the last of virginia

the north carolina monument at gettysburg

i spent much of my last day in virginia in....pennsylvania. chris and i drove up to gettysburg on friday to tour the civil war battlefield. i was particularly excited to see this site after having read 'killer angels' last fall in dr. kellison's 'history of the civil war and reconstruction' class. if you haven't heard of this michael shaara book, it tells the story of gettysburg from the point of view of various leaders on both sides of the conflict in such a way as to make it much more accessible (and somewhat less historical). it reads more like a novel than a history book.

the battle of gettysburg took place over 3 days in early july, 1863, culminating in the confederates dcharging up cemetery ridge to be massacred by the well-positioned union soldiers. this includes the infamous pickett's charge, in which the confederate forces suffered over a 50% casuality rate (map). the picture at left is of the field his men crossed--they came out of the trees in the distances, marched across the open fields, and climbed the fences the bordered the road in the middle distance, and tried to make it over the stone wall. about a mile all told, with union soldiers firing on them all the way. after the charge, lee asked pickett to regroup his division, to which pickett replied 'general lee, i have no division.' combined with the confederate loss at vicksburg, which i visited last month, gettysburg turned the tide of the civil war.

i was hearted by the sheer number of people at the national park. while the amount was likely inflated due to the holiday weekend, there were still a lot of families and boyscout troops. at the right is a troop in front of the virginia monument, with lee astride traveller on top. it was nice to see that there were so many people interested in the history, or at least pretending to be. equally intriguing were the volunteer battlefield guides all over the park. they were mostly older men in starched blue shirts, and were willing and able to answer any question you might have about the battle or the battlefield as it now stands. understandably considering that gettysburg was the bloodiest battle in the civil war, there were quite a few monuments, although not nearly as many as vicksburg.

on this memorial day weekend seeing this historic civil war site, my fourth in less than a month, i was reminded of what so many have given for this country. this impression was reinforced when the book i am re-reading, the fantastic made in america by bill bryson, discussed lincoln's gettysburg address. timely, concerning my visit. i think this is a text we could all do with reading this time of year--they are beautiful words with deep meaning, and one we often forget. and anyway, when was the last time you really read lincoln's words? fifth grade?

'four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. we are met on a great battle-field of that war. we have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. it is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

but, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. the brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. it is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. it is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.'