TURNING POINT OF THE CIVIL WAR

Short ride from Dc to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania where we RV'd at Artillary Ridge Rv Park just 2 minutes from the entrance to Gettysburg National Military Museum.   Oh my - we were both so humbled and impressed.  Just to think this is just 150 years ago.   So gang, right now you are talking to someone who talked to someone who talked to someone who fought in the Civil War.   This too will pass so always, always know our history and why it is so important to keep our country in tact.   Can you think of any country that has been the same for the.
 last 236 years.?
Anyway,  I was talking to my Grandmother one day about her parents and my grandfather's parents.   She told me she never knew her parents because they passed away before she remembers but her father in law, Peter Harrison Bumgardner, would come by the house when she was a young married just to talk.   They had coffee and she said he poured out his heart and soul over the things he saw during "the War".   Guess he needed some therapy for PTSS.
Just a month after the Battle of Gettysburg, there were so many bodies that David Wilks (local attorney) at whose house Lincoln stayed to finish up the Gettysburg address had another local guy start buying land in order to bury the Union soldiers.  (they exhumed Confederate bodies several years later and took them home to bury in the south.)   The first National Cemetery was created.  An artist came not to long afterwards and with survivors painted a canvas that was 360 feet long and 42 feet high that depicted the Battle.   This is on display at the Visitors' Center and it is as impressive as the Battle of Hastings tapestry.
We were so impressed over this battlefield.   Monuments abound in the areas where different units fought.    General Lee led his Virginia army to the west of the Blue Ridge Mtns in attempt to take over Wash Dc and won handedly in two battles.   General Meade's Army of the Potomoc lined up in a line right through the town of Gettysburg.   The key was to get in a position to be high enough to be able to see and defend with rifles and canons.   The Union army had better guns and equipment.   One key battle was the fight for Little Round Top which was a high points that one could see for miles around .   The Texas brigade under General John Hood (yes, Ft. Hood is named for him) tried to defend the area known as Devil's Den which is below the Round Top.   The north and south traded possession of Little Round Top several times.   The North won the battle and kept the south from taking over DC and Pennsylvania but the war would take two more years to come to an end.
The Battle of Gettysburg is so well documented and the complete battle field (about 5 by 2 miles) has been preserved (to the point that houses remain - copse of trees, etc).   Amazing.   We went on several tours by licensed guides and several by park rangers.   Are they ever knowledgeable   everything from artillary, personnel, uniforms, food, medicine, war tactics, biographies!   It is a must if you love history and if you don't you will!    This is the site of the bloodiest battle on American soil in history.
Interesting story on Abe Lincoln's speech too.   He did not write it on an envelope on a train.   When they dedicated the new National cemetery, the townspeople needed a speaker so the governor was invited to speak.   A request out of courtesy was made to Lincoln but they didn't think he would appear.   When he said yes, they now had two speakers.   The people attended in November of 1863 to hear the governor talk for 2 hours.   Lincoln then spoke 200+ words in less than two minutes.   The photographer was so surprised that the only picture is a picture of Abe going back to his seat and it is blurry but it is on display as well.   Go, go see this!