The Roads Led Them to Gettysburg

They came to Gettysburg because the roads led them there. In July 1863 Gettysburg was much like it is today. Rows of houses dotted the hillsides. Farms and fields stood lush green in color. Cows and horses grazed lazily in roadside pastures.  Fences and barns were in good repair.

Confederate General Robert E. Lee led his Army of Northern Virginia with 70,000 men northward after the battle of Chancellorsville. Lee hoped to restock his Army with much-needed food and supplies and perhaps draw some of the Union Forces into the area and away from campaigns in the south. The roads led him to Gettysburg.

Lee’s cavalry, under the command of General J.E.B. Stuart, was on a scouting run. Therefore Lee had no idea that The Army of the Potomac, some 93,000 men strong commanded by General George Meade were nearby. Over the next three days, these two armies collided in the fiercest battle ever fought on the North American continent, and the result ultimately decided whether there would be one nation or two between Canada and the Rio Grande. It all happened because the roads led them to Gettysburg.

Helen (adorable wife) and I came to Gettysburg under much less ominous circumstances. We came from Front Royal, Virginia and, while the road led us to Gettysburg, we intended to go there and spend some time exploring the area as well as the Gettysburg National Military Park. We had a reservation at the Gettysburg Campground for four nights. Robert, the owner of the campground, met us when we arrived. He immediately noticed the University of Tennessee decal on the window of Bert (truck) and proudly introduced himself as an alum of our great university. We knew we liked him.

After getting Gracey (trailer) settled into a cozy campsite with a wide stream to our rear, we drove the short distance into town to pick up our dinner for the evening at Tommy’s Pizza. The drive took us alongside the battlefield.  We couldn’t help but note that this was hallowed ground. Our pizza was extraordinary, and we ate while we watched television inside Gracey–the first and only time we would stay in a campsite with cable television on our trip. Outside our trailer, rain fell in buckets.

The next morning we took advantage of the clean and spacious showers in the campground.  While there, Helen learned from another camper that the overnight rainfall had dumped three and a half inches of rain on us with more on the way. When we returned to Gracey, a gentleman from the campground came to tell us that the campground was closing because of the fear of flooding from the stream behind us. We were forced to move to another campground on Artillery Ridge adjacent to the battlefield and higher ground. We hated to leave because Gettysburg Campground is very, very nice.

The next morning we signed up for a Battlefield tour. The rain continued, but we decided to make the best of it.  I was eager to take the tour.  Many years ago I visited Gettysburg while on duty as an Army Reservist at nearby Indiantown Gap, PA. That visit was short, but I learned enough to know I had to return.

Despite the rain, the Visitor Center and Museum in the National Park was a hub of activity.  Helen and I watched a film that gave an overview of the three days of fighting and visited the cyclorama featuring a huge artistic depiction of day three of the battle. After that, we boarded a bus full of civil war buffs.  The tour guide joined us after everyone was seated and introduced himself.  He appeared to be close to my age and gave a great opening presentation of what we were about to see.  Everyone was asked to tell us what state they called home.  Helen and I were the only Tennesseans. Most of the crowd were Northerners…I immediately let them know I held no grudges.

The bus tour began on Seminary Ridge where General Lee formed his Army to begin the final day’s battle. Although the day was gloomy, we could see Cemetary Hill where the Union Forces gathered a mile away. I took a moment to photograph the monument dedicated to the Army of Tennessee.

Once we left Seminary Ridge, we visited all of the prominent sites of the battlefield including the Peach Orchard, Little Round Top, Devil’s Den, Valley of Death, The Codori Farm, and the Copse of Trees that served as the focal point for Pickett’s Charge. We made our way to Cemetary Hill and the stone wall that was pierced by only one Confederate officer and marked the final moments of the battle.

Our group looked back across the battlefield toward Seminary Ridge as the tour guide narrated the advance of 12,000 men led by Brigadier General George Pickett across the mile-long open field facing withering rifle fire and canister rounds. That march of Confederates cost Lee 5,000 men in an hour. Those who survived were turned back as the Union soldiers yelled out in the victory. Signs near the stone wall noted that, after three days of fighting, the total number of casualties numbered over 50,000 men killed, wounded, or captured. I was exhausted, and all I did was ride on a bus.

The Civil War would go on for almost two years beyond Gettysburg. However, this battle marked the “High Water Mark” for the Confederacy. As everyone knows, the Union would ultimately prevail. Portions of the battlefield at Gettysburg became a National Cemetary dedicated to the brave men that fought and died there and later commemorated by President Lincoln in his historic address.

Our visit to the battlefield on a rain-soaked day added to the somber feel that surrounds it.  Nevertheless, I consider it an honor to walk those hallowed grounds, and I’m grateful that the roads led us there.