Gettysburg battlefield

Gettysburg is a quite small town and had a population of only 2400 during the days of the battle. That was 5 military for each towns person. It was the towns people who had to bear the brunt of caring for the wounded in makeshift hospitals. The vastness of the battlefield overwhelmed the town, and cannon could be heard many miles away.

Today you can drive the battlefield, with or without a hired guide. You can tour by bus, carriage, horse or segway. The guides are registered and very knowledgeable. The horseback tour crosses the battlefield, and the road basically surrounds it. Along the rode are astonishing number of monuments of different sizes and shapes. Most are stone and bronze, and they memorialize the fallen of the various states and military groupings who participated. The monuments often relate the number of soldiers who died, were wounded and were missing as well and the number of horses killed. Periodically there are walkup towers that allow for a panoramic view of the battlefield.

This was a bloody and brutal battle, but a seminal one for the war. After Gettysburg, Lee was mostly on the defensive heading toward Appamatox. The battle had its myriad stories around its officers, soldiers and events. Big decisions, small decisions and poor decisions all added to the final result. Sometimes there were long periods of strategy and maneuvering. Sometimes a matter of a few minutes was crucial to the success of the campaign.

War is hell. It surely was for the men who fought at Gettysburg. Forced marches, lack of food and water, horrid summer weather, the reality of what was happening around them must have all seemed unbearable. But they did it. And I couldn't help thinking of the battlefields of the World Wars and even today of Aleppo, Iraq and Afghanistan.