Gettysburg "kick" Continues

My July 09 trip to Gettysburg is still impacting my reading. I have just finished the 1958 biography of Major General John F. Reynolds who was killed at Gettysburg and the new "Fog of Gettysburg" which was an interesting read. I'm trying to quit but now I am reading Jeffery Wert's book on the third day at Gettysburg and after that I will read JD Petruzzi's book "The Complete Gettysburg Guide". After that I will stop...I promise.

New Gettysburg museum has an interesting artifiact

In Gettysburg a recently opened museum called the "Gettysburg Museum of History" opened recently and hosts over 4,000 arifacts. One of the interesting items is a pair of bullets that met in mid-air and merged. (see picture). The museum is free and opened just three weeks ago and one week after I visited the area in late July 2009. The currator of the museum has ancestors who farmed much of the area where Pickett's Charge took place and as he dug up things during his work he kept them and past them down to his decedents.

According to an 1887 newspaper account that Dorr (the museum manager) located, Pfeffer discovered a burial trench with the bodies of seven Confederate soldiers located near what is now the 12th New Jersey monument. Dorr said his great-great grandfather kept buttons and other momentos from the bodies, then re-buried the bones.

"As far as I know, they're still there," he said.

Hours: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday

Location: 219 Baltimore St., Gettysburg

I have to say that I am very disappointed that this didn't exist during my visit to Gettysburg. I guess that it is another reason to go back.

Friend to a Friend Monument

Friend to a Friend Monument
Originally uploaded by madnessmike

Back when I visited Gettysburg in 1986 and 1989 the "Friend to a Friend" monument was not yet built. I was really happy to see it during our 2009 trip to Gettysburg. I thought I'd share this pic with everybody because it is a great view of this monument.

Little Round Top after 20 years

Its been 20 years since I walked the hill of Little Round Top. I know that historians today have researched the fact that the drama that unfolded on that rocky hill in July of 1863 is overrated and overshadows the situation that occurred further north at the Peach Orchard, The Wheatfield, Devils Den and the lower part of Cemetery Ridge. But as I have written in earlier blogs (Blog 1 & Blog 2) I love Little Round Top. I still believe that it was the most important part of the Gettysburg battlefield regardless of its importance being overrated.

Another cool thing about the trip was that I brought my 11 year old nephew to the battlefield. The first time that I went to Gettysburg was in 1986 and I was only slightly younger than my nephew is and it was exciting to show him to the battlefield. I already want to go back to Gettysburg.

Gettyburg 2009

As you may know I travelled to Gettysburg last week and enjoyed the town and the battlefield. Pics and a blog about it will be coming soon. Stay tuned!

Gettysburg 2009

With my trip to Gettysburg drawing near I found this great site on General George Pickett. Since his charge was so important to the outcome of the battle please check it out.

http://www.pickettsociety.com/

Little Round Top

Little Round Top
Originally uploaded by RunnerJenny

What a great pic of Little Round Top!

Can I make it back?

It has been 20 years since I toured the Gettysburg battlefield and for years I have been itching to return to the site. It has been a long journey but if everything works out I will return to Gettysburg this summer to tour the fields that I have seen twice in my life. I think about the battle a lot and I truly hope to walk it again. One of the places I want to visit the most is Little Round Top. I once wrote a blog about my feelings towards that rocky hill in southern Pennsylvania.

I have always felt that Little Round Top was the key to the battle at Gettysburg. Many historians feel the same way and some do not but you cannot deny the drama that surrounds the defense of that hill. Although some of that drama has been enhanced by the postwar writings of the men who fought there or books like The Killer Angels or movies like Gettysburg those twilight moments on Little Round Top were vital to the success that the Union enjoyed at Gettysburg. I will write more later but the more I think about going back the more I hav eto remember that anything can happen in life and we are all just a heartbeat away from being unemployed. This economy is awful!