We started the day at the Gettysburg visitor center where we watched a quick movie, viewed the famous Cylcorama painting, and toured the museum. The world famous Gettysburg Cyclorama was completed in 1884 and depicts Pickett's Charge, the turning point of this historic Civil War battle. The picture below doesn't begin to show how amazing this painting is. You stand in the middle of the 360° cylindrical painting where the intended effect is to immerse the viewer in the scene being depicted and includes the addition of foreground models and life-sized replicas to enhance the illusion. The completed original painting was 22 feet high and 279 feet in circumference. The version that hangs in Gettysburg, a recreation of the original, is 27 feet high and 359 feet in circumference. Believe me, it was very impressive.
After spending a couple of hours at the visitor center, we made our way into town. It was lunch time, which happens to be my favorite time of day. We found a great sports bar named after the famous hall-of-fame pitcher Eddie Plank, who won 324 games for the Philadelphia Athletics. Lynn and I both decided to have the double-header, a must have if you like burgers. After a great lunch, we started our audio tour of the various battlefields, which stretch a total of 24-square miles.
Alright, here is a quick history lesson of one of the most historic battles on American soil:
The Battle of Gettysburg, which was fought on July 1-3, 1863, was the battle with the largest number of casualties in the Civil War and is often described as the war's turning point. Union General George Meade's army of the Potomac defeated attacks by Confederate General Robert E. Lee's army of Northern Virginia.
The Battle of Gettysburg, which was fought on July 1-3, 1863, was the battle with the largest number of casualties in the Civil War and is often described as the war's turning point. Union General George Meade's army of the Potomac defeated attacks by Confederate General Robert E. Lee's army of Northern Virginia.
The two armies began to collide at Gettysburg on July 1 as Lee urgently concentrated his forces there, with an objective to engage the Union army and destroy it. Low ridges to the northwest of town were defended initially by a Union cavalry division, which was soon reinforced with two corps of Union infantry. However, two large Confederate corps assaulted them from the northwest and north, collapsing the hastily developed Union lines, sending the defenders retreating through the streets of town to the hills just to the south.
On the second day of battle, most of both armies had assembled. The Union line was laid out in a defensive formation resembling a fishhook. Lee launched a heavy assault on the Union left flank, and fierce fighting raged at Little Round Top (see below, a view from Little Roundtop), the Wheatfield, Devil's Den, and the Peach Orchard. On the Union right, demonstrations escalated into full-scale assaults on Culp's Hill and Cemetery Hill. All across the battlefield, despite significant losses, the Union defenders held their lines.
On the third day of battle, fighting resumed on Culp's Hill, and cavalry battles raged to the east and south, but the main event was a dramatic infantry assault by 12,500 Confederates against the center of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge, known as Pickett's Charge. The charge was repulsed by Union rifle and artillery fire, at great losses to the Confederate army. Lee led his army on a torturous retreat back to Virginia. Between 46,000 and 51,000 Americans from both armies were casualties in the three-day battle. That November, President Lincoln used the dedication ceremony for the Gettysburg National Cemetery to honor the fallen and redefine the purpose of the war in his historic Gettysburg Address.
Oh, and before we wrap it up, we have to give a shout out to the 1st Minnesota Regiment. The men of the 1st Minnesota are most remembered for their actions on July 2, 1863, during the second day's fighting at Gettysburg, where the regiment prevented the Confederates from pushing the Federals off of Cemetery Ridge, a position that was to be crucial in the battle. General Hancock ordered the regiment to assault a much larger enemy force telling the men to take the enemy's colors. The fateful charge bought the time needed while other forces were brought up. During the charge, 215 members of the 262 men who were present at the time became casualties.
The unit's flag fell five times and rose again each time. The 47 survivors rallied back to General Hancock, but not without great losses. The 82 percent casualty rate stands second to only the 1st Texas Infantry regiment, which suffered 82.3% casualties at the battle of Antietam. The unit's flag is now in the Minnesota Capitol's rotunda.
Despite the horrendous casualties the 1st Minnesota had incurred, it continued the fight the next day, helping to repulse Pickett's Charge. The surviving Minnesotans just happened to have been positioned at one of the few places where Union lines were breached during that engagement, and, as a result, charged the advancing Confederate positions one last time as a unit.
Here is an impressive memorial in their honor:
Here are few more photos from the day:
What a great day! Anyone who loves U.S. history should make a trip to Gettysburg, or at least watch the movie!
- Bobby
