Gettysburg - The Last Full Measure

I had made this run years back, but now I did it alone. In the same place where 215 of my fellow Minnesotans had fallen! If you are a Minnesotan, than this is one pilgrimage you must take at least once in your life - the 1st Minnesota Regimental Monument in Gettysburg.

The battlefield of Gettysburg is much the same as it was the day before the battle, with the exception of the military presence. Basically, it's all Pennsylvania farmland. The only structures that you see are the occasional gigantic barn, small wooden or brick farmhouse and thousands of monuments, plaques and statues.

You can go online or into the brand new visitors center (which is brand new and phenomenal!) to get your park map of the Gettysburg battlefield. I chose to make the drive myself, but the possibilities abound. You can hire your own guide to go with you in your car, pick up an audio tour to listen to in your car, go on a tour bus, ride a horse with a guide as you listen to a tour on headphones or participate in a class or school group.

I had taught in detail about this specific battle for 10 years. It wasn't so much that I believed I knew it all (God, I'd love to learn every last detail there was about this battle), it was more that I wanted to go on my own place, saunter in the oddest of places and, of course, get some footage for work.

As you drive your car down the paved roads, you go at a slow pace, and when you wish to stop, pull over and park on the right-side of the road.

You begin by passing behind the Confederate lines. Here you see plaques which denote where each state regiment was posted. The southerners looked out across flat farm fields for most of the most part. Their far right flank, however, disappeared in the woods and boulders leading up to Big and Little Round Top.

The battle took place mostly south of downtown Gettysburg. The Union had a defensive position on higher ground to the east and the south was expected to attack from their lower position to the west, moving east.

Now, I could spend forever talking about this battle in detail, and bore most to tears, but will try to sum it up as I did in the video.

So, why is Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863 such a big deal? Well, for one, this was the first major engagement on northern soil. Most battles had taken place in the south, devastating much of it. (This is one reason that even today, southerners have more of a memory of this war than does the north.) The war was growing increasingly unpopular in the north. In a war that was supposed to last only a few weeks, it had now turned into years. General Lee realized he only had to have one significant victory in the north and the people would sue for peace.

Second, the scale of this battle was unlike any other. Approximately, 170,000 American soldiers took part in this battle. More than 51,000 would become casualties. These were all Americans, willing to die for what they believed in.

Third, this was the turning point of the war. General Lee realized it was all or nothing. They could no longer play the cat and mouse game they were playing. They were not trying to take over the north, nor remain separate, but defend their right to exist as they so chose. The south was weakening and the northern public opinion waning. One would have to break first and this battle would determine it.

The battlefield is huge and you could spend forever describing that too. Instead, I'll focus on three definitive episodes.

On day two of the battle, with no overly successful advance of the south, Major General Sickles decided to do something against orders. He stretched out or left flank so bad that a hole developed. The south had their chance. Advancing up the difficult, rocky terrain of Little Round Top, nothing much stood in the way but the 20th Maine, with the school teacher Chamberlain in command. They were down to their very last bullets and then, they lead a downhill charge with bayonets, driving the Confederates back and saving our Union flank!

Sickle's movement caused problems in the center of our battle line as well.

Oh, and the story of Sickle's is interesting as well. He shot and killed the son of Francis Scott Key (who wrote the Star Spangled Banner) across the steps of the U.S. Capitol and was the first person to succesfully use the temporary insanity defense in court. He also left his pregnant wife at home while he went to England and introduce his prostitute campanion to Queen Victoria. Read up on him for more.

Anyhoo, a hole appeared in our line, General Hancock looked down to see no one except 262 Minnesotans laying down in wait. He ordered them to take on the Confederates (six times their numbers). Without questions the Minnesotan, formed up, shoulder to shoulder and ran at the double-quick. As each man fell, the Minnesotans would close back together, shoulder to shoulder. The Confederates were forced into retreat, giving the North time to fix the hole. The Minnesotans had saved the North from certain defeat, with the cost of 215 casualties. This still stands as the largest regimental loss in a single engagement in U.S. history!


Finally, on day three, the south realized it had to do something dramatic. Time was running out. Thus formed Pickett's Charge. Over 12,000 Confederates marched across the battlefield. Torn to pieces by Union artillery and then rifle-fire, still they came on! Some would make it to the low stone wall and cross over. (A hole in the line defended by remaining Minnesotans). This dramatic event was known as the "High Water Mark" of the Confederacy. The remainder of the war saw the Confederacy sink back into defensive and retreating position.

General Lee would later see no reason to continue. (He, by the way was offered command of the Union forces by Lincoln, detested slavery and disagreed with the south braking away. But first and foremost, Robert E. Lee was a Virginian!) He would later surrender.

A final battle note: President Lincoln would give the Gettysburg Address, "Four score and seven years ago," at a place where now stands the cemetery. A bust of his head stands where he gave his speech. His address took two minutes. The guy that opened for him spoke for two hours.

Well, perhaps I should end it. I don't know if this history helps anyone!

But I poked around, hid behind the boulders at Little Round Top, ran where the 1st Minnesota charged the Rebs, stepped over the wall at Pickett's Charge, stood where Robert Lee did and poked around in some woods.

It's a sombering place. Yeah, I suppose it can become boring with so much to see. But I find that if you focus on stuff that's important to you, like the place where your fellow statesmen fought, it can become more important to you.

Just think of that hole in the Union line that all observers could see! That mass of gray moving to split the north in half. When all of a sudden a small blue form amassed, charging into insermountable odds! Yeah, that was us, if you call yourself a Minnesotan! First state to offer troops to Lincoln and who developed a reputation of running forward whilst others ran away.