Conference smurf::civil_war

	Gettysburg National Park, I believe, contains over 2,800 acres and
much to see that is associated with the events of a century ago.
	There is Devil's Den, Little Round Top, Seminary Ridge, the Peach
Orchard, and Culp's Hill with its breastworks. There's also Meade's head-
quarters, the Angle, and the very clump of chestnut oaks that guided Pickett's
men, Lee's headquarters and museum and the Gettysburg Cyclorama.
	The Visitor Center introduces the Park itself. From it the visitor
can walk into the area depicted in the Cyclorama, seeing field exhibits and
monuments which will make your tour more meaningfull.
	There are many old farm buildings that survived the battle and housed
the wounded when the battle was over. Among them are the Codori (sp.?) house
on the field of Pickett's Charge, the Trostle (sp.?) buildings where Bigelow's
Massachusett's Battery made its gallant stand, the home where Barksdale died,
and the McPherson barn where the battle opened.
	On Cemetery Hill south of the town is the National Cemetery, the
burial place of 4,650 American soldiers including 3,512 Union battle dead.
(The Confederate dead were removed to the South in the 1870's). At the center
of the arcs of graves stood the speaker's stand from which President Lincoln
delivered his Gettysburg Address at the time of the Cemetery's dedication on
November 19, 1863. On this site today is the Soldiers' National Monument.
	Beyond the town to the northwest, I believe, is the Eternal Light 
Peace Memorial. This memorial was dedicated in 1938 in the presence of over
1,800 Civil War veterans who had come to Gettysburg to observe the 75th
Anniversary of the battle. A gas flame burns in an urn at its top, and on its
base is the legend "Peace Eternal in A Nation United."
	I would suggest taking one of the "tours" to get an overall picture
of the Park and the battle itself. Then take your time (depending on how long
ya'll are planning to stay) walk around the park on foot, observe and read 
the markers and monuments. Give both sides of the park equal billing. There
are plenty of monuments to apease even the most hardcore student, or armchair
general.

	Places to stay. I suggest the Heritage Motor Lodge (717) 334-2263.
The rates are reasonable and its located in the heart of the Gettysburg Village
within walking distance of the park, thus eliminating the need for the use of
your car, because in the summertime, the Park gets crowded!!! Call early for
reservations. Or contact the:
			Gettysburg Travel Council
			35 Carlisle Street
			Gettysburg, Pa. 17325  (717) 334-6274

	I guess I've got to go back to work, enough rambling for now  :^(

					The Alabama Slammer  

    Reply to .1
    
    Thanks!  It sounds great.  My great grand father fought there in a
    North Carolina unit. 
    
    
                                  Marshall

    Reply to .1
    
    Alabama Slammer, is four days, three nights a good amount of time for
    taking in Gettysburg?
    
    
    
                                Marshall

    
    	Sounds like a good amount to me. I would suggest the first day
    dedicate it to doing the tourist thingie. Seriously, take one of the
    tour buses around the park. They are most informative and they really 
    give you good feel of what ya'll are looking at. By all means visit
    the Visitor's Center, they have an excellent display of artifacts, etc.
    It will also give a good idea of the enormous size of the park.
    	Also catch the show at the Cyclorama. It is very well done also.
    We did it in uniform when coming back from the 125th of Appomattox a
    couple of years ago. It was a dreary, misty type day and our wool
    uniforms were a little damp. When we were standing at the show in the
    Cyclorama, a little girl said to her mom; "Mom, I smell horses in
    here". Needless to say we had the best view in the house! Everybody
    seemed to back away from us. I couldn't figure out why?  :^)
    	The other three days, just walk around the park and absorb it all.
    I spent three days myself just walking the whole park and reading just
    about every plaque and monument that I could see. Walk around the 
    "Wheat Field", crawl around "Devil's Den" do it all.
    	Especially read up on where your ancestor fought. Retrace his steps
    if at all possible. When we did it uniform, we traced the 5th Alabama
    Battalion's course through the whole fight.
    	We started at Willowby's Run, down the Chambersburg Pike, where the
    the 5th Alabama and the 13th Alabama were on a skirmish line, recieving
    the first Union shots fired during the battle. On the first day of the
    battle, the 5th recieved and supplied a major portion of the fire on
    the Confederate left. The 5th was held in reserve during the second
    day.
    	On the third day of Gettysburg the unit was on the Confederate left
    for the assault on the Union center. The 5th Alabama started "Pickett's
    Charge" with 200 men present for duty, the unit could only muster 100
    men in the night after the attack. With a loss of 50% of its strength,
    the 5th managed to breach a section of the wall and was the only unit
    in its Brigade not to lose its colors.
    	The 5th started the charge to the left of the Virginia Monument, as
    your facing the copse of trees. We started at the plaque bearing the
    spot where Archer's Brigade was located and walked across the field.
    Talk about a strange feeling. You could almost see and hear firing
    of the guns as we advanced across the field.
    	Can ya'll tell I like it there? Naw, not me!
    
    					The Alabama Slammer
    
    P.S. Check out that right purdy "Alabama Monument" It's a right fine
    		piece of work, yes sir!
    
    						2nd Sgt. Noah Little
    					5th Alabama Battalion, Company A
    						Archer's Brigade
    						Heth's Division
    						A.P. Hill's Corps.
    						A.N.V.

    Also, just outside the park is an observation tower that rises about
    400' above the battlefield.  Obviously it gives a grand view of the
    entire area including the Yankee rear where Custer fought off the Reb
    calvery.  It costs something like $4.00 per person and (to me) is well
    worth the price.
    
    Last summer I stayed in Hershey and drove down to Gettysburg.  There
    are lots of camping areas to choose form.  Bring a bicycle and a picnic
    lunch.  The perimeter road can get croweded but the interior roads
    seemed to get a lot less traffic.  My wife, son and I enjoyed biking
    around.  Lots to see and learn.
    
    
    Marv
    

    A few people have recommended the bus tours already.  They are a good 
    idea if you want a VERY quick overview of the battlefield.  The one
    time that I went, it seemed as if the buses were always cruising by at
    light speed with a running commentary by the drivers and people desper-
    ately trying to snap one or two pictures from the windows before the
    bus drove out of sight.  If you have a cassette player I would suggest
    getting one of the recorded tours.  They give you easy to follow
    directions, a sound effects track, and colorful commentary along with
    the same historical background you get on the bus tours.  The added
    bonus is that you can stop the tape at any point you want to in order
    to take as much time as you'd like to walk around and check out all of
    the interesting sights.  That's how we did it, and I've never regretted
    it.  I was about 9 or 10 at the time, and my Dad still has the tape.
    Some day I'll borrow it from him and go back.  As Slammer says, it 
    really is the Holy Land.
    
    Ziff

    
    	What about bringing that tape to Remembrance Day in November?
    We can play it as we march around the park? It sure would make the 
    parade more interesting, wouldn't it Private Pearson???  :^)
    
    					Sgt. Alabama Slammer

    I'll second getting the recorded tour for the auto route.  It is 
    available at the wax museum across from the park and it was well 
    worth it.
    
    I did not do the bus tour, but we ran into one while on Little Round 
    Top.  The tour guide doing the commentary was so descriptive that we 
    could almost see the ghosts of the Confederate soldiers coming over 
    the crest of the hill.  If we go back, we'll take that bus tour.
    
    By the way, the motels near the park tend to get a little steep, so if
    you're on a budget (I was) you may want to shop around a little bit. 
    
    In short, we did most of the parks in PA, MD, and VA, and Gettysburg
    was the most exciting.

    This past July 1-3 I visited Gettysburg with my wife and two kids. I
    would recommend to all visitors to see the Electronic Map in the
    Visitors Center, before venturing out to see the battlefield(s) in 
    person. It gives a good overview of what happened and where to get you
    oriented.
    It rained during our visit, so we did the Car Tour (kids and rain don't
    mix), but if I could, I would walk the tour to get the full impact of
    the place; the distances involved, the terrain. It is hard for most of
    us in these days to imagine the fear, exhilaration, exhaustion,
    and dedication those men experienced. But Gettysburg offers a good
    format to try. The center of the Union line, The Angle, where Pickett's
    Charge ended, has remained pretty much the same (at least compared to
    the tree growth in other parts of the Park--Culp's hill etc.) from what
    the rangers told me. So the view from there, out accross the field to
    the Reb lines a mile away, is quite impressive.
    The town of Gettysburg has done pretty well balancing the sacred nature
    of the site and inevitable growth of Tourist traps. We camped outside
    the town, just north of Culp's Hill, which was fine. Everything is
    within walking distance, if your healthy (and depending on your kids
    age and inclinations).
    Overall it was a great trip, a must for ACW enthusiasts.
    
    BTW Pickett's Charge was reenacted the day after we had to leave--I
    guess I'll just have to go back--maybe as a reenactor.
    
    Glenn 

    
    	Re: 66.9...
    		"Maybe as an reenactor..."  Well it just so happens
    that I'm sitting downstairs from ya'll, Glenn (At least for the
    moment!!!). Interested in wearing grey?? Our group likes and has
    about 6 - 8 young kids in it....Wives included...
    
    					The Alabama Slammer

The wife and I just did Gettysburg this last weekend - 3rd time there for me,
and I still haven't seen it all!

We watched the episode of Ken Burns' "The Civil War" dealing with Gettysburg,
and then the "Gettysburg" movie, both on tape, before heading down... it
really helps you get a feel for people and places when you immerse yourself
in it like this.

Saw a few battle sites that I never got to before - Culp's hill, Barlow's
Knoll. Finally figured out how to get to Devil's Den! Can't believe it took 3
trips! A lot of the little access roads are one way, which can be confusing.
Spangler's Spring is a good picnic/get out of the car and crash for a while
spot. 1st weekend in May is blossom season there, so it's a very pretty time
of year with all the trees in bloom. Also much more comfortable than July.

Take in a ranger talk or two if you have time there. We didn't this time, but
last year we hit a National Cemetary talk and a Peach Orchard talk. The
rangers really know their stuff, and they even do "living historys", in which
the ranger acts out the part of a CW era character.

Tourist traps you might as well skip: the wax museum, the Lincoln Train
museum, the National Tower. We've never bothered with any of these so-called
attractions, and I have a feeling we haven't missed much. There are a couple
of Park Service towers on the battlefield that you can climb for free, and
Little Round Top has another great high-angle view of the entire town. A
couple of the "traps" might interest military buffs, but I've never bothered
much with them - the Colt firearms museum and the military museum across the
Baltimore Pike from the Nat'l Tower.

On the other hand, there's some shops in the Cemetary Hill area that are
worth a look. One is called "The Horse Soldier", and has many genuine CW
artifacts for sale, including a case full of Gettysburg stuff. It's almost a
museum in itself. Next door is a minatures shop selling hand crafted
figurines and models of CW and military nature. These two are in the little
"Old Gettysburg Village" plaza. There's several stores with a good selection
of CW books scattered around... you have to poke around a little, 'cuz what
looks like a T-shirt shop might have a whole wing of good books. We got one
of those old-fashioned sepia photos made - I in Confederate officer's garb,
my wife in a period wedding dress. The shop is in the house Gen. Reynolds was
carried to after he fell on the field, and the photographer told us ghost
stories. Slightly east of the town square is another relic shop that I've
wanted to hit since last year, oh well next time I guess!

You never know what you'll find... some re-enactors had a neat Confederate
camp set up outside the wax museum. Men in butternut flying a Georgia flag.
A US cavalry trooper, complete with dovetail flag, rode by us out on
McPherson's ridge where the battle started.

Next year - the East Cavalry Battlefield or bust!