You missed a lovely sunrise today.
Leaving my parents' home in Rutland under the care of my cat Buddy at
5:00, Amanda and I made our way south. Our first stop on the tour
was Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and even though it's the northernmost battlefield of the war, it still took us upwards of 8 hours to get
here. One of the resounding lessons I've learned already is that as
a New Englander, my sense of how big states usually are is GROSSLY at
odds with the truth.
Anyway, we're settled in now after a
day of seeing the sights, and getting our tour off on the right foot.
Gettysburg is a good one to start with not only because it's close,
but because of the huge importance it has on the narrative of the
war. In the parking lot of the new Visitors Center, we saw license
plates from all over the country (though sadly no other New England
states), and the accents of the people around the park were scattered
and disparate. The Civil War is the most important event in our
nation's history, and the Battle of Gettysburg is the hinge upon
which the history of the nation turns. Every American should come to
Gettysburg.
Of course, one of the reasons we're on
this trip., apart from being huge history geeks, is to track the war
experience of Amanda's Great Great Great Grandfather, Lieutenant
Colonel Richard Gustin of the 12th Pennsylvania Reserves.
As luck would have it, the 12th was stationed in support
of the more famous 20th Maine (of The Killer Angels
fame) on Little Round Top on July 2, 1863, and then on Big Round Top
on July 3. They don't have a monument on Little but do on Big, and
were the extreme left flank of the Union Army during the last day of
the battle.
Getting up there
was a little difficult, though, as the regimental history that Amanda
found has an account of them going up to Big Round Top at dusk on
July 2 in pursuit of some Rebels that may or may not have actually
existed, getting separated from each other and shouting around the
summit until they gave up and went back to the line on Little Round
Top. They were a little more successful in daylight the next day,
and I can vouch that the hike up to the summit to Big is steeper than
you're expecting it to be. I mean, I did it on a paved footpath in
flipflops, but still.
Other than finding
Richard Gustin's monument, the highlights of the day include a trek
up the Eisenhower-era observation tower (my genetic Lindblad fear of
heights continues to manifest itself late!) and a lengthy discussion
about some cows we saw grazing on what appeared to be part of the
battlefield behind the Confederate lines on Seminary Ridge. Amanda
wondered why they would be allowed to graze there, and I figured they
must be dining on grass that used to be the hallowed dead. So,
haunted cows, I guess? Maybe the ghosts are transferred to haunted
milk. There's a marketing opportunity in there somewhere for the
National Parks.
After the
battlefield tour we went into town and walked around a bit, passing
my brother's old Frat House from when he was a student at Gettysburg
College, and trying to find me a Union blue Kepi that would fit my
gigantic head. It wasn't easy, and after hitting up Dirty Billy's
Hats (where I got my fedora all those years ago) and a couple of
other sutlers in town, we finally were able to find a middle of the
road quality kepi that fit, and didn't look like crap. I dunno if
I'd be able to wear it re-enacting without being called a Farb (the
re-enactors term for a n00b) but it's good to have for the tour, and
when I wear it makes my Ambrose Burnsides beard look less ridiculous.
But
we're settling into the tent at our campsite now (right on the
backside of Cemetery Ridge; you can spit into the battlefield from
here), and we've go a long day ahead of us tomorrow, through
Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and back again. More later,
goodnight!
-M
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