He fought and was wounded in the Civil War, on the side of the south. I was born in Missouri, a border state that sided with the Union, and I now live in California, another Union state. My father's family is from Arkansas, a Southern State. I support the cause of the Union without reservation, but I admire the bravery and determination of the Southern soldier. Hopefully we've settled the question about "One nation, indivisible."

We returned to the Visitor's Center where they have a museum displaying the various artifacts that have been found at the battlefield over the years (photos 9, 10, 11). One poster that I thought was interesting was a recruitment poster. In this poster is says that each recruited soldier was promised $26 a month (photo 12). Ninety-Eight years later, I would make $44 a month as a Seaman first-class, roughly the same rank as an ordinary soldier. Either the pay was pretty good during the Civil War or very bad during the Berlin Crisis. Of course the chances of dying were far greater during the Civil War than during the Berlin Crisis, so I can understand where they might have to pay more to encourage recruitments.

We then attended a presentation called a Cyclorama, which is basically a large painting of the Battle of Gettysburg, done in a complete circle. A French artist painted it in 1895 and it is one of only two such paintings of this type left in the world. The other is in Atlanta, GA and is of the Battle of Atlanta (photos 13,14,15). It was well done but when you see the technology we have today, this seems rather simple. Still, it has allowed thousands of people to get a better idea of the scope of the battle because of this painting.

Linda and I then took the "auto" tour and visited many monuments and markers explaining what happened and with whom. We visited mostly Northern monuments today and will try to get to the Southern ones tomorrow. I have posted a few photos to give you an idea of what you might see (photos 16,17,18,19). The last place we stopped was the headquarters of General Lee during the battle, now a gift shop and private museum (photo 20). I think General Lee would be rolling over in his grave.

If you have not yet been to Gettysburg, I recommend the trip. It's a great ride and an interesting destination. You will enjoy the backroads and the history here. By all means come, my friends. It's something that all Americans should see and think about. Walking the same ground as Lee and Meade and Lincoln is heady stuff. Beside, it a great excuse for a ride.