Gettysburg: A Surprise Diversion Both Then and Now

 

My Baseball Week chapter mentioned out at home. Thursday morning, I felt a worse from the cold I carried since Monday.  Planning to be in Philadelphia for lunch and DC for dinner, I thought it best to get a Covid test – it was a positive which made it a negative to keep my schedule. I was shut out of Philly lunch, DC Cubs game, and out at my sister’s home. “Don’t come here with Covid”

 

My stepsister, Eileen, who I call a friend because we acted like friends as kids and never lived together, said “Come on down to Nashville – I had Covid 10 days ago and Hank hasn’t gotten it so he must be immune.”  The local Urgent Care doctor said my symptoms were mild and I should feel much better tomorrow with a low risk of contagion.  OK, Lancaster to Nashville, what’s on the way? 

                        Gettysburg!

 

I had to see the hallowed grounds and I punched Gettysburg Battlefield in the GPS. Before I reached the “Wheat Field” I saw a brown sign with yellow print pointing traffic to Gettysburg Visitor Center.

 

There’s a huge parking lot for the museum and theatre complex including a giant cyclorama of the battlefield. The information desk has maps for self-guided driving tours and you can get the NPS app which will provide videos of 16 points of information along the route of the battlefields.

It’s worth a day long visit by starting at the Visitor Center for a couple of hours, driving the auto tour, stopping at viewpoints and hiking some trails on the same ground where 161 years ago, the deadliest battle in all of American history occurred. The grounds were consecrated as a memorial and the dead removed and buried in a national cemetery. Aside from the innumerable monuments and paved roads, the land is kept close to what you would have seen those fateful days.

 

In June,1863, Robert E. Lee coming off a victory at Chancellorsville, planned to end the Civil War by defeating the Union army in Northern territory, thereby breaking the will of the increasingly weary Northern population to continue fighting.

 

It took 4 weeks to march 71,000 Confederate troops for a surprise diversion to Pennsylvania. He sought Gettysburg as it was the center of ten roads into a town of 2,400 inhabitants. The Union armies chasing them down numbered 94,000 total.

For 3 days, from July 1-3, the two armies maneuvered and engaged throughout the 20 square miles surrounding the town. Lee’s perceived advantage of Gettysburg’s topography and road system proved faulty as the Union army repelled the Rebel attacks.

 

Because the Union had superior numbers, the roads leading to Gettysburg allowed the Federal armies to converge with reinforcements.  They took the high ground in the rolling hills and trees and were able to position many rows of cannons and riflemen to fire into oncoming Rebels. To assault the Union positions, Lee’s troops had to deal with rugged, rocky terrain, thick woods and open farmland separated by many wooden, zig-zag trestle fences.  As they ran and jumped through this obstacle course they were easily cut down by cannon and gunfire.

 

During the first two days of fighting, Lee’s strategy was to attack the flanks which nearly succeeded in overrunning Union positions.  However, due to a constant supply of reinforcements the Federal army held its ground. On the third day, Southern troops made a desperate charge into the middle of the line known as Pickett’s Charge, resulting in a disastrous defeat and an end to the battle.

 

Of the 160,000 combatants, over 51,000 were dead, wounded or missing – every one of them an American.  The Civil War was fought over the uncompromising issue of slavery with an outcome of devastating horror for soldiers and civilians alike.

 

Think about our current divisive and rancorous politics, where each side takes a hard stance and unapologetically speaks in uncivil tones with the other. We would all be well served to come here to reflect on the reality of our national DNA. 

Can we ever again allow ourselves to reach a point of no compromise? Did this war teach us to listen and respect others’ points of view in order to find a common ground?

Gettysburg was an advantage for my spirit, but adverse for my drive time to Memphis.  I had to stop early evening due to thunderstorms and it made for a long drive the next day.