Gettysburg Battlefield

We spent the better part of 2 days driving & walking the complete 24-mile auto tour.  It includes 16 tour stops and Barlow Knoll Loop and historic downtown.  The tour traces the 3-day battle in chronological order.  We took about 200 pictures of the battlefield and the many markers.  I'm going to put a fair number of pictures, not all will have a description.  Many represent the various states involved.  I did not even get pictures of all the various states' monuments.

Notice the flame at the top of the monument.  It is to represent eternal unity in the US.

This is the town of Gettysburg from the above monument.

This picture is from one of 3 observation towers we climbed.  This is to show an example of how many markers or monuments are on each stretch of every road.

 The picture above and the monument below both are for North Carolina.

The four pictures above all relate to Robert E. Lee.
Cannons line many of the fields.  These fences were constructed by the farmers before the war.  They were to divide the fields and keep livestock separated. 

This was taken from another observation tower.  It is the house Pres. Eisenhower retired to at the end of his presidency. 

This is General Meade of the Union.  He found this hillside and requisitioned Union troops.  He could see the Confederates moving across the valley below which became know as Devils Den.
The following 4 pictures are of the Devils Den.

The only coverage in Devils Den.

The 2 pictures above are the monument erected on the hillside for part of the New York troops.

This collection of rocks used for protection is near the NY monument above.

The 4 pictures below are of a campsite we came across.  It is a group of people putting on a demonstration of a Georgia troop.

The man sitting in front of the tent is a "wounded soldier that might lose his leg".

 This is typically what a soldier carried.  We also learned that a person could not be in the military if his front teeth were missing because a person needed front teeth to rip open the black powder pouch.  Also the rifle you see is a 50 caliber.  The bullets moved so slow (compared to today's guns) that the bullet went in and bounced all around tearing up the insides instead of going thru the body.  That's why so many died.

This memorial was erected where President Abe Lincoln gave his Gettysburg speech.

We wondered thru the National Cemetery.  We were told the names of many of the dead were unknown.  We saw several grave stones similar to this one.

Here is Gettysburg from another hilltop.  We have had 2 beautiful days with highs in the mid 70's.

Drive from Milford, VA to Gettysburg, PA

Wow, we started in VA this morning.  We traveled thru Maryland then into PA.  We passed the outskirts of Washington DC, but did not see hardly anything notable.

There was this unusual building.  The exit signs said "Triangle Quantico". This is the museum of the Marine Corp, just outside of Quantico.

This was the outskirts of Washington.  Doesn't look any different than most big cities.

 As we left Washington DC we started to see hills for the first time since we left the shore line.

Traffic was light and roads were good.  Beautiful hillsides.

This was taken out the door window.  A church with a tall white cross that could be seen a long ways away caught my eye.

Our last view of Maryland.

We are in Pennsylvania now and it is only 12 miles to our campground just outside Gettysburg. 

Here we are at our campground.  Just a couple of miles up the road is the battlefield.  We could not be any closer.

We checked into our campground.  This site did not have sewer hookup so we only stayed at this spot for 2 nights.  Then we moved to another spot with full hookup.

Here is our new spot.  We have trees on both sides to give shade in the am & pm.  Great spot. 

This is a pond that is at the back of the campground.  The water is so still it is like a mirror.

This is the same pond standing on the opposite side looking at the gazebo near the waters edge.  This picture was taken a different day.  Again the water is like a mirror.