Gettysburg

Here is a pic of me and Camille at Gettysburg battlefield in PA. We are standing on Little Round Top, only a few hundred yards from where Chamberlain and his Maine boys made their famous stand. Down behind us you can see Devils Den where some of the worst fighting occured. Men from both sides hid in the rocks you can see and fought to the death. We are standing in a prime spot for sharpshooters. When Dan and I went there a few years ago, we ran into some sharpshooter re-enacters and they were actually very interesting to talk to. If you follow the little road you can see behind us, it goes over the little, rocky hill drops down in front of the line of trees. That area is known as the Wheatfield and it was the bloodiest scene of the 3 day battle. It is a very small area and changed hands 5-6 times if I remember correctly. If you look past that area of trees you can see the battle field start to open to a larger, cleared area. Much of the last two days of battle occured in that area with the South coming from the far side of the clearing and trying to dislodge the flank of the Union Army which sat roughly where Camille and I are. Interestingly, if you pass that clearing and then go a few hundred yards into the trees that line it you would leave the National Park, cross a fence and step onto the Eisenhower Farm. Yes you are correct, it is that Eisenhower, Dwight himself. He did not grow up there, but loved the area and its history and bought the farm after his rise to prominence. You can visit the farm today and it is a very beautiful place that Dwight used to welcome many interesting people, such as Winston Churchill. To give you some perspective, if you were wondering, The battlefield area is very large. You are seeing probably a tenth of it behind us. The areas encompassing the 1st day of battle, the town of Gettysburg, Union and Southern Headquarters, and the key areas such as Pickett's Charge are far to the right of the picture.