15 June
Our first day at Gettysburg we started at the Gettysburg Visitor Center to get our bearings and tickets for the movie, Cyclorama and bus tour. We started with the movie to refresh our memory on Gettysburg history and so the bus tour would make more sense. It was about 40 minutes and set the stage for what we were going to see.
We then moved up to the "Cyclorama" which is a 360 degree painting of the battlefield with effects lighting and sounds. It is really hard to fully describe, but this was incredible - it looks almost 3D. The flashes of light when the cannons fired. The smoke. Awesome. I tried to take a couple pictures but they do not fully capture it.
By that time it was after noon, so we moved to the staging area for the 12:30 hrs guided bus tour. All of the tour guides are licensed and therefore VERY knowledgeable about all aspects of Gettysburg. Our guide said 240 people started in his certification process and only 17 finished.
It became obvious trying to take pictures on the moving bus was a waste of time so we agreed to retrace the bus route in our own vehicle later in the week and stop so that we could read the monuments, walk the fence lines and take better pictures. Here are a few from locations we stopped and exited the bus.
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| A view of Devils Den from Little Round Top. Significant battle happened right here on 2 Jul 1863. |
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| A tour bus passing by, approaching Devils Den |
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| Throughout Gettysburg there are monuments placed by the States and units that participated . This one is from the 16th Michigan unit. The view is from Little Round Top. |
After the bus tour we had a late lunch at Dobbin Tavern and Restaurant in downtown Gettysburg. The Dobbin House is the oldest building in Gettysburg, built in 1776. It was the home of Rev Alexander Dobbin, his wife and 19 children. It served as the first underground railroad house north of the Mason-Dixon line, and later served as a hospital during the battle of Gettysburg. It is now a colonial restaurant and tavern. Food was great as was the local craft beer and sweet red wine! Very cool!
We finished the day doing laundry and listening to the Chicago Cubs vs the Washington Nationals.
16 June
Today we traveled back down to Gettysburg and visited the Battlefield Museum. We were a bit disappointed in the displays as the lighting was bad and glare made them hard to read in many cases. They do have a large assortment of artifacts, many weapons and many audio-visual displays - movies along the way. All of this helped us better understand the strategy and tactics involved with this historic battle. I took about 50 pictures in there but will only post a very few here:
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| Extensive display of side arms and long guns. |
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| Confederate Soldier dress and equippage |
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| Union Soldier dress and equippage |
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| Enlisted encampment |
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| Officers encampment |
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| Captured Confederate Flag |
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| Year of manufacture and other important information stamped on the end of the cannon barrel |
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| Pocket Deringer pistol similar to the one used to assassinate President Lincoln |
We then visited the Gettysburg National Cemetery which is the final resting place for more than 3,500 Union soldiers killed in the Battle of Gettysburg. Numerous monuments stand in both the cemetery and battlefield to commemorate the Union and Confederate troops who fought there. At the cemetery’s dedication on November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln rose to deliver “a few appropriate remarks,” now known as the Gettysburg Address. His two-minute speech served as a reminder of the sacrifices of war and the necessity of holding the Union together. I of course knew President Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, but I did not realize it was on on 14 Apr 1865, just a little over a year after delivering his Gettysburg Address.
That was enough touring for one day. We did a bit of shopping on the way back to the camp grounds and then returned to the RV and watched the movie "Gettysburg" on DVD, staring Tom Berenger, Jeff Daniels, Martin Sheen. That was about a five hour flick - two DVD's!!
Tomorrow we will head to Emmitsburg MD to show Doreen where I attended the National Fire Academy and where our son Dan is attending courses each year to complete the Executive Fire Officer course.
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