Gettysburg Day 3

We headed back to Little Round Top around 7:30 on Thursday. The decision to do this allowed us to visit the spot of a crucial engagement that occured on the second day of the battle. As we were two of the few people that were there at this time of the day, it gave us an opportunity to reflect on the bravery and sacrifices that both armies made on that slope. It is said that the small creek named Plum Run ran red with blood for days after this engagement. The Confederate army had already pushed the Union forces out of Devil's Den, and the last stand of Meade's left flank was made at Little Round Top. A breach in the line that day by Confederate forces would probably have changed the outcome of the entire battle. Note the cannonball hole still remaining at this farmhouse.



The Pennsylvania Memorial is shown below.





From there we went to the last stop on the tour, an area called the High Water Mark. The area is so named because it was as far as the Confederate troops taking part in "Pickett's Charge" could advance. Late in the afternoon of July 3, 1863, the third and final day of the battle, General Pickett led over 12,000 men against some 7,000 Union soldiers controlling the high ground at Cemetery Ridge. Pickett's troops marched across open ground for almost one mile in an attempt to gain victory. Cannon fire, long rifles, and at the end hand to hand combat thinned their ranks. The battle lasted for less than two hours, and although the southern army fought valiantly, the Union army held the line, and of those 12,000 men, more than 50% became casualties. Out of the original fifteen battle flags that marched across the field that day, only one made it back to Seminary Ridge across the meadow. The following day Lee led the remnants of his army back across the Potomac and into Virginia. Although the war lasted another two years, the die had been cast and the South was on the defensive until its surrender in Appomattox.


To stand on the ground where actual hand to hand combat had taken place between two armies and two ideas that both felt to be righteous was very humbling. To look across the open field and reflect on the magnitude of what took place touched us in a way that is hard to describe. As we continue our travels, we will search out places in this country that allowed people to make this country. We will try to find places where ordinary people have done extraordinary things and hope that we will continue to learn, understand, and appreciate the opportunity to do so.

The picture below is the field that Pickett's army tried to cross the last day of the battle.

Tomorrow we head off to Harper's Ferry, WV, for four days, and we're sure we'll have the opportunity to add to our memories.