After grabbing breakfast at the hotel, we loaded up in the van for the 90-minute drive northwest to Gettysburg National Military Park. I readily agreed with Gena that if we aren't likely to be back in this neck of the woods anytime soon, we shouldn't pass up what others had told us was an amazing experience.
They were right.
Although I love history, American history isn't my strong suite. I knew very little about the Battle of Gettysburg. I know a little more now. But even if you aren't historically minded, this site is impressive just to understand the scale a military battle can encompass. There is a brand new (2008, I think) visitor center and museum. We went ahead and splurged for admission to the museum and cyclorama - a 42-foot high painting in the round of the battle by a late 19th-century French artist.
Admission includes a 20-minute or so professionally created film that summarizes the key issues leading up to the war and the basics of the war itself. It provides a crucial big picture overview of the battle. It doesn't get bogged down in details about specific engagements, other than in how they affected the overall outcome of the battle. After the film, you're dismissed upstairs to the cyclorama, where you spend 10-15 minutes viewing. Your admission fee also gets you access to an impressive museum, full of artifacts from the battlefield. You see recreations of uniforms from both sides, the equipment they carried, armaments, battlefield surgical equipment and techniques, and many other related items.
I was impressed with the relatively balanced approach that the museum takes. Having been educated in Arizona, I seem to remember presentations of the Civil War being pretty biased towards the North. The South was the bastion of slavery, and since slavery was obviously evil and wrong, the South must have been evil and wrong. And while there are certainly valid points to be drawn there, initially there were other issues that were rather important - states rights vs. a strong Federal government, adequate representation politically, etc. Overall the museum and presentations avoided judgmental statements and stuck mostly to factual information.
On our way out, we passed a bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln seated on a park bench. Some folks were there to take pictures of it, and there was an interchange between two couples ahead of us. Apparently, the one suggested that the other woman should go and sit and have her picture taken next to the statue. Her response was a rather disgusted "I'm from the South" and then she walked away. Clearly there are still lingering issues with some folks in the South over the Civil War.
You could probably take a week or more to survey all of the battlefield, which encompasses acres upon acres of fields, ridges, dips and twists and turns. You can also drive through it by car, watching monument after monument drift into obscurity again behind you. A battle that claimed somewhere close to 10,000 dead between the two sides leaves a lot of families and states and cities with a desire to commemorate and remember the sacrifices of their sons, brothers, fathers, and citizens. It took us about an hour to drive through it all late afternoon Sunday.
It would be good to go back someday after we've been able to do some further education of ourselves and our children on the Civil War as a whole and the pivotal role of the battle of Gettysburg. Our kids were the most interested in this museum of any site we've seen thus far, allowing us to spend a total of four hours on site, including 30 minutes for a picnic lunch.
If you ever have the chance to go, go. Our time here reminded me once again of how blessed we are - blessed not the least to have lived by and large in a time of domestic peace and prosperity. It's not something to be taken lightly, and places like Gettysburg remind us of the brutal reality that such things don't always last forever.
We left and drove an hour south to see Gena's aunt & uncle & grandmother one more time before we left Maryland. We had a nice couple of hours munching on popcorn and fruit and chatting about various things. We enjoyed having the time to catch up with them, and to get more time with Gena's aunt & uncle, who I've spent very little time around. Wonderful people, and a good time of reconnection.
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