I can’t
begin to tell you how great it was to see some familiar faces, and just start
into conversation like we had never left; we started out with lunch, some catching
up and mapped out all that we wanted to take in while discovering this
onslaught of American history. Fortunately Mike had been here before, so he was
great and navigating our caravan through the auto tour, making for a breeze and
more talk time amongst us all.
There is
such a surreal feeling standing on the battlefield of Gettysburg, knowing it
was the bloodiest battle of the Civil War and honoring the reverence for those that all
lost their lives, regardless of what side that they were on. Looking out over
the vast battlefield, and visualizing the heartache of war, especially one
that was so violent and face to face is terrifying, the cost of lives that took
to get our nations people to value freedom for all; seeing Gettysburg, the
battlefield really honed in the words of Lincoln and gave such a deeper meaning
to the Gettysburg address. It is something you really take to heart, it has an emotional aspect and a new meaning, it becomes more than just the words I memorized as a child in school."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 1863
If you haven’t had the opportunity to visit this National
Park, I highly recommend that you do; it truly will give one perspective on the
value of freedom and life. Also, the town is adorable and I am now thinking I
need to manage a way to get it on our list of places to stay on our journey; I
can’t even imagine growing up in the town of Gettysburg, you would just grow up being a history buff.
