My quick trip to Gettysburg

[aggie80]

Well, after threatening to do it for several years, I did it! Wasn't much, but it was somewhat satisfying.

I made it to Gettysburg for a while.

We arrived about 3:30 in the afternoon and it was very overcast and cloudy. Driving in we could see all of the monuments lining the road on both sides as we drove between the two battle lines. Went to the Visitors' Center and must say I was disappointed in the overall dinginess of the place. Very worn. The darkness of the displays didn't help the impression, even though I understand the need to preserve the exhibits. What was there was very interesting. We didn't stay anywhere near as long as I would have liked, but wanted to get to Culp's Hill before it got too dark. Bought a guide book/history of Culp's Hill in the bookstore and we headed out with the map in hand.

Fairly easy to get there from the center if you realized that the very light gray lines were the actual roads. After a couple of wrong turns we arrived and I went hunting. I was trotting through the woods on the hill in the growing darkness trying desperately to find the marker for the NY 137th. Didn’t find it, though found many of the other units and key points there.

Returned to the car and off to some great pizza at Tony’s in town. Got to the hotel and got on the internet. First problem was realizing that we had over 150 miles to travel in the morning to reach our 12:00 appointment for which we had to be at least 30 minutes ahead of time. Which meant I had almost no time in the morning. But got out the book I just bought and went over the diagrams carefully, trying to figure out how I hadn’t seen the markers, as we had to have driven right by it.

Got up early the next morning and dropped the family off for breakfast while I headed back. This time I found the marker! And realized why we hadn’t seen it the night before. “Look everyone! That Zouve marker has color on it!” while right across the road was the 137th.

It was a sobering moment to stand on the line, marked with the RF and LF markers and realize that it was here, on this line, that my 4GGrandfather had been shot. It was also sobering to realize that the flank markers came in pairs all along the line. All except the RF marker for the 137th, standing there alone.

I returned and picked up the family to race on, at least satisfied that I had walked the grounds that Henry Stephens had walked.

137th New York Volunteer Infantry

[gary]

I hate to rush through a museum or battlefield like you did. I spent some time on Culp's Hill and listened to a Ranger led talk up there. Several advantages of going in winter includes: (1) less crowded; (2) the trees are defoliated and you can use a laser rangefinder into Gettysburg better because of it. Congratulations on making your pilgrimage.

[ole]

I returned and picked up the family to race on, at least satisfied that I had walked the grounds that Henry Stephens had walked.

Congratulations, Mark. You got a tear out of that one.

ole

[Dred]

It's like an appetizer, a short stay like that just leaves you wanting more, but what you had was still really good! I am somewhat jelous of quite a few of you, as you have a significant family history in the war, and something more of a connection than I will ever have. Glad you enjoyed your stay tho!

[hoosier]

They're getting ready to open the new Visitors' Center at Gettysburg later this year, which probably explains why nobody's doing a heck of a lot to keep the current facility spruced up.

Glad you made it to Gettysburg. Hope you can return again some day when you have a little more time to spend.