Day 20, Cinco de Mayo and Gettysburg

Happy Cinco de Mayo! We began the day taking care of a few trip administrative items, ate cereal for breakfast, then headed out to the town of Gettysburg. We got turned around a bit on the country roads -- the map we had was of no use -- but we eventually found our way into the town. Here are some photos of the Pennsylvania countryside around Gettysburg.

Winery in Adams County, not too far from Gettysburg

Picture of a fruit orchard.

Driving through a town named Chambersburg, on PA 30, heading to Gettysburg

Another view of Chambersburg.

Gettysburg itself is a quaint, vibrant town. I imagine the economic vitality comes from a rather steady stream of tourists, particularly this time of year, when scores of buses arrive with middle and high school students, accompanied by parent and teacher chaperones.

Our first stop was the Montezuma Mexican restaurant for lunch, to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. We did not know it at the time that we selected the restaurant that the restaurant was giving free margaritas with each meal! Needless to say we each had one margarita, and the food was delicious!!!

Notice the delicate hands displaying the menu, behind a bowl of colorful corn chips. The colors are those of the Mexican flag.

The interior of Montezuma restaurant as seen from our booth.

After lunch, we made our way through the town, along the Main Street, Baltimore Pike, to the National Battlefield Park and Visitors Center. Some photos of the town, seen along the way.:

Gettysburg

The Adams County National Bank building in Gettysburg

A hotel in Gettysburg

All of the churches and many other buildings in Gettysburg were used as hospitals, during the time of the battle and afterwards. Although the battle lasted only three days, in that time more men were killed or wounded than all of America's other conflicts combined since WWI. (So more than in WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan combined)! This church -- I don't know if this is the original structure, but it was in this location during that time -- is one of them.

Downtown Gettysburg

Downtown Gettysburg

Downtown Gettysburg

We took a 2-hour bus tour of the battlefield and learned so much about the history of the battle, the many generals and other combatants and the town. I'll share a lot of the pictures, but they will not tell you about the actual battle. I'll also provide some anecdotes and facts that we picked up while on the tour.

There over 1300 monuments around the various Gettysburg battlefield sites. (These people are not two of those monuments, although they are rather dashing.) Many of the monuments were erected after the Civil War, by soldiers who survived the battle of Gettysburg, mostly by Union soldiers, who made dedications to fallen comrades or whole brigades they served with. The monuments to Confederate soldiers were made much later and done so on a state by state basis. Each southern state that had soldiers who died at Gettysburg has erected a state-funded monument, some as recently as the late 1980's.

The battle at Gettysburg was fought over three days -- July 1, 2, and 3. Due to the topography of the area, the battle was fought on and between the series of ridges that dominate the landscape. The two major ridges were Seminary Ridge and Cemetery Ridge.

The Lutheran Seminary in Gettysburg is the oldest Lutheran seminary in the U.S. It is the reason why Seminary Ridge is so named. Although the campus has expanded and added several buildings, this one shown above was the original and main building at the time of the Battle of Gettysburg.

The original Lutheran Seminary building at the time of the battle. General Longstreet a general for the Confederates Army had his office and viewing lookout in this copula.

One of the battlefields at Gettysburg

This statute is John L. Burns. He was a civilian at the time the Battle of Gettysburg began. On Day 1, he walked to the Union position with his rifle and asked the Union soldiers, if he could help. They accepted, he helped, and then got wounded, but not seriously. Burns was either 69 or 70 at the time of the battle. He subsequently became a Civil War hero, so much so that Abraham Lincoln wanted to meet him and shake his hands, when he came for the battlefield military cemetery dedication service.

This church building on the campus of the Lutheran Seminary was not established at the time of the battle. It was erected later.

A view of Seminary Ridge from across another field.

There are over 400 cannons of the original number used in the battle. The green cannons were the older models; they would fire a single shot cannonball that did not break apart on impact. The range of these was about 1 mile.

The black cannons above were the "newer" models. They fired a shell similar to today's artillery shells, and they did so using a rifling (spinning) action. This made the ordinance travel further, in this case up to 1-1/2 miles. Later, the shells were replaced with a new kind of shell that carried individual bullets, which would break apart and do more damage upon impact. The inventor of this more deadly type of shell was an Englishman officer named Henry Shrapnel. That's the origin of the word which we commonly use to describe the source of many battlefield injuries.

Each of the Confederate states who lost soldiers at Gettysburg has erected a monument to its war dead. Here is the North Carolina marker. Below is the North Carolina statue.

Monument to North Carolina soldiers who died during the Battle of Gettysburg.

Louisiana's memorial to its dead Gettysburg soldiers

Virginia's Gettysburg memorial has Robert E. Lee sitting at its top with various figures below. This figure is an authentic depiction of Lee's face, because the sculptor made it from a cast of Lee's face, which Lee himself commissioned prior to his death.

This small farmhouse was used as a field office by Gen. George Meade, commander of the Union forces at Gettysburg.

Daniel Sickles (mentioned earlier) wanted to be closer to the front and he failed to cover this location to which he was assigned by General Meade-- Little Round Top was its name. However, in doing so, he had insufficient men to told the area un front of this high ground against the Confederate army and made the undermanned Union line dangerously thin. The Union almost lost the battle on day two because of Sickles' stubborn and unwise decision. However, the actions of some younger and junior officers managed to save the day, and maintain the Union position, before nightfall. In those days, the armies ceased fighting after sunset, because they could not see neither their position nor the enemies position. They would risk killing their own men, if they fought after sunset. Sickles as injured during this battle, but lived until 1914. Along with the first successful, temporary insanity defense, he is credited with arranging the purchase of land that would become Central Park in New York City.

The viewpoint from Little Round Top that Sickles was directed to cover, but did not against orders.

More of that viewpoint from Little Round Top

View from Little Round Top

Explanation about the Union Forces strategy and position on Day 2 of the battle.

When we returned to camp, from the Gettysburg tour, we made a fire. Patrise made s'mores. Later, she grilled chicken over the fire, while I was taking an oboe lesson. (The wi-fi at this campground is good enough that my instructor and I could do a Face Time lesson, as we have done throughout the pandemic.)

This morning before leaving for Gettysburg, I was called by a cousin in South Carolina, who informed me that my Uncle Thomas in New Hampshire had died last night in his sleep. The housekeeper found him this morning, when she came in to tidy up. This was a bit of an emotional setback for me, as I was looking forward to seeing him next Tuesday on our journey. We had planned to stop in Nashua for two days, so I could see him and check on how he was doing. I had last spoken with him almost eight years ago, when my father was dying. As my father's last living sibling at the time, Uncle Thomas was traveling through the South, visiting important sites in the Civil Rights movement. I encouraged him to alter his plans at the time, to come quickly to Memphis, to visit with his brother (my father), before Dad passed. He did that, and the two of them got to spend two wonderful, lucid days with each other, before he had to leave and before my father died. So seeing my father's last living sibling was going an experience on the trip that I was really looking forward to. He had been informed that we were coming and he was looking forward to seeing us. His sudden death is a reminder that there are no guarantees in life, except death itself.

I mention this as context for the fact that Patrise, and later me, looked at alternate routes last night after dinner since the reason for our stop in Nashua no longer existed. We decided to go to Nashua still, I want to see his house for a brief moment. However, we will not stay as long as originally planned.