Gettysburg National Military Park / June 2009

The massive new visitor center attests that the Gettyburg battlefield is a huge tourist attraction. The town of Gettyburg has been able to preserve much of its mid-19th century architecture and scale, but many old buildings are more likely now to house businesses catering to tourists. Today's visitors are more welcome than the boys in Blue and Gray were back in 1863.
The battlefield virtually surrounds the town. Indeed, there was fighting in Gettysburg when Union forces had to retreat to the east and south. In this view, Gettysburg is ahead and to the right (south) of the camera. This area was the site of the first day of fighting. The combat took place from July 1 through July 3. General Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia expected, indeed hoped for, a counterattack on July 4. Secure in their positions behind Seminary Ridge to the west of Gettysburg, the Confederates hoped to salvage at least a draw from what had turned out to be the South's worst defeat and the pivotal battle of the war. But General Meade held back his Army of the Potomac--wisely, though he was much criticized for it--and the night of the 4th Lee began the sad trek back to Virginia.
Shortly after the war, many army regiments and other military bodies, as well as the northern states, began erecting monuments. Along some roadways the granite and bronze edifices are only short distances apart.
There must have been quite a brisk trade for sculptures for thirty years after the war. In addition to battlefield memorials, there were hundreds of thousands of graves in cemeteries across the land, and in the Victorian era elaborate gravestones were popular. Linda and I recall that virtually every southern city seemed to have a statue of a Confedrate soldier standing in the town square. We heard that some designs, such as the proud infantryman holding a musket and gazing into the distance, were so popular they were mass-produced.
A memorial to the 12th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, known as the "Webster Regiment" in honor of its commander, Colonel Fletcher Webster, son of American icon Senator Daniel Webster. Fletcher died in 1862 at the Second Battle of Bull Run (Manasses). This image is of Daniel Webster and around it are his famous words "Liberty and Union, Now and Forever, One and Inseparable" from his "second reply to Haynes" speech against secession. The phrase was mant as a rejoinder to Sen. John C. Calhoun's declaration "The Union; second to our liberty most dear!"
You may never have seen one of this rare species, the Masonry Wren (aviana petrifiedae). Its range is very limited. But here, one has made a nest atop a monument, and is tenderly raising its offspring.
As soon as I saw this stutue, I had a hunch there was something that just wasn't right. And sure enough, my suspicions were confirmed. The general who is honored by this statue was NOT named N. E. W. York.
My theory is that this monument is a tribute to 17,000 Sioux warrios who, having learned there was a Union officer named Custer at Gettysburg, trekked all the way from New Mexico to stand with the Confederacy. The shamrock, I suppose,  is a symbol of the Sioux's fond memories of their ancestral lands across the Great Water.
Oh. I was wrong. It's "Chief Tammany," mascot of the notorious New York City political machine, Tammany Hall. It sponsored the 42nd New York Infantry regiment, which included many Irish immigrants.
It appears the states got into a sort of unofficial competition for the most grandiose memorial. I think Pennsylvania won.
Congress joined in the monument-building  spirit with this tower. I think they saved money by using some blueprints they already had on hand. And by not paying to level the site. Or maybe I tilted my camera.
The southern states were slow to join their northern sisters in placing monuments at Gettyburg. It was, after all, the site of a terrble and fateful loss for the Confederacy and the battlefield had become a federal preserve. Eventually, though, memorials to the valor and bravery of Southern soldier joined those to their Northern counterparts. The North Carolina monument notes "Thirty two North Carolina regiments were in action at Gettysburg ... One Confederate soldier in every four who fell here was a North Carolinian." The statuary is by Gutzon Borglum, who did the enormous Mount Rushmore carvings.
Virginia's impressive edifice features the figure of Gen. Lee astride Traveler, his favorite horse, looking out across the field where so many of his men would fall in a failed attempt to overwhelm the Union line on July 3.. The figures below represent men from various walks of life--farmer, mechanic, etc.--who left their homes and families to join the War for Southern Independence. Virginia led all other states in the number of men fighting for the Confederacy at the battle of Gettysburg.
South Carolina went for the simple, square and symmetric look. Must have had some engineers on the design selection committee.
"ALABAMIANS!" the lady calls out, while a wounded soldier (well, at least it's clear his shirt is wounded) passes his cartridge box to another man. The Gettysburg battle took place when the war had gone into its third year. You'd think those guys would have had a difficult time keeping their eyes off a good-looking dame standing right next to them.. Say, is that lady not wearing a certain item of underwear?
OK, now we need to get serious. Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle of our bloodiest war. The climactic event was the failed "Longstreet's Assault" on the third day. This memorial was sponsored by all the states from which came the units that played a role in repulsing that attack.
The table lists battles in which a Pennsylvania regiment was engaged. It is almost a roll call of the most terrible carnage: at: Antietam ... Fredericksburg ... Chancellorsville ... Gettysburg ...  the Wilderness ...  Spotsylvania  ... Cold Harbor and so many others. My Cofederate great-grandfather, W. R. Rankin, might have spied some of this regiment's troops at Antietam, Petersburg or Appomattox. But not at Gettysburg; his regiment had the good fortune of being posted far to the south when Lee launched his invasion of Pennsylvania.
Gettysburg is a magnet for Civil War buffs. One sees individuals slowly walking over the cleared areas, carefully surveilling the terrain. Over a thousand books have been written on the battle. I'm sure the National Park Service would immediately be called to account for any error in the signage that dots the park.
Here we are looking down from Little Round Top. Captain Joshua Chamberlain's small force stationed here fought off several furious Confederate assaults. This high ground was so desperately contested because it was the southern flank of the Union line and cannon on the peak could fire on much of the battlefield. This view is toward the west-southwest. That patch of huge boulders is called the Devil's Den. The camera's wide-angle lens makes it appear farther away than it actually is. Federals had first occupied the Den, but face-to-face combat put it into Confederate hands. Snipers in the Den were able to pick off many Union men on the peak.
A short distance to the left from the Den is a patch of open ground that became known as the Slaughter Pen. It also was the scene of intense combat.
Little Round Top affords visitors a good view to the west and north. The town of Gettyburg is north-northeast of the hill, and is not shown in this picture. Producers of the 1993 movie "Gettyburg" were determined to tell the story of the battle as faithfully as possible. Filming took place at the battleground and nearby places. The statue you see beyond the sign presented a problem for the movie makers, which was solved by stationing an actor in front of the statue to prevent it being an anachronistic element.
Gettysburg is best remembered for Longstreet's Assault, a frontal infantry attack. The first two days' fighting had been inconclusive.  Lee's plan for the 3rd was to smash through the Union center, and thereby flank and defeat the divided Federal forces. Lee thought a decisive victory could bring about the end of the war. The assault is better known as "Pickett's Charge," though Pickett commanded only one of the three divisions that Lee assigned Longstreet for the attack. The ground you see in this picture was traversed by Pickett's men. Their task was to converge with other attacking forces at the center of the Union line just to the left of the clump ("Copse") of trees you see at the middle of the picture.
Longstreet strenuously argued against the plan, convinced it would fail. Confederates would have to advance three-quarters of a mile while being exposed to withering artillery and rifle fire. The Yankees had the advantage of defending on higher ground. To be in such a charge would require great courage and devotion to duty. Traditional military doctrine held that an attacking force in such a situation should outnumber the defender three to one. At Gettysburg the ratio was nearly even. The Confederate troops were in bad need of rest, having done a great deal of marching just before the battle. Nor had they been able to get sufficient water and food. Moreover, most of a long, hot day had passed by the time they started marching toward Cemetery Ridge.
Lee ordered a massive two-hour artillery barrage to precede the assault. Federal battteries and troops were well within range of the Confedrate cannon.
On Cemetery Hill, along Cemetery Ridge and on Little Round Top were many federal artillery batteries as well as infantry units. Lee hoped to destroy much of the Union artillery before the assault began, when federal solid shot, exploding shells, and canister would have terrible effect on the approaching massed Southern infantry.
Courage. Duty. Valor. Honor.
General Armistead got only a short distance once he'd clambered over the stone wall. The monument that is capped by a scroll marks where Armistead fell, mortally wounded. Reinforcements and hand-to-hand fighting pushed the Confederates back, and there was no more attempt to gain this ground. This place is known as "The High Water Mark of the Confederacy." Again, it should be noted that the camera's wide angle lens exaggerates perceived distances. A visitor might be surprised to see the focus of  the struggle is hardly bigger than a football field.
This place is also known as "the Angle" because the stone wall makes two 90 degree turns as it runs along the ridge. That lone tree is the one you saw to the left of the Copse of Trees in a previous picture. The statue depicts a desperate defender using his spent musket as a club. As Rebels scrambled over the wall, the fighting was done with whatever weapon was available--gun, bayonet, club, fist. Union reinforcements who could not personally engage in the fray because the field was so crowded resorted to lofting rocks over the federals in front of them.
Southern casualties in the Charge were horrible. Only about one-third of the soldiers got back to Confederate lines, and many of that fraction were wounded though walking. Union artillery was resposible for much of the carnage. Cannon on the northern flank and along the ridge pounded attackers with cannonballs, exploding shells and canister. The Rebs marched in dense formation, and a single blast could kill or wound ten or more men. As his men straggled back across the field, Lee approached them by riding through a point of trees just to the right of this view. "It is all my fault," he said in aguish, "It is all my fault."
This forlorn bugle boy blows only "Taps," never "Reveille," for men lost at Gettysburg. Altogether, the more than 165,000 American soldiers (for that is what both Blue and Grey were) at Gettyburg sustained more casualties than occurred in any other Civil War battle:     11,199 missing or captured     27,224 wounded      7,863  dead About 5,000 dead horses littered the field. Some 3,000 of the wounded would later die of their injuries. And all combatants who survived had done or seen terrible things. For many, and their families, the experience would blight the rest of their lives.

        Photos and text by Gerald Starr. All rights reserved.