Gettysburg

Cannons through a rainy driver's side window.

I loved the red barn against the green of the grass and the slightly stormy blue of the sky.

Another rainy car window shot of York Street in Gettysburg.

On our drive home from New York we decided to go a little out of our way and stop in Gettysburg. It was raining. Again. It rained every single day of our trip, but we didn't let that stop us. As we drove into town we followed the signs up to the Lutheran Seminary on Seminary Ridge. We saw signs for an auto tour so we decided that was the way to go with the rain and all.

We drove all over the battlefield for probably about an hour. Despite the rain, there were a couple of times when I had to get out of the car. One of them was to see Little Round Top from the top. It was raining pretty steadily, but Nate and I ran up to the top to have a look. It was incredible. The view was nice, even obscured by the weather as it was, but more than that, the feeling of being there was amazing. You can't really tell from the bottom how steep a climb it is, but the vantage point from the top offered another perspective. I could imagine the Confederate army climbing that hill, wave after wave and the Union army defending their position from the top. If you are not familiar with this engagement it is remarkable. The Union soldiers were out of ammunition but they had been told to hold the line no matter what. Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain instructed his men to fix bayonets and as another wave of Confederate soldiers mounted their offense, the Union soldiers charged down hill with this bayonets. The rebel army turned and fled. Several surrendered. This was a turning point at Gettysburg. I cannot read the account as depicted in Michael Shaara's The Killer Angels without getting chills. History is so cool!

After seeing Little Round Top, we continued to drive for awhile looking at the monuments and the scenery. We needed to get back on the road so we could make it to Roanoke, VA where we were going to be staying that night but we really enjoyed the small amount of time we were able to spend in Gettysburg. We decided that we would love to go back when we have three or four days to spend there sometime in the future.