Gettysburg, PA - Gettysburg

Well, we’ve spent hours walking the Gettysburg battlefield, we know where the attacks came, where the feints were, We know where the Wheatfield is, where the Devil’s Den is and where Pickett’s Charge began, faltered and was driven back. We know, in brief, what happened on each of the 3 days of the battle. We certainly know much more than we knew when we came. But, what do I want to say in a blog about this 3-day slaughter of young men? We all know that it was one of the most important battles of the Civil War, that there were 51,000 causalities on both sides, >7,000,000 bullets were fired, that the Confederacy had reached its ‘high water’ mark at this battle and from this time on it was on a slow road to surrender at Appomattox.

Maybe I’ll just mention all that is here at Gettysburg and what we saw that impressed us the most. No, first I’ll give you a bit of advice - don’t go in late spring when there are lots of field trips for schools. - like today when 70 school buses are scheduled to be there. Not to mention all the other tour buses carrying various other groups.

And, lots of other full-sized buses with other tours. Or, if you must go on a weekday in late spring, do the museum in the morning and the film and cyclorama in the afternoon, when fewer people will be there. OK, now the film and cyclorama.

We were impressed with the film which was a History Channel film. From the film you are herded up to the Cyclorama, an amazing painting of Pickett’s Charge by Paul Philppoteaux, a professional cyclorama painter. Now, a cyclorama is an art form that has seen its day but was popular back in the late 1800’s. They were huge oil-on-canvas paintings displayed in a circular room with landscaped foregrounds containing things like roads, trees, and fences. To view them you stood in a central platform with the cyclorama all around you. Philppoteaux actually spent several weeks in Gettysburg with his sketch pads and a photographer. He also interviewed a number of Gettysburg veterans and then returned to his studio and with his team of assistants put together a huge 100-yd long painting weighing 6 tons. It was originally displayed in 1883 to great approval. Over time it has been displayed in various places, been cut into sections, sat in a warehouse and finally went through a restoration process and is now displayed in the Gettysburg VC.

We were disappointed with the cyclorama ‘production’. From the theater we all trooped up to the cyclorama. We didn’t know what to expect so went to a spot on the railing there. Others stood behind us since there were lots of people in the theater. The room was dim and then went almost dark so the lights on the picture could shine on particular scenes while a narrator told about Pickett’s Charge. Since we were on one side of the room, we couldn’t see lit scenes on the other side. This went on for about 5 minutes then the ‘production’ ended, the lights came on and we could look at the painting. Again, since there were so many, we couldn’t get around to see it all. before we were herded out so the next group could come up.

Were we disappointed? To say the least. Thus my recommendation to go in mid-afternoon, when there are probably many fewer people there. The cyclorama itself is an amazing work of art. Here are some scenes that I was able to see and photograph. The colors, the people, the actual scenes of battle and truly amazing and deserve more than a cursory glance which is all that I was able to give.

Next we went into the museum. Excellent, excellent museum - both Gary and I say. It began with the reasons for the Civil War, covered the first two years of the war then went into the reasons why there was a battle at Gettysburg, what the strategy and tactics for each side was, the battles, the participants, the ebb and flow of battle and then covered the aftermath, the meaning for the Civil War and then went on to cover the rest of the war and its results. Like a good book with an introduction, facts and explanation and then a conclusion.

The artifacts were an excellent assortment of Union and Confederate and from the town itself. Here’s an ad for soldiers, in German since there were a lot of German immigrants in the North.

Here’s a Confederate and Union uniform with accouterments. Note that the Union had much better uniforms along with a knapsack to carry their bedroll and clothing. The Union canteens were metal while the Confederate ones were wood.

There is lots more in the museum but I can't show it all.

OK, start with the VC, the museum, the cyclorama and the film. Then tour the cemetery and the battlefield.