May 19, 2012

• Gettysburg!

  I chaperoned the 5th grade field trip to Gettysburg yesterday.  I’d never been there.

  This is the cupola that Sam Elliott shouted out of in the movie. Buford it appears to be.  Yup, I get my historical information from imdb.  This is on Seminary Hill because there’s a seminary there.  Not to be confused with Cemetery Hill, because there’s one of those too. 

  

  I think this is a house with a cannonball in it.  If it isn’t, it’s some house near the action.

  

  This is the beginning of the battle.  They weren’t supposed to be shooting at each other.

  

  This is the view up to Little Round Top.  The north had the higher ground and the south had to go up there.  No wonder Longstreet wasn’t in a big hurry to get there.  Day 2.

  

  This is from the museum.  Many of LLO’s girl compatriots were all gaga for Chamberlain (and bought the bobbleheads that I mentioned yesterday).  This leads me to believe that the Gettysburg movie is the same one I watched.  No statue of Chamberlain at Gettysburg- it’s up in Maine.  The girls nearly hijacked the bus. Chamberlain’s men ran out of ammunition and still chased the south away. 

  

  This is the engineer dude (who probably has a name) who spotted the south moving toward Little Round Top and told the northern generals to get some fighters over ASAP.  The dude is the stickish looking thing sw of the monument.  Yes, I do have telephoto.  No, I don’t remember to use it.  Engineer dude does have a name: chief engineer, Brig. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren

  

  This is Devil’s Snare.  Where some guy from the north went to instead of following his orders and staying on LRT.  I’ve been reminded that Devil’s Snare is from Harry Potter and that I meant to say Devil’s Den. Dude who didn’t follow orders was Sickles.

  

  This would be LLO sitting on a big honking rock on LRT. It’s a much, much bigger drop off than it looks.  Much.  I was a little concerned that she or someone near her would be less on the rock than off. 

  I love this picture.

  

  Um.  Some guy on a horse.  I know he’s important.  But all I remember the guide telling us was that the statue was recently renovated and the copper was polished and waxed to get rid of all the green stuff.  Well.  I looked it up here.  The guy on the horse IS pretty darn important.  It’s Lee.  This is the Virginia state monument representing the Army of Northern Virginia.

  

  a field people had to run across to shoot at each other related to famous guy on horse.

  

  This is where the north was hanging out waiting for the Rebels to get stuck getting over fences.

  

  This is the eternal flame monument.  My kid would be the one who asked what happens when it rains.  Our guide, who was quite funny, called it something like an almost eternal flame or a lying eternal flame or something and told us when the flame goes out (occasionally with lots of rain or snow) that somebody comes with a big match to relight it.  Then he let us know he was fibbing about that.

  

  Fifer outside the museum.  He was terrific, of course.  LLO and I got to talking about drummers and fifers and how important the drummers were.  Always need a little plug for percussion in the band.

  

  This is part of an incredible painting in the upper part of the museum.  It’s a panorama that goes completely around in a circle.  It’s huge.  I overheard someone say the artist painted Lincoln in.  He’s the bearded guy those two men are carrying.

  

  Throughout the battlefield, there are monuments for each state represented in the battle.  I think this is Mississippi for @be_the-rain.  I couldn’t figure out what that thing is when I was looking at it either.  The bus was moving.  Maybe an alligator?  I thought it was a person.  I dunno.  nope. person.  check it out here.  Why did I just think it was an alligator?  Not a lot of alligators in south-central Pa. 

  

  Naturally the biggest monument is for Pennsylvania.  As it should be.  I think that’s LLO’s teacher up on the balcony.

  

  And this is the view from up there.  It was high, boys and girls.  The two cannons across the road are green (I think it’s hard to tell that in this photo). The green cannons shoot regular round cannonballs.  The pair on this side of the road are black and are grooved, so that when the ammo comes out it’s faster and goes farther.  It may also be cannister ammo, which is a can filled with shot.  I blinked when the guy was talking.  You know what happens when I blink.

  

  Guide told us about Jenny Wade, the only civilian casualty.  She got hit by a bullet while baking bread.  Our guide quipped “she was kneading dough because she needed dough.”  He really was quite amusing.  He kept me focused on what he was saying about 80% of the time.  This is pretty good.  For me.

  I hope this is a satisfactory report, @Bricker59

   

  • 4:26 pm
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