Gettysburg, PA

“Four score and seven years ago….” 

Many of us recognize the opening words to one of the most famous speeches in American history. It was a speech I was expected to memorize and recite in front of my 8^th-grade class, and to this day it still stirs me.

Gettysburg, PA, which gives name to the famous speech given by Abraham Lincoln, has tugged on my sense of what it means to be an American for some time now. I contemplate the Gettysburg Address and wonder; can it still be applied to the current struggles being felt in this nation today? Does it still have meaning for what people all around the United States are feeling and experiencing? Can we learn from and be “reunited” by these solemn and powerful words?

In the summer after that 8^th-grade year, my parents took me on a trip to Gettysburg Military Park to walk among the monuments, and to stand in those locations on the Civil War battlefield that have become deeply etched into American historical lore:  Little Round Top, Devils Den, The Wheat Field, The Peach Orchard, Plum (“Bloody”) Run, The Copse of Trees near The Bloody Angle. As a teenage boy I was in awe, and although I knew quite a bit about the great battle fought there, over the years I’ve learned so much more.

Misty and I made an intentional plan to travel from Lancaster County to the Gettysburg area, before continuing south to revisit this location. We took the auto tour utilizing the videos provided on the National Park Service website and listened to a Ranger describe what took place at specific points throughout this battlefield. The battlefield is quite large, primarily encompassing most of the northwest and south sides of the Borough of Gettysburg.

The battle began on July 1, 1863, to the northwest, and dragged on through three days of brutal combat. Days two and three were primarily fought on the south side of town, culminating in the dramatic and most famous Pickett’s Charge.

Prior to July 1^st, a major battle was expected by both the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac, but neither side had picked this point on the map to begin that battle. In fact, both armies were merely trying to locate each other, at a time when communication was limited, and instead ran into each other by “accident”.

All major roads in south-central PA and northern Maryland converge at Gettysburg like the spokes of a wheel, which made the movement of troops to this area much easier. Although neither side envisioned a battle here, reinforcements were quick-marched to the combat, utilizing those numerous roads. The encounter that took place that summer morning sparked one of the greatest, most devastating battles of the American Civil War.

During day one of the fighting, the Union forces who arrived first were initially limited and therefore were driven back through the village of Gettysburg (the Confederate Army was arriving at a faster rate due to closer proximity). This resulted in street to street, house to house fighting, as the Union soldiers and cavalrymen attempted to delay the Confederates until additional reinforcements could arrive.

It worked, but the impact on the local population was terrifying. Many families hid in basements or fled their homes completely. One young woman was killed when a stray bullet passed through two wooden doors, striking her in the back as she was kneading dough in her sister’s kitchen. Twenty-year-old Jennie Wade was the only civilian to die in the Battle of Gettysburg.  Today her house is a museum to the memory of the families that endured the terror of the battle around them and the terrible aftermath.

As day one ended, the Union generals surveyed the geography and quickly realized they had been blessed with a strong defensive position on the prominent high ground. It ran from Culp’s Hill, along Cemetery Ridge, to Little Round Top and Big Round Top hills. They took advantage of the opportunity available to them along these defensible positions. Their positions formed what looked very much like a “fishhook”.

So many aspects of this battle make me wonder if America would, to this day, be a divided nation, had the “fortunes of war” not come together as they had, through the bravery and determination of the men who fought at Gettysburg.

• If Confederate forces marched into Gettysburg first, before Union forces arrived.
• If Confederate forces had been able to dislodge the Union from the high ground on day one or early on day two.
• If the 20^th Maine Regiment, led by Joshua Chamberlain, had not held their ground, ultimately with a desperate bayonet charge along the southeast side of Little Round Top hill (This unit was placed on the extreme left flank barely in time, against determined and continuous assaults by the 15th and 47th Alabama Regiments).
• If the Virginia regiments, commanded by General George Pickett, endured the unendurable and overwhelmed their opponents at the Bloody Angle during that famous final charge (also called the “High Water Mark of the Confederacy”).

Would the Union forces have collapsed leading to catastrophic defeat? Would the results have led to the Union losing the war? Would the world as we know it today, have been completely altered? Perhaps the Union cause would still have been upheld some other way, if not at Gettysburg. However, looking back through the lens of history, it appears the war-weary Northern states were on the verge of throwing in the towel.

This brings me back to that cold day in Pennsylvania on November 19, 1863. It had been determined that the National Cemetery being established on a portion of the battlefield, needed to be dedicated and consecrated. In response to this need, the weary and heartbroken, but determined President of the United States, stood before the crowd to give some “appropriate remarks”. The speech took all of two minutes to give. The crowd included veterans of the battle as well as mothers and widows of the fallen. What was the honored Mr. Lincoln trying to convey to the people of this great nation with his words? And can those words speak to us as a people and a united nation today?

Below are portions of the speech from that day that particularly stand out to me.

“… 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.”

“The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.”

“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.”

As I consider the state of affairs in the world today, I find myself stirred anew to do something different. To latch onto these timeless words spoken by Abraham Lincoln, to lift my prayers to God, and to do what little I can to bridge gaps whenever given the opportunity. No matter personal differences, political differences, social differences, a traditional historical viewpoint, or the desire to re-assess historical viewpoints. Perhaps I see the point that Mr. Lincoln was making for all generations following 1863. Our communities are worth preserving and we can be united as one, despite our differences. Liberty and freedom are not just words and are not just for the time of our Founding Fathers, nor just the reason for having fought that Civil War. If we would rededicate ourselves to the great task remaining before us today, then we too shall have a new birth of freedom. We too can rebuild what has been given to us, and we can find common ground. We can meet each other where we’re at, listen to each other and choose to be highly resolved to be there for each other. I’m not suggesting we be naïve or conform to each other’s points of view, but we can reach out a helping hand and all stand together….. as Americans, created equal.

One final interesting note of importance to me, which once again ties back to our visit to Sampson State Park. In that piece, I had mentioned the 126^th New York Regiment, which had been formed in Geneva, NY. It was made up of residents and farmers from the surrounding Finger Lakes region. This unit had sailed on a steamboat, down Seneca Lake and eventually into undeserved “infamy”, being labeled the “Harper’s Ferry Cowards”. This name had been given to them after they were unwillingly surrendered at the Battle of Harper’s Ferry in September 1862.

After their parole, the 126^th NY was eventually attached to the Army of the Potomac and was one of the units who conducted a quick march from Virginia, through Maryland, to the Battle of Gettysburg.

On day two of the battle, the 126^th NY arrived hungry and exhausted but were quickly placed in position among the Union forces on Cemetery Ridge. They were soon given the order to advance and went into battle from the right side of the Union line diagonally to the left toward the source of Plum (“Bloody”) Run. A difficult and dangerous maneuver. Their purpose was to support the Union forces struggling at the Wheat Field and Peach Orchard. The 126^th NY went into combat that day with firm determination and succeeded in driving Confederate forces from the field in front of them. Their actions helped to prevent a breakthrough in that portion of the battlefield. They acquitted themselves well, finally redeeming themselves from the false label they’d been given. The next day, on July 3^rd, the 126^th took part in repulsing Pickett’s Charge. Sadly, their beloved Colonel Eliakim Sherrill of Geneva, who had formed the regiment, was mortally wounded during the fighting on that third day.

 It was with great satisfaction, that I located the monument dedicated to the 126^th NY Regiment. It had been placed near the position they advanced from and defended. We also located several grave markers in the National Cemetery, identifying the final resting place for some of the regiments fallen. One of those photos is included in the cemetery section above.