Gettysburg 2016: After Action Reports

[pamc153PA]

We made reservations to spend part of the Thanksgiving Holiday long weekend in Gettysburg. We hope and pray for good weather, as many photos will be had during a fair weather excursion.

Oh, I know you two will have a great time in the burg over Thanksgiving! And it would be nice to see pics, no matter what the weather.

 

[unionblue]

There was a hole in the barn?

 

[PeterT]

Couldn't find the emoji for "jealous" @MRB1863 !!!

Since I have returned home, some of my friends have asked me "Would you go back to Gettysburg?" My answer: "In a heartbeat!"

Last Saturday night, one of my best friends (... of 40 years) wanted to know all about Gettysburg and my trip. For the next hour I gave him and his wife my version of the Battle of Gettysburg with all the photos of the trip (all 420 of them ).

I was very pleased for 2 reasons - that they were so interested and that my knowledge of the battle was so much enhanced by going there.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

There was a hole in the barn?

Yes! With all the care they give those buildings you'd have thought someone would have filled it in by now. Careless of them.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

We made reservations to spend part of the Thanksgiving Holiday long weekend in Gettysburg. We hope and pray for good weather, as many photos will be had during a fair weather excursion.

Best holiday plans ever! Are you sure you two won't miss all of us or is it a reward for having undertaken the Great Gettysburg CWT Getaway of 2015? SO well deserved!

 

[LoyaltyOfDogs]

In Search of Melancholy
In the morning, after exploring Devil's Den by daybreak, we decided to take a look at Little Round Top. The place looked like something out of a medieval fantasy, as it was shrouded in tufts of fog, light rain, and completely void of the din of modernity. To my surprise, @Frums pointed down to a glen of trees and noted that this had been a temporary burial ground (re-buried elsewhere at a later date). At closer inspection, we could actually read the words spelled out by rocks: GRAVES. There were more gravesites deeper in the glen, but on this day it was too muddy to explore, so we retreated to the car for our next stop.

I'm very curious to see this, @Bee and @Frums! Were you looking toward Little Round Top from Devil's Den? Or are the rocks visible from LRT? If it's a view from LRT, in which direction, please? Are they visible without binoculars? I'd really like to get a photo of that. Thanks!

 

[John Hartwell]

I have really enjoyed all these pictures and reminiscences, and so wish I could have been there. And, please don't take this as a criticism, I probably wouldn't have thought of it at the time either ... but, next time, maybe some photographs could be taken from behind, Eric W. (or whoever is giving the tour), so we can see more of the fronts of our members? It is nice to see what everybody looks like from behind, or in profile, but matching them to the relatively few front views can be challenging.

Maybe even a posed, "everybody say cheese" just before the group breaks up at the end of the tour.

 

[FarawayFriend]

I have really enjoyed all these pictures and reminiscences, and so wish I could have been there. And, please don't take this as a criticism, I probably wouldn't have thought of it at the time either ... but, next time, maybe some photographs could be taken from behind, Eric W. (or whoever is giving the tour), so we can see more of the fronts of our members? It is nice to see what everybody looks like from behind, or in profile, but matching them to the relatively few front views can be challenging.

Maybe even a posed, "everybody say cheese" just before the group breaks up at the end of the tour.

I think in the case of @Eric Wittenberg everyone wanted to have a photo of him, therefore the audience is just seen from behind.

But you are right, we should have made one group photo ... I had always imagined we would make one, but some things turned out a little different from what I had thought.
We left Sunday morning and I wanted to shirk from saying good bye to everybody on Saturday evening, because I would not have been able to do that without bursting in tears (@War Horse, ask Donna ...) but the other side of the coin is that there was no big "closing ceremony" with photos and all, or at least there was none for us... When we drove away on Sunday morning we saw @theoldman one last time walking his dog on Emmitsburg Road and then @sarladaise and her husband came in for breakfast at Friendly's when we were there and that was it then ... I did not want to have it any other way at that point, but now I do regret that I did not say good bye to everyone...

 

[Bee]

I'm very curious to see this, @Bee and @Frums! Were you looking toward Little Round Top from Devil's Den? Or are the rocks visible from LRT? If it's a view from LRT, in which direction, please? Are they visible without binoculars? I'd really like to get a photo of that. Thanks!

@Frums is going to have to help out here, but what I recall is that we were in the top of LRT, and this glen may have run down the east side of LRT. The rock wording of "graves" was a modern designation that I believe washes away, and folks re-set the rocks.

Edit; see @Frums correction below of Culp's Hill

 

[Frums]

I'm very curious to see this, @Bee and @Frums! Were you looking toward Little Round Top from Devil's Den? Or are the rocks visible from LRT? If it's a view from LRT, in which direction, please? Are they visible without binoculars? I'd really like to get a photo of that. Thanks!

It was actually on Culp's Hill. Its the smaller one behind the 1st/2nd Maryland Inf. Regiment C.S.A. Thanks to @pmuskett for showing it to me earlier.

 

[W. Richardson]

I think in the case of @Eric Wittenberg everyone wanted to have a photo of him, therefore the audience is just seen from behind.

But you are right, we should have made one group photo ... I had always imagined we would make one, but some things turned out a little different from what I had thought.
We left Sunday morning and I wanted to shirk from saying good bye to everybody on Saturday evening, because I would not have been able to do that without bursting in tears (@War Horse, ask Donna ...) but the other side of the coin is that there was no big "closing ceremony" with photos and all, or at least there was none for us... When we drove away on Sunday morning we saw @theoldman one last time walking his dog on Emmitsburg Road and then @sarladaise and her husband came in for breakfast at Friendly's when we were there and that was it then ... I did not want to have it any other way at that point, but now I do regret that I did not say good bye to everyone...

Andrea, there are no goodbyes ! September to Remember will never end it will always live in our hearts and minds. We never left, we all physically returned home but our hearts and thoughts are still in Gettysburg as a group. Memories were made, and will last forever. I do hope you and Dirk are doing well.


My friend AD says hello !!!

Respectfully,
William

 

[pamc153PA]

It was actually on Culp's Hill. Its the smaller one behind the 1st/2nd Maryland Inf. Regiment C.S.A. Thanks to @pmuskett for showing it to me earlier.

@Frums, did you or @pmuskett show them the graves at the bottom of Culp's Hill off East Confederate Avenue? On the right, where you have to walk back into the woods, across from O'Neal's Brigade marker?

 

[FarawayFriend]

Andrea, there are no goodbyes ! September to Remember will never end it will always live in our hearts and minds. We never left, we all physically returned home but our hearts and thoughts are still in Gettysburg as a group. Memories were made, and will last forever. I do hope you and Dirk are doing well.


My friend AD says hello !!!

View attachment 114437
Respectfully,
William

William, how wonderful! Thank you for your warm words!
Hah, I also bought both flags. I now have them on display on my desk!
Say hello to AD from me too, lol.

 

[PeterT]

It was actually on Culp's Hill. Its the smaller one behind the 1st/2nd Maryland Inf. Regiment C.S.A. Thanks to @pmuskett for showing it to me earlier.

Here is the photo I took

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

Ah. I see the missing element, with a group photo. @pamc153PA , was it Ami who marched us into formation for one last year ( or the year before ) ? Or both? With such a widely scattered group, a sheep dog would have been necessary to pull one off in 2016. Photoshop!!

 

[pamc153PA]

Ah. I see the missing element, with a group photo. @pamc153PA , was it Ami who marched us into formation for one last year ( or the year before ) ? Or both? With such a widely scattered group, a sheep dog would have been necessary to pull one off in 2016. Photoshop!!

Yup, she had us stand on the stage at the amphitheater in Pitzer Woods, where we ate lunch.

 

[Frums]

@Frums, did you or @pmuskett show them the graves at the bottom of Culp's Hill off East Confederate Avenue? On the right, where you have to walk back into the woods, across from O'Neal's Brigade marker?

I did not and I have not even been to that one myself.

 

[John Hartwell]

Ah. I see the missing element, with a group photo. @pamc153PA , was it Ami who marched us into formation for one last year ( or the year before ) ? Or both? With such a widely scattered group, a sheep dog would have been necessary to pull one off in 2016. Photoshop!!

I was thinking of taking a group photo after each tour. Everyone didn't attend any one tour, but most attended at least one. You'd be more likely to get everybody, somewhere.

 

[MaryDee]

As one who was eager to come but couldn't, I've really enjoyed this thread!

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

I was thinking of taking a group photo after each tour. Everyone didn't attend any one tour, but most attended at least one. You'd be more likely to get everybody, somewhere.

Ohhhhh, and ' duh ' That is an excellent idea- it was such a large group it was probably the only way to ensure everyone was represented.