History Lesson, Part 3

     I wrote earlier that there are three particular places that have captured my historical heart.  My passion for Washington D.C. and Pearl Harbor will never wane.  The third place has received more of my attention over the years, but only because of its proximity.  I've lost track of how many times I've visited the Gettysburg Battlefield.  I think it was only twice before 1990.  Since then, I've probably been there and refought the battle at least 6-8 times.  

     I had always been interested in the Civil War, but watching Ken Burns' 9-part PBS series, The Civil War, in 1990, fired an interest into a passion.  After that, I immersed myself in books about the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Vicksburg,  Gettysburg, and others.  I learned all that I could about the Generals who had commanded in both the Union and Confederate armies---Lee, Grant, McClellan, Jackson, Burnside, Longstreet, Pickett, Sherman, and Meade.

     Others in my family have playfully wondered why a couple of visits to Gettysburg wouldn't satisfy my thirst for battle.  I usually explain that there are parts of the three-day battle I just don't fully understand yet.  I've never had the heart to tell them that even moving to Gettysburg wouldn't allow enough time to fully comprehend what there is to know about Little Round Top, the Wheatfield, Culp's Hill, and Pickett's Charge.

A small section of the Cyclorama mural

     But although there is much still to learn about this critical battle in the War Between the States, I've come to realize that there's something deeper that draws me back to these ridges and hills that were so strategic on July 1-3, 1863.  I have always had difficulty grasping the idea of Americans killing Americans.  What motivated these men on either side to risk their lives in a War that killed 620,000 and wounded 476,000 ?  But on a deeper level, what I've really wondered is----how would I have responded in the face of obliterating musket fire and death happening all around me ?  Somehow, I feel if I just walk the Battlefield and climb the ridges enough times, I'll discover the answer to that question.

     During our most recent trip,  we visited the Cyclorama, a 360 degree cylindrical mural painting of the battle, 27 feet high and 359 feet in circumference.  The narration for the sound program at the Cyclorama included some revealing quotes from soldiers who were at Gettysburg.  I think they give some insight into answering the question of what motivated them:

     "You ask me if the thought of death does not alarm me.  I will say that I do not wish to die...I myself am as big a coward as any could be, but give me the bullet before the coward when all my companions are going forward." ----a Confederate soldier 

     "If I fall, it will be in a good Cause in the defense of my Country....my home and fireside."

---Private Andrew J. White, 30th Georgia

     "The man who does not dread to die or to be mutilated is a lunatic.  The man who, dreading these things, still faces them for the sake and duty of honor is a hero.

----Union Captain John William De Forest

     "A soldier has but one thing in view, and that is to fight the battles of his country with honor, have a liking for all his brothers in arms, and the blessing of God and the prayers of his friends at home."

----a Union soldier

     "In great deeds, something abides.  On great fields something stays.  Forms change and pass;  bodies disappear, but spirits linger, to consecrate the ground for the vision-place of souls...Generations that know us not and that we know not of, are heart-drawn to see where and by whom great things were suffered and done for them..."----Union Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, 1886

     There's an exchange in Thornton Wilder's drama, Our Town, that leads me to believe I'm not the first,  nor the last person to be eccentric enough to find a 150 year-old battle worthy of scrutiny.  In Act 1,  two characters, Mrs. Gibbs and Mrs. Webb are having a conversation about their husband's hobbies:

     Mrs. Webb:

  "Well, Mr. Webb just admires the way Dr. Gibbs knows everything about the Civil War.  Mr. Webb's a good mind to give up Napoleon and move over to the Civil War, only Dr. Gibbs being one of the greatest experts in the country just makes him despair."

     Mrs. Gibbs:

  "It's a fact ! Dr. Gibbs is never so happy as when he's at Antietam or Gettysburg.  The times I've walked over those hills, Myrtle, stopping at every bush and pacing it all out, like we were going to buy it."

     My hope is that some of my descendants will walk this peaceful Battlefield someday and  "pace it all out" ,  learning as much about themselves and receiving as much enjoyment as I have.

Restored cannon in museum

North Carolina Memorial on Seminary Ridge

Gouvernor Warren statue on summit of Little Round Top.
He saved the day, and possibly the entire battle for the Union by recognizing
with just minutes to spare a severe Confederate threat to
the Union left flank.

From the summit of Little Round Top, looking toward Devil's Den