Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

The official site for the Gettysburg National Military Park is Here. These are pictures I took as we drove around the enormous battlefield. As you look out, today, on the beautifully green, grassy area, it's hard to imagine that 51,000 soldiers died or went missing or captured here.

Above the valley is Seminary Ridge, spoken of in many battle accounts. It's a quiet Lutheran Seminary campus now, and I have pictures to show that. People live along streets overlooking the battle sites. 6000 acres of the old battleground were set aside for the park, but the actual battlefield was even larger. Until you stand there and see the monuments detailing which companies, battalions, regiments, states, were fighting there, it's impossible to really picture how large an area this 3-day battle encompassed.

More than 1400 monuments line the 26 miles of roads built to take visitors to every accesible point. No more will be built, we overheard a guide say, because everyone who was there already has a monument declaiming the fact. Certainly, there are a lot of them. Valley Forge filled me with quiet pride and joy. Gettysburg filled me with sorrow. So, here is what I saw.


The town


A farm still there


Brig. General James S. Wadsworth,
commander 1st Division under General George Meade,
Army of the Potomac
Go to this site for a list of Army of the Potomac.


One of many plaques which explain what each group was doing on each day of the battle. This one is C.S.A., Confederates, Army of Northern Virginia, the Daviss Brigade.


Example of another kind of plaque which explained events at battle sites. This one includes information about a battle on the first day, many losses on both sides, and 230 Confederates forced to surrender.


Many markers like this line the roads through the battlefields
147th New York Infantry, 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 1st Corps.


Monument for the C.S.A., Army of Northern Virginia, Third Army Corps, Heth's Division. Explanation of both armies' organization


Artillery Emplacements


Closer - people reading the explanation of the site


The whole monument


You'll have to take my word for it. There is a constant flame at the top of this monument near the artillery pieces.

Go on to Seminary Ridge

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