Part 1: Gettysburg

Note: I will probably end up editing and adding to these posts once I can get access to the pictures on Mark's camera. I'll make note somewhere so everyone will know to read over a post again if needed.

Mark and I left for our vacation the morning of Thursday, July 5th. We flew into Baltimore, got a rental car and drove to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Mark and I both have a fascination with Civil War history and as you may have guessed, Civil War battlefields are a bit sparse out in Utah. Originally when we were planning our trip we were going to spend the first half in Washington, DC, and then fly to Vegas, but we noticed that Gettysburg is very close to DC so we decided to spend our first day touring the battlefield. As luck would have it, the day we were there happened to be the first day of the 149th Annual Battle of Gettysburg Re-enactment. The re-enactments actually went on for 2 more days after as well but we had too much planned so we couldn't stay to watch more.

The night of the 5th we stayed in a B&B in the middle of Gettysburg called The Tillie Pierce House. Tillie Pierce was a teenager living in Gettysburg at the time of the battle and helped wounded soldiers. The B&B was styled appropriately Victorian. This is a pic of our room.

 We spent that evening walking around the town and admiring all the old buildings. I might have these numbers slightly off but at the time of the battle there were 420-ish buildings in the town and about 140 of them are still standing. That's pretty cool. And you can tell which buildings were there during the battle because those that are still around have a bronze plaque next to the front door that says "Civil War Building." There was so much history in the town you could feel it. It was incredible.

The town of Gettysburg

The Tillie Pierce House

We saw this in a shop and thought it was funny. My Ex-Wife and My Ex-Mother In-Law.

Old chimneys creep my out. I don't know why.

The next day, Friday July 6th, was our touring day. We did a bus tour of the battlefield with a guide to get more historical insight into what happened at what spots and so we could ask questions. That was really nice, the different landmarks on the battlefield made more sense having someone standing there pointing stuff out. Here are some pictures of the battlefield. Again - so much history you could feel it.

McPherson's Ridge, the site of the beginning of the Battle of Gettysburg. The fence marks the Union western line.

This statue is of the only civilian to take up arms and fight during the battle. He was 70 years old and wounded 3 times but still managed to survive the fight.

Union General Reynolds was struck by a bullet and killed when he emerged from these trees on the first day of battle.

The town of Gettysburg can be seen in the background. This was the viewpoint of the Confederate Army.

The tree line marks where the Confederates were first sighted by Union soldiers. This was the viewpoint of the Union soldiers on the first day of battle.

The Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance.

Little Round Top, the sight of major fighting on the second and third days of battle.

The view looking north from Little Round Top. This was the southernmost end of the Union line.

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The site of "Picket's Charge" would have been along those trees.

You might notice several monuments scattered around the battlefield. All the monuments were placed by soldiers who fought at the Battle of Gettysburg. They came back over the years after the Civil War and put them where they had fought. That makes it even cooler.

Union soldiers were placed along here and really had the advantage as the shot at Confederates trying to climb up the hill. Especially considering the Confederates that were running up the hill had been running for a day and a half without food and water and the second they arrived at Gettysburg General Lee gave the order for them to take the Union line on top of Little Round Top. No wonder they didn't get it.

This was the center of Union General Meade's line on Cemetery Hill, looking towards the center of Confederate General Lee's line. The width of the entire battlefield was basically between this point and to the treeline. The farthest the Confederates ever got was just barely past the stone fence.

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*The memorial to the Army of Northern Virginia

*This was the Confederate who got closest to the Union line. Pay attention to the name - it will show up later.

Caissons that would have been placed behind the cannon.

A cannon turned upright marks a general's headquarters. This farmhouse was the headquarters for General Meade.

Cemetery Hill is the ridge to the right of the photo.

General Meade's headquarters.

Looking up at Cemetery Hill. Those stone walls were all there during the battle and had been placed there by farmers to mark property lines.

Memorial for the Gettysburg Address. The address was actually given a few hundred yards away from this site.

Gravemarkers for unknown soldiers killed at the Battle of Gettysburg. There were hundreds and hundreds of these.

Statue of Union General Reynolds.

Another look of Meade's headquarters and Cemetery Hill on the right.

A Masonic memorial. Masons who fought during the war were known to render aid to Masons on the opposing side. They were/are a true brotherhood.

"Capstone laid August 21, 1993, Grand Lodge F. & A.M. of PA"

What the pictures don't show is that it was over 100 degrees outside - bad enough out in a desert but even worse back East with all the humidity. Mark luckily had had the brilliant idea to pack a Camel-back so at least we were able to stay hydrated but man the heat was just horrendous! You could feel yourself wilting after just a few minutes.

After the tour of the battlefield we went to the Visitor's Center and saw the Cyclorama and walked through the museum. The museum was incredible - we could have spent the entire day just in the museum. There was so much to see. It's so chilling to see actual artifacts that have survived.

*Union flag

*Confederate flag

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Next we drove to see the re-enactment. Unfortunately the re-enactment was not held on the actual battlefield - I imagine that would have broken a few laws and the National Park Service and Department of the Interior would have had conniptions. It was held at a site a few minutes out of the city. They had vendors selling period clothing, books, jewelry, etc., food, drinks, and they had a "Living History" section where people were dressed as specific characters who were at the Battle - like General Robert E. Lee, General Meade, General Longstreet, to name a few - and they spoke like they would have back then and everything. I just have to say that I can't imagine how awful it must have been to be one of those character actors or one of the reenacters. I was SO hot wearing a tank top and shorts, and these guys were wearing long sleeved wool uniforms with knee-high leather boots and the women were wearing long sleeved, high necked floor-length dresses with bonnets and gloves. How they all didn't just pass out or melt into a puddle is beyond me.

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We bought seats in the grandstands so we'd have a better view. One of these days I'm going to edit all these clips together into one video but for now I'll just put the links to all the video I took and you can just browse through them. Be warned: they're not very exciting all the way through so don't feel bad if you get bored and want to skip a few. There is a lot of interesting information given about the battle though. The part of the battle this is showing is McPherson's Ridge, on the very first day of battle, July 1st, 1863. Note the authentic period pickup trucks and loudspeaker systems.

After the re-enactment we wandered around some more and came across a tent with period dresses and hats, even hoopskirts. I have wanted an authentic Civil War-era dress and hoopskirt for YEARS. I started off just with trying on some of the hats:

and then we saw this dress.

The problem with most of these dresses that we saw was they were enormous. I could have fit 2 or 3 of myself in most dresses. But this one was smaller. The lady working there took it off the hanger, stuck me in a hoopskirt and put me in the dress. Oh. My. God. It was stunning. She started taking it in and pinning it and put me in an even wider hoopskirt with 5 hoops and said she would take in the skirt and would even remake the bodice to fit me and make a custom hat with leftover fabric to match. How are you supposed to say no to that offer????? The price was completely reasonable, especially considering all the custom work that would go into it, and she's going to ship it to us. Actually, Mark didn't even give me time to talk myself out of it - he bought it before I had the chance to even blink. So in the next few weeks start looking for a post dedicated to this awesome outfit I'm going to get. There may not be a ton of opportunities to wear it - but there's always Halloween parties and more re-enactments that we're already talking about going to! I'm so excited.

After that we drove back to the battlefield to hit a few spots we didn't have time to really explore earlier. This video was taken as we drove along Seminary Ridge. The Union Army was originally placed along here but the ridge was taken by the Confederate Army on the second day of battle and the Union retreated to Cemetery Hill. Notice all the cannons placed along the ridge.

Those two hills are Little Round Top and Big Round Top. Little Round Top was the very edge of the Union line.

Seminary Ridge from the Confederate line, looking towards Cemetery Hill, which became the Union line.

Two Confederate soldiers getting ready to make camp for the night.

"From Virginia To Her Sons At Gettysburg" The memorial to the Army of Northern Virginia. General Lee is at the top.

We climbed to the top of a lookout tower so we could see the whole battlefield. This view doesn't actually show any part of the battlefield but the sunset was pretty.

A panoramic view of the battlefield

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Again at Little Round Top.

A statue of General Meade

We also took some video of the fireflies as they were coming out. We don't have fireflies out West so Mark was really excited about this. I grew up with them in Tennessee but it was cool to see them again.

Finally we drove to Frederick, Maryland, to stay the night with my cousins Jim and Fran. Jim is another of my mom's first cousins, so again whatever that makes him to me. Fran is his significant other ("partner" doesn't seem like the right term). The next post will be our adventures in Maryland and Washington, DC.