"You never knew what old friend was out there"
When I first became interested in military history, dangerboy commented the best way to understand it is to learn about a particular battle and then visit the field itself to see how the ground makes a difference. So it was a slam dunk when TWH announced we'd be going to Gettysburg and how much she enjoyed The Killer Angels. Somehow though, I was still frantically finishing it though the morning we were to tour Gettysburg. It's easy to see why the book won a Pulitzer Prize: in addition to showing the particulars of an important point in American history (one that I knew nothing about) the writing is lyrical and you almost don't need the maps and cast list at the beginning, although I referred to both constantly.
The original plan was to ride the battlefield, but alas we were too early in the season for horses. We hired two rent-a-guides from the visitor's center, bc we didn't have a vehicle large enough for everyone - my offers to sit in TWH's lap were not taken, alas - and the guide in my car was merely ok. He is really into all the little stories from the battle, so he told us little factoids about the Hawaiian who fought there, or the two native Americans who ended up on the battlefield - but didn't give a good overview of the battle. I'm not sure if my companions got anything out of his spiel. As it was, we stopped at most of the big landmarks and my reading gave me a good sense of why we care about Chamberlain's position on Little Round Top or why Lew Armistead gets a marker about where he fell. Unfortunately, by the end of the day, I also realized that Shaara did not cover the whole battle in his book, so I have no idea what was going on with Sickles and the non-Chamberlain parts of the Union lines on day 2. Eventually I'd be interested to learn about the bits I missed, but I'm a little Gettysburg-ed out right now.
The museum at the visitor's center is superb and well worth seeing, giving context to the battlefield itself. I've been to many museums all over the world and I'd put this in my top 10 evuh. I wish we'd had more time to look at the artifacts and watch the movies.
After dinner, we repaired to TWH's father's house to watch the movie. I'm so proud of myself for bringing our host a whiskey he liked very much - and he in turn was delighted when I had seconds. What serendipity that drinking bourbon with my lover taught me to like a drink my other lover's father likes. Also yaay good first impressions. I was dozy during the movie, but I figured I'd enjoy it more with the others. We laughed at Civil War facial hair and I'm still traumatized to learn there's Armistead/Hancock slash. eep.
Sunday we walked Pickett's Charge. Well, TWH and I ran from the Emmitsburg Road to the copse of trees that was his target. Even walking, it was not easy terrain. I guess I can sort of see why the ripples in the fields made it interesting ground to fight on or, in general, why walking uphill into enemy fire like on Little Round Top would suck. We then went over to Devil's Den, whose significance I still haven't caught, and the rocks were too polished for good bouldering.
My boss asked me on Monday what my takeaways were from the battle, which I thought was a funny question. However, it seems to me beyond Stuart's dereliction of his duties or Lee's tiredness, the real problem the South had at Gettysburg was they were less willing (able?) to trust the commanders on the ground. If Buford hadn't been allowed to pick his spot, if Reynolds hadn't backed his play, if Lee had let Longstreet pick his ground, or if Longstreet had let Hood take Big Round Top, maybe things would've gone differently. I see now why Prof. Gallagher's underlying hypothesis that Lee's biggest problem was the attrition amongst his experienced commanders. Reading The Training Ground helped me understand the tragedies of Gettysburg and once I've recovered from this trip, I expect I'll be reading more about the Civil War.
The original plan was to ride the battlefield, but alas we were too early in the season for horses. We hired two rent-a-guides from the visitor's center, bc we didn't have a vehicle large enough for everyone - my offers to sit in TWH's lap were not taken, alas - and the guide in my car was merely ok. He is really into all the little stories from the battle, so he told us little factoids about the Hawaiian who fought there, or the two native Americans who ended up on the battlefield - but didn't give a good overview of the battle. I'm not sure if my companions got anything out of his spiel. As it was, we stopped at most of the big landmarks and my reading gave me a good sense of why we care about Chamberlain's position on Little Round Top or why Lew Armistead gets a marker about where he fell. Unfortunately, by the end of the day, I also realized that Shaara did not cover the whole battle in his book, so I have no idea what was going on with Sickles and the non-Chamberlain parts of the Union lines on day 2. Eventually I'd be interested to learn about the bits I missed, but I'm a little Gettysburg-ed out right now.
The museum at the visitor's center is superb and well worth seeing, giving context to the battlefield itself. I've been to many museums all over the world and I'd put this in my top 10 evuh. I wish we'd had more time to look at the artifacts and watch the movies.
After dinner, we repaired to TWH's father's house to watch the movie. I'm so proud of myself for bringing our host a whiskey he liked very much - and he in turn was delighted when I had seconds. What serendipity that drinking bourbon with my lover taught me to like a drink my other lover's father likes. Also yaay good first impressions. I was dozy during the movie, but I figured I'd enjoy it more with the others. We laughed at Civil War facial hair and I'm still traumatized to learn there's Armistead/Hancock slash. eep.
Sunday we walked Pickett's Charge. Well, TWH and I ran from the Emmitsburg Road to the copse of trees that was his target. Even walking, it was not easy terrain. I guess I can sort of see why the ripples in the fields made it interesting ground to fight on or, in general, why walking uphill into enemy fire like on Little Round Top would suck. We then went over to Devil's Den, whose significance I still haven't caught, and the rocks were too polished for good bouldering.
My boss asked me on Monday what my takeaways were from the battle, which I thought was a funny question. However, it seems to me beyond Stuart's dereliction of his duties or Lee's tiredness, the real problem the South had at Gettysburg was they were less willing (able?) to trust the commanders on the ground. If Buford hadn't been allowed to pick his spot, if Reynolds hadn't backed his play, if Lee had let Longstreet pick his ground, or if Longstreet had let Hood take Big Round Top, maybe things would've gone differently. I see now why Prof. Gallagher's underlying hypothesis that Lee's biggest problem was the attrition amongst his experienced commanders. Reading The Training Ground helped me understand the tragedies of Gettysburg and once I've recovered from this trip, I expect I'll be reading more about the Civil War.