Tuesday, June 4, 2024

Visiting Gettysburg Civil War Battlefield

Visiting the Gettysburg Civil War Battlefield

Whether you are reading this from your home in the Northern US or you are, like me, at home in the Southern US, you probably studied the Civil War. Some of us were required to memorize the famous Gettysburg Address delivered at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Abraham Lincoln in 1863. President Lincoln delivered the speech after the three-day battle in Gettysburg.

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
November 19, 1863

Visiting the Gettysburg Civil War Battlefield

My husband and I recently visited Gettysburg. It has been on my bucket list for many years. We decided to do a self-guided tour using the Gettysburg Field Guide, Second Edition, Narrated by Wayne Motts. It is an illustrated guidebook & Self Guided Audio Tour. The field guide comes with a CD but you can also opt to download it to your phone like we did.

We started out at the Gettysburg Visitor Center. We didn't go into the paid part of the museum because we were short on time. We only had one day to spend there, so we wanted to get outside and go to the battlefield. We did take a few minutes to tour the free displays in the lobby areas of the visitor center.

Gettysburg Battlefield Visitor Center - (c)Tina Truelove 2022

After spending a little time in the visitor center, we purchased our field guide and headed to the battlefield. The field guide includes a battlefield tour map, but we picked up a separate map in the visitor center that was bigger and easier to read and follow.

Gettysburg Battlefield - Field Map

The back of this guide contains a lot of good information, so be sure to pick up a map at the Gettysburg Visitor Center when you visit.

If you use the same materials we used, they will tell you to begin your tour at the visitor center. Don't do that. We were a little confused at first because the first stop on the guided audio tour was not next to the museum. When we finally decided to start over, we made our way to stop number 1. Then, we played the corresponding audio clip that my husband had downloaded to his phone. Then, we made our way to stop number 2. We stopped to play the corresponding clip. Then proceeded to stop number 3. Now you get the idea.

The stops on the numbered guided audio tour are designed to take you through the three-day battle in chronological order. The field guide offers so much information with each stop along the Gettysburg Battlefield tour. Added to that are the memorials with information written on them. The guide will tell you to plan for 2 to 2.5 hours but I will tell you to plan an entire day. You'll want to get out of your vehicle, like we did, to look around, read all the information on the markers, and take it all in. To offer all that infoqraiton here would be just too much for one blog post. I'd have to write a book but the Field Guide offers so much information about each stop as you follow the trail around the battlefield. My husband and I would like to go back some day and take a day or even two days to revisit these grounds.

Enjoy our Photographs

Eternal Light

Eternal Light Peace Memorial - (c)Tina Truelove 2022

Oak Ridge

Oak Ridge Area - (c)Tina Truelove 2022

North Carolina Memorial

North Carolina Memorial - (c)Tina Truelove 2022

Virginia Memorial

Virginia Memorial - (c)Tina Truelove 2022

Pitzer Woods

Pitzer Woods Memorial - (c)Tina Truelove 2022

Warfield Ridge

Warfield Ridge - (c)Tina Truelove 2022

Little Round Top

Little Round Top Area - (c)Tina Truelove 2022

Little Round Top Area

Pennsylvania Memorial

The Pennsylvania Memorial - (c)Tina Truelove 2022

The Minnesota Memorial - (c)Tina Truelove 2022

The Pennsylvania Memorial Area - (c)Tina Truelove 2022

Pennsylvania Artillery - (c)Tina Truelove 2022

The Pennsylvania Memorial Area - (c)Tina Truelove 2022

If you get a chance to visit Gettysburg, take it all in. We had no idea how much time we needed to see it all. I wish we had been able to stay a few more days. Plan at least 3 days in the area and enjoy a walk (or a drive) back in time.

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