(click to enlarge) This is part of the North Caronina monument. 

Harry has gotten some young volunteers to be his color guard for the charge! These were three great young kids; Forrest Gamble, and Andrew and David Parrish. I think Harry is getting ready to give us the 'Double Quick' command!! 

Here, Harry has us lined up like the North Carolinians were. Their charge took place up this hill, to the left of the photo frame.(You can see me in the middle of this line, shooting video of Harry teaching.) 

Day Two Con'd - Gettysburg

Dawn arrives, and Dad and I begin to start our first day of Gettysburg. We have to be at the hotel lobby area at 7:45a.m. , so we have to get moving if we want to partake of the continental breakfast provided for us. Conveniently, the hotel is right next to the visitors center for the national battlefield. This will be our first stop of the day. We get to the small old house behind our building for breakfast, and find some of our group already there. Dad and I grab some victuals, find a table, and have some juice and coffee. As I mentioned before, we both have been on these trips with Harry, so we were anxious to start the day's trip and lectures. Breakfast finished, we head back past our room to get our cameras, on our way to the designated meeting place. There, we find many of the group already milling around. Luther begins his head count, and we realize that we are missing ..... Harry and Cindy! We all get a big chuckle out of this, as they walk up ready to go.

Our first stop is the Electric Map, in the visitors center. This is a thirty minute presentation of the battle, in a room with a scale model of the battlefield. A taped narration plays over the speakers, while the points of interest light up on the model battlefield. It is quite an impressive presentation, and gives you a quick overview of the area and events. We finish the map presentation, and head for the bus just outside. I make sure I have the video camera loaded with tape and fresh power, and Dad gets the digital camera ready. From here, we will head to Seminary Ridge, where some of the first days fighting began. We disembark at the place where the 26th North Carolinians began their fight. Harry takes us down into the woods a short way, and lines us up into formation, as if we were the troops back then. He describes to us what these men went through in a relatively short period of time. He told us of the colorbearers that kept getting shot, and subsequently replaced, as they charged up this hill. We could really get a sense of what had happened, just from standing on the very spot where this took place. Harry finished this lecture, and we headed back to the bus, ready for the next stop. I'll post some photos of this part of the trip.

Day Two - Gettysburg , days One and Two

This is when things may begin to get a bit more detailed. The complexities that truly existed at Gettysburg cannot be glossed over. This is where what we have always been taught about Lee's strategy, Longstreet's role, and Pickett's charge, are in conflict with what actually happened. There are a few reasons for this, the main one being that the battle reports used for teaching the history of this three day battle were the Federal reports. Lee's (and his Generals') reports were not used. Thus, our view of the actual events is skewed. I will attempt to outline what Harry taught us about Lee's real plan.(but just not tonight!) Suffice it to say, it is quite eye-opening.

Day two of our trip dealt with the first two days of the battle. Harry led us to many sights of interest this day. Once you are actually on the field of battle, the events become so much more real. To actually go to Seminary Ridge, Cemetery Ridge and Hill, Little Round Top, and Pickett's Charge, puts all of this into perspective. I'll delve into this in the next post.

Commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, General Robert E. Lee 

Confederate General Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson 

Union General Joshua L. Chamberlain