2008 Vacation Part 1 - Gettysburg

This summer as we headed to New York to visit the girls, we decided to take a more southern route and stop at Gettysburg. I teach a simulation mini-course to 5th graders every spring about the Civil War, and wanted to gain more understanding and highlights to use in my classroom. WOW! Be prepared for a history lesson as I try to explain the overwhelming experience we had at the battlefield. I'll save my New York stories for another day.We made reservations at the Gettysburg KOA for two nights, knowing we'd spend at least a day doing the history things. We arrived Tuesday night, and spent Wednesday at the battlefield - thirteen hours including a personal tour guide, time in the new visitor's center, and then driving around ourselves. There are 1,300 monuments from every Northern regiment that fought there, plus one from every Southern state that had troops involved. The total number of troops was mindboggling - 90,00 for the North and about 70,00 for the south. The supply trin for Lee's army was 60 miles long on the journey north - including herds of cattle and hogs captured along the route.
We hired a special guide for the first two hours who tailored his tour to the things we were most interested in, as well as giving us an over-all survey of the layout of each day's battle. We were, of course, interested in the 1st Minnesota, who were instrumental in saving the day on July 3, 1863, the second day of the three day battle. I also wanted to find out as much as I could about our ancestor, Lt. Col. Theodore B. Catlin (my great-great grandfather) who was part of the 5th Wisconsin. We have a story handed down to us, but some of the details were confused, so I tried to get the facts. He was a great guide - when I told him we have photos of Lt. Colville's monument in Cannon Falls, and portraits of T.B. Catlin in his uniform plus some other memorabilia, he gave me his e-mail address and asked me to send them to him. Who knows - they may end up on the walls in a display at the Visitors Center!
This is Little Round Top - the most important hill for the North to hold onto during the whole confrontation. They have been making everything look as much like it did during the war as possible - so this hill had been clear cut and was open and rocky - an for the rebels to try to attack up the hill was a suicide mission, as long as the ammunition held out.
At the lower left of Little Round Top was the Devil's Den and Suicide Pit - rebel sharpshooters were hiding amoung the rocks and boulders.
This statue is of Alfred Woolson, the oldest survivor of the war. He lived in Duluth until 1956, when he died at the age of 109! Here we came across a school group from St. Charles, Minnesota who were having a tour led by two civil war re-enactors, so we joined them for a bit. They had lots of int4eresting tidbits to add to the battle action.
Father Colby, from the town of Gettysburg came out on the second day of the battle to pray for the troops.
This is the monument honoring the 1st Minnesota. They were asked to do the impossible - hold the lines where a regiment from New York was skedaddling due to their incompetent colonel not following orders. He didn't like the place he was ordered to be and went elsewhere and created a huge mess for his men and almost lost the day for the North. But the 1st Minnesota came to the rescue. 262 men were all that was left of the 1,000 that began the war. They charged the enemy and held the day, but there were only 47 survivors. Colonel Colville was wounded, but refused to leave the field. His statue is in Cannon Falls, where he is buried, and we have taken many hikes up to see "Big Man" over the years!
Theodore Catlin and his regiment arrived at the battle on the evening of the second day. His regiment had seen action in many of the early battles of the war, fighting in the Army of the Potomac - battles like Antietam and Chancellorsville. They were held in reserve on day 3 to be ready to plug any holes that might open up in the lines. This view is of the area where the famous "Pickett's Charge" took place. Again, the North held the high ground.
The North had rows of cannons at the top of the ridge, and shelled the rebels for two hours with cannister shot. The cannisters exploded in mid air and spewed shrapnel or mini balls all over the charging rebel lines. They almost made it - 17,000 were killed attempting to capture the ridge.
This monument was built for the 75th anniversary of the Battle at Gettysburg - it is called The Peace Monument. Survivors came from North and South on the 50th anniversary, and the 75th to shake hands and vow to never rip apart our country again.

The whole experience was incredible. The amount of area the three days of battle encompassed can not be shown by a few pictures. After we toured with our guide, we spent hours in the Visitors Center and Bookstore. We have a great book on the 1st Minnesota that Paul read during the rest of our trip. It is based on letters home from the men in the regiment who acted as war correspondents for various hometown newspapers. I also got a book on Wisconsin's involvement in the war - Lt. Col. Catlin led his regiment in capturing the 24th Virginia at the Battle of the Wilderness in May of 1864. The regimental flag was captured along with many prisoners, though Catlin was either wounded or became sick, and couldn't lead them for the rest of that campaign. He was mustered out in August of 1864 when his three year enlistment was up.

We even went back to drive around a few more areas on Thursday morning for about two hours before heading to New York and time with the girls. I'll add to this vacation post again in a few days with Part Two - Adirondack Fun!