Eternal Gettysburg: July 1-3 1863

Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. JFK

View from the High Water Mark at sunset.

Duty

Union canon facing west toward the Confederate lines just to the right of the High Water Mark.

Honor

Just before Pickett's charge over 100 Confederate and Union canons fired upon each another.

Glory

New York Zouaves Memorial

In a corn field stands a memorial to the soldiers of a New York regiment who also were firefighters.

Trostle Barn and West Facing Cannon

Here and No Further

At this spot is erected a memorial that marks the spot where Confederate forces were stopped and made to retreat. Confederate forces would never again threaten the territory of the North.

Here We Remember

At this spot in Gettysburg stands a memorial were Lincoln stood and delivered the Gettysburg Address.

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. "

Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

Never Forget What They Did Here

The dead from the Battle of Gettysburg are buried in the Union cemetery.

Sniper's Nest facing Confederate Lines

The southern portion of the battlefild contains two small hill, the Round Tops and across from them a cluster of large boulders that was called Devil's Den. The space between the Round Tops and the Devils Den was known as the Slaughter Pen.

Typical Soldier From The Army Of The Potomac

The typical Civil War soldier was perhaps 22 or 23 years old, a boy by todays standards.

Battle Hymn Of The Republic

Looking West to Emmitsburg Road

Four Score And Seven Years Ago...

Site of the Gettysburg Address.

Where Have All The Flowers Gone

Last Full Measure Of Devotion

Fence Looking North Toward Cemetery Hill

West From Devil's Den Toward the Wheatfield

Confederate Fence

For God and Country

Ready...Aim...

Twilight's Last Gleaming

Looking Toward The Union Lines At Cemetery Ridge Looking South to North

View From The Confederate Lines Looking West

Moment Of Truth

Roll Call

The Civil War was the first war that was photographed. This grouping of photographs include U. S. Grant and Aberham Lincoln.

Weikert House

From The Valley Of Death Looking Up To Little Round Top

Union Cannon At Devil's Den

From Sniper's Nest toward Little Round Top

Devil's Den

Looking South Along Cemetery Ridge Toward The Round Tops

Sniper's Nest At Devil's Den Facing Little Round Top

Swirling Sunset At The Angle

Lee's Lament: Pettigrew's Thrust

Pickett's Charge was actually two charges at the same time. The path in the photo shows the route that Pettigrew took. As his and Pickett's forces got closer to the Union lines the fighting became more and more intense.

Pickett's (L) and Pettigrew's (R) Avenues Of Assault:The Charge

General Lee's decision to assault the Union lines from across an open field was one of desperation. The approach was uphill to begin with. The distance was far, about a mile. Union canon would rain down on the Confederates every step of the way. Loses would be great. Yet if successful would perhaps be the victory that would cause the Union to give the South what it wanted most: independence. In the end Lee's gamble did not pay off and the Army of Northern Virginia had to limp home.