gettysburg address - 150 years ago today
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GREATEST BATTLE IN THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES & TURNING POINT OF CIVIL WAR
It's estimated that there were 40,000 to 50,000 casualties in the horrific and bloody battle that lasted from July 1 to 2, 1863.
Approximately one-third of the Confederate army was included in those casualties.
It was the turning of the Civil War and Gen. Robert E. Lee never again entered northern territory.
The war, nevertheless, lasted another two years. The casualties were staggering.
As a young student we memorized Lincoln's Gettysburg Address - delivered 4 months after the battle on this day we commerate today. I remember our classroom had an American flag, before which we recited the pledge of allegiance, and pictures of presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln who we considered our two greatest presidents.
I remember thinking as a little boy - out of all the people in the world - how lucky and fortunate I was to have been born in this country at this time in history.
If I could have been at Gettysburg today I know would have.
I suppose not all people think that way.
Times sure do change and so many of the things we've always considered important, for so many people, just aren't respected anymore. So much of what has made us so exceptional is being eviscerated from our nation's memory - by both neglect and, yes, by design.
GREATEST BATTLE IN THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES & TURNING POINT OF CIVIL WAR
It's estimated that there were 40,000 to 50,000 casualties in the horrific and bloody battle that lasted from July 1 to 2, 1863.
Approximately one-third of the Confederate army was included in those casualties.
It was the turning of the Civil War and Gen. Robert E. Lee never again entered northern territory.
The war, nevertheless, lasted another two years. The casualties were staggering.
As a young student we memorized Lincoln's Gettysburg Address - delivered 4 months after the battle on this day we commerate today. I remember our classroom had an American flag, before which we recited the pledge of allegiance, and pictures of presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln who we considered our two greatest presidents.
I remember thinking as a little boy - out of all the people in the world - how lucky and fortunate I was to have been born in this country at this time in history.
If I could have been at Gettysburg today I know would have.
I suppose not all people think that way.
Times sure do change and so many of the things we've always considered important, for so many people, just aren't respected anymore. So much of what has made us so exceptional is being eviscerated from our nation's memory - by both neglect and, yes, by design.