The Battlefield

We hired a guide to ride with us in the Forrester. We drove around for 2 hours and he explained what we were seeing. The park covers 25 square miles. There are 1400 monuments scattered throughout the park. The monuments show the location of the Confederate and Union military units during the 3 day battle. R.E. Lee wanted to have a decisive victory in a northern state, hoping to break the will of the North. Gettysburg ended up hosting this battle because 10 roads intersect here and those roads facilitated troop movement. Listening to our guide was like drinking from a fire hose. The South finally had to withdraw because they were running low on ammunition and the North had a very defensible position. The battle ended after "Picketts" charge. That was Lee's last attempt to overrun the North's position. The town of Gettysburg has many homes with obvious war wounds. The battlefield was farmland and those farms are still there. The scene had to have been horrific. 17,700 Union and 16,900 confederate soldiers were killed or wounded. Later in the year when the national cemetery was dedicated, Abraham Lincoln gave his Gettysburg Address here. After the car tour, Jenny and I did a 2 1/2 hour hike on some trails. Tomorrow we move to NY.