Gettysburg: The Battlefields Tour

Today was a history lesson. Anyone who knows anything about us at all knows that Wayne has a deep love of military history. 

We arrived at Gettysburg and took a campsite in Artillery Ridge Campground and National Riding Stables. The smell of horse poo is dreadfully strong and there are horse enthusiasts everywhere, but we're managing. You won't be able to make out the wording on the sign over his head in the photo below.  It reads: "Ride into history on HORSEBACK.  Battlefield tours." Can you imagine.  No, we didn't ride horses.



This morning we headed to the National Park Visitors Center to see what information we could gleen for our visit to the area.  While today's weather is pretty nice, rain from a tropical depression is due to move in tonight with heavy rain expected tomorrow.

We opted to purchase a field guide with tour CD and tour from the comfort of our own car. Two other options were available for touring the battlefields:  Personal guide or tour bus. Ugh.

Here is some of what we saw today with captions where I can remember what they are:



Statue of Abner Doubleday, a Union General and the inventor of the game of Baseball.
Refer to our trip to Cooperstown, NY two weeks ago for more...



Yours truly standing at the North Carolina Monument



Tennessee Monument




General Robert E Lee and the Confederate Soldiers Memorial
From very near this monument, General Lee watched the battle of Picket's Charge 

 

Picket's Charge area from the point of the Confederacy



The farm and home of President and Mrs Dwight D. Eisehower



Wayne on Little Roundtop



Wayne is standing at a famous photographic place known in an area known as Devils' Den.
A photograph of a dead Confederate soldier was taken here. 
The photo was published widely throughout the country.
Later it was learned the photograph had been staged.



High Water Mark - Picket's Charge. This area was known as "the angle".
Final decisive point in the battle of Gettysburg giving the Union it's victory here
and turning the tide in the war's eventual outcome.

We have yet to visit the Farm and Home of President Eisenhower so we'll be doing that, visiting the cemetery, seeing the cyclorama and the museum before we pull out of Gettysburg.