Gettysburg

Gettysburg was on Sophia's destination list from the beginning and we arrived on a crisp Fall day.  There's not enough time or space to do the history or significance of this most-famous of Civil War battles justice, but I can brag on the new visitors' center and museum, as well as the accessibility of the battlefield.

Having recently seen the Lincoln movie, Sophia perhaps could have scored a role as an extra... 

 

I've already discussed the value of a diorama or some other exhibit to familiarize visitors with battlefield sites prior to actually walking the fields.  G'burg has a cyclorama of Pickett's Charge completed by French artist Paul Philippoteaux in 1883 after he made repeated visits to the site, often with veterans of the battle.  The existing painting has a total length of over 350' in circumference and the viewer is situated on one of the mounds overlooking the final skirmish of the battle from which you can see Little Round Top, the Peach Orchard, Lee's and Meade's camps, plus numerous vignettes of close combat, terror, heroics, and the tragedy and futility that was the final assault across the open fields against the fortified higher ground.  That may be the summation of the entire battle - the Confederates won everything but the higher ground, thus losing the battle.
For reference, the first plants and rocks and actual artifacts (and obviously the hand rail) lead up to the bottom of the cyclorama, giving it a 3-D and very realistic feel.

The museum itself is in three sections depicting the events of July 1, 2, and 3 and then continues with rooms dedicated to the remainder of the war.  All-in-all, I found the exhibits very sensitive and respectful to all involved.

Fought at a critical road junction in southern PA, the state of PA honored her sons at Gettysburg with a spectacular and fitting monument visible form everywhere on the battlefield.

This view is from the tower erected behind a wall that was the CSA lines, providing a view of Little Round Top, the Peach Orchard, and the open fields crossed by the CSA soldiers.  I was stunned by the compactness of the battlefield ... pretty small area to contain 157,000+ combatants, over 50,000 of which would be killed - more costly than the entire Korean War and nearly as many as the entire Vietnam War.

 

 

Gettysburg is a somber yet well-done memorial.

 

Just south of there we stopped in Emmittsburg, MD to visit the Basilica of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American saint, who was widowed with children when she converted to Catholicism from the Episcopal Church and dedicated the remainder of her life to service with the Sisters of Charity.