We will more than likely go back to Gettysburg tomorrow. There is an amazing amount to do in this area. Harper's Ferry, the C&O Canal, A railroad museum, Antietam Battlefield, the Elizabeth Seton National Shrine, The Eisenhower Museum and the start of the Skyline Drive. I have booked this room for two nights. I am not sure we will get it all in before we start down the skyline drive, but we will give it a good try.
Pennsylvania farms. The ones we see are so pretty.
There are so many books written on the three day battle at Gettysburg.
History
In 1887, "the Philadelphia Brigade, Col. Cowan and others" advocated a "grand monument to American Heroism on this battlefield", and President William McKinley spoke to Cowan about North/South peace in 1900. The "first tentative programme" of October 1910 for the 1913 Gettysburg reunion planned a "Peace Jubilee" to be held on "National Day" with an oration by President Woodrow Wilson and the cornerstone placement for the "Great Peace Memorial" at noon. However, after being "presented, January 11th, 1912, to the Joint Committee of the Congress [for] the Celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg", funding was "found, in March 1912, impossible of accomplishment in the 62nd Congress". Instead of the laying of a cornerstone, on July 3 during the New York Veterans' Celebration in the 1913 Great Tent, Colonel Andrew Cowan gave a speech advocating the memorial, and "steps to accomplish such purpose were immediately taken … which resulted in the Gettysburg Peace Memorial Association being formed. … That Association's Bill was, on December 20th, 1913, presented to Congress…creating the Gettysburg Memorial Commission."
The original plan was for a $250,000 "monument of peace" at The Angle, but despite 1914 "Peace Memorial Bill" presentations to the US House of Representatives that compared the planned memorial with Christ the Redeemer of the Andes and the Lincoln Memorial, federal funding remained "postponed". In August 1936, the memorial's commission issued 10,000 four page circulars to publicize the plan, and Virginia in 1936 was the first to appropriate funds. In 1937 the Pennsylvania legislature began planning a peace memorial on Big Round Top, and the state's "Peace Memorial Bill" was signed on February 24, 1937, to appropriate $5,000 for the state's "Gettysburg Peace Memorial fund" The peace memorial committee selected from the 6 designs by August 1937 and on December 10, 1937, Lee Lawrie was announced as the sculptor for the structure "overlooking Big Round Top [and] Little Round Top". With additional funding by New York, Indiana, Tennessee, Illinois, and Wisconsin; the $60,000 monument was instead completed northwest of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Groundbreaking was on February 14, and the last foot of piping for the flame's gas supply was placed on May 31.
Dedication
Attendance for the memorial's dedication at the 1938 Gettysburg reunion was 250,000; a further 100,000 attempted to attend but failed to arrive due to congested roads. President Franklin D. Roosevelt arrived at a temporary platform on his special train via the Reading Railroad from the North after leaving Springwood at Hyde Park NY that morning. The U.S. 3d Cavalry Division escorted the President's motorcade to the memorial on Oak Hill and Roosevelt's open car arrived with a 21 gun salute.
Roosevelt used "a new Mobile sound system unit" to address the audience including the veterans on specially-constructed grandstands under a canopy. As his nine minute speech ended at sunset, the Peace Memorial covered by a 50 foot flag was unveiled by George N. Lockwood and Confederate A. G. Harris (both age 91) with two regular army attendants a photocell automatically lit the flame Grand Army of the Republic chaplain Martin V. Stone ended the ceremony with a benediction prayer, and on the way to his car Roosevelt spoke with the oldest attending veteran, William Barnes of the US Colored Troops, age 112. A Sixth Field Artillery battery near Oak Hill fired a 21 gun salute as the President departed at 7 p.m. (his train to Washington used the Western Maryland Railroad.
The flame was reduced to a pilot light during World War II (from December 25, 1941) and just prior to the 1946 Paris peace conference, President Truman commented about the inscribed motto,Peace Eternal in a Nation United: "That is what we want, but let's change that word (nation) to world and we'll have something."The deteriorated Alabama limestone in the lower section that had been approved for use by the Bureau of Standards was replaced with gray granite in June 1941, and repairs were also made in 1950. A 1962 protest against nuclear arms and testing was held at the memorial, and the flame was extinguished in 1974 for the oil crisis after the 93rd United States Congress prohibited such flames (except for the John F. Kennedy Eternal Flame), and the extinguished gas flame was replaced by an electrical light in 1976. A Gettysburg Peace Celebration Committee had been formed by June 1988, and the gas flame was restored at their Fiftieth Anniversary Rededication on July 3.
The original plan was for a $250,000 "monument of peace" at The Angle, but despite 1914 "Peace Memorial Bill" presentations to the US House of Representatives that compared the planned memorial with Christ the Redeemer of the Andes and the Lincoln Memorial, federal funding remained "postponed". In August 1936, the memorial's commission issued 10,000 four page circulars to publicize the plan, and Virginia in 1936 was the first to appropriate funds. In 1937 the Pennsylvania legislature began planning a peace memorial on Big Round Top, and the state's "Peace Memorial Bill" was signed on February 24, 1937, to appropriate $5,000 for the state's "Gettysburg Peace Memorial fund" The peace memorial committee selected from the 6 designs by August 1937 and on December 10, 1937, Lee Lawrie was announced as the sculptor for the structure "overlooking Big Round Top [and] Little Round Top". With additional funding by New York, Indiana, Tennessee, Illinois, and Wisconsin; the $60,000 monument was instead completed northwest of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Groundbreaking was on February 14, and the last foot of piping for the flame's gas supply was placed on May 31.
Dedication
Attendance for the memorial's dedication at the 1938 Gettysburg reunion was 250,000; a further 100,000 attempted to attend but failed to arrive due to congested roads. President Franklin D. Roosevelt arrived at a temporary platform on his special train via the Reading Railroad from the North after leaving Springwood at Hyde Park NY that morning. The U.S. 3d Cavalry Division escorted the President's motorcade to the memorial on Oak Hill and Roosevelt's open car arrived with a 21 gun salute.
Roosevelt used "a new Mobile sound system unit" to address the audience including the veterans on specially-constructed grandstands under a canopy. As his nine minute speech ended at sunset, the Peace Memorial covered by a 50 foot flag was unveiled by George N. Lockwood and Confederate A. G. Harris (both age 91) with two regular army attendants a photocell automatically lit the flame Grand Army of the Republic chaplain Martin V. Stone ended the ceremony with a benediction prayer, and on the way to his car Roosevelt spoke with the oldest attending veteran, William Barnes of the US Colored Troops, age 112. A Sixth Field Artillery battery near Oak Hill fired a 21 gun salute as the President departed at 7 p.m. (his train to Washington used the Western Maryland Railroad.
The flame was reduced to a pilot light during World War II (from December 25, 1941) and just prior to the 1946 Paris peace conference, President Truman commented about the inscribed motto,Peace Eternal in a Nation United: "That is what we want, but let's change that word (nation) to world and we'll have something."The deteriorated Alabama limestone in the lower section that had been approved for use by the Bureau of Standards was replaced with gray granite in June 1941, and repairs were also made in 1950. A 1962 protest against nuclear arms and testing was held at the memorial, and the flame was extinguished in 1974 for the oil crisis after the 93rd United States Congress prohibited such flames (except for the John F. Kennedy Eternal Flame), and the extinguished gas flame was replaced by an electrical light in 1976. A Gettysburg Peace Celebration Committee had been formed by June 1988, and the gas flame was restored at their Fiftieth Anniversary Rededication on July 3.
Some of the 1400 memorials and monuments at Gettysburg.
History Bit:
A 1913 North Carolina commission of Civil War veterans presented a monument proposal after visiting the Gettysburg Battlefield,and after World War I, the North Carolina United Daughters of the Confederacy and Governor Angus McLean continued the planning in 1927. with a commission visiting the battlefield on September 28th, 1926. North Carolina appropriated $50,000 to purchase and landscape the site and to commission Gutzon Borglum, who was approached while working on Mount Rushmore Borglum designed the monument in Texas and posed the Confederate flag designer (Orren Smith) as the flag bearer while the other soldiers were sculpted from photographs of posed Confederate soldiers. Postponed from May 1929, the US Navy and 6th Field Artillery bands played at the monument's dedicationon July 3, 1929By 1949, a glass-faced display at the site, and a wooden marker for the site was cut down by vandals in 1954. President Kennedy left his car to visit the monument in April 1963 prior to the rededication on the 100th anniversary. After a 1985 restoration required lifting by helicopter for shipment to Cincinnati, a fence was added in 1993; and after the 1995 Smithsonian's Save Outdoor Sculpture! survey reported the sculpture needed treatment the monument was rehabilitated in 1999.
The Virginia Memorial. We saw a lot of confederate memorials, and the Pennsylvania one. I could not get a photo of the Pennsylvania Memorial as it was very large, the largest memorial at Gettysburg, and it was on the wrong side of the bus.
History Bit:
From the monument:
Virginia to her sons at Gettysburg
The Virginia monument was the first of the Confederate State monuments at Gettysburg. it was dedicated on June 8, 1917 and unveiled by Miss Virginia Carter, a niece of Robert E Lee.
It is also the largest of the Confederate monuments, a fitting tribute for the state that provided the largest contingent to the Army of Northern Virginia, its commander, and its name. Lee's figure, topping the monument astride his favorite horse, Traveller , was created by sculptor Frederick Sievers from photographs and life masks of the general. He even went to Lexington, Virginia to study Traveller's skeleton, preserved at Washington and Lee University
Below Lee as he studies the distant Union lines are seven Confederate soldiers (see enlargement). According to the marker at the base of the monument,
The group represents various types who left civil occupations to join the Confederate Army. Left to right; a professional man, a mechanic, an artist, a boy, a business man, a farmer, a youth.
Virginia contributed over 19,000 men to the Army of Northern Virginia at Gettysburg. Almost 4,500 of these became casualties, a quarter of those engaged.
The monument stands 41 feet high. The statue of Lee and Traveler was sculpted by F. William Sievers and stands 14 feet. The total cost of the monument was $50,000.
Part of the New York 12th adn 44th regiments memorials
The other part!
Now the history bit:
The 44th New York was commanded at the Battle of Gettysburg by Colonel James C. Rice, who took over the brigade during the battle, leaving command of the regiment to Lieutenant Colonel Freeman Conner. It brought 460 men to the field, losing 26 killed, 82 wounded and 3 missing. The 12th New York consisted of two companies, D and E, and brought 117 men to the field, suffering no casualties. It was commanded at Gettysburg by Captain Henry W. Ryder.The observation tower faces due west and is located at the summit of Little Round Top, giving one of the most majestic views here at Gettysburg and marks the location held by the 44th New York Infantry on the afternoon of July 2, 1863 during the Confederate attack on Little Round Top. The monument is down the slope a bit, off of Sykes Avenue. Park along Sykes and venture carefully down the slope amongst the jagged rocks and weeds to have at this beautiful monument. The walk is comparatively easy compared to the other monuments erected deeper down the slope. I struck a perpendicular line form the road to the monument and it is 145 west off of the road, if traveling north along Sykes. A monument structure comprised of granite blocks with interior chamber, arched through way and castellated top, and round turret tower on one side. The monument was designed and modeled by Hammerstein & Denivelle. Designed to look like a castle, the monument is filled with symbolism, including the interior chamber being 12 feet square to honor the 12th Infantry and the tower’s height of 44 feet to honor the 44th Infantry. Visitors can walk up the narrow staircase inside the tower to an observation deck. Inside, bas reliefs honor Francis Barlow (another former commander) and Butterfield; also included are bronze plaques containing each company’s muster rolls. The monument is made of Maine and Prospect Hill Granite.The monument was dedicated July 3, 1893 by the State of New York. The following artists were employed in this magnificent undertaking: Hammerstein & Denivelle, fabricator. George H. Mitchell & Company, founder. William H. Jackson Company, fabricator. The monument is made entirely of Prospect Hill granite with bronze adornment on a stone base. Dimensions: Overall: approx. 44 ft. 6 in. x 28 ft. x 21 ft. 8 in. There are inscriptions everywhere.
Lon thought it was pretty cool how it lit up at different times. You could see things happening all around.
More History bits:
The Battle of Gettysburg, also known as the Gettysburg Cyclorama, is a cyclorama painting by the French artist Paul Philippoteaux depicting "Pickett's Charge", the climactic Confederate attack on the Union forces during the Battle of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863. Four versions were painted, two of which are among the last surviving cycloramas in the United States.
The first version of the painting, completed in 1883 and originally exhibited in Chicago, was lost for some time. It was rediscovered in 1965 and purchased by a group of North Carolina investors in 2007 for an undisclosed amount. Until November 2005, the second painting, originally exhibited in the Cyclorama Building in Boston, was on display at the Gettysburg National Military Park. It was removed for restoration work and the exhibition was reopened September 2008 in the new Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center. The third version, exhibited in Philadelphia, is known to have been destroyed. The location of the fourth version, originally exhibited in Brooklyn, is unknown.the painting is the work of French artist Paul Dominique Philippoteaux. It depicts "Pickett's Charge", the failed infantry assault that was the climax of the Battle of Gettysburg. The painting is a cyclorama, a type of 360° cylindrical painting. The intended effect is to immerse the viewer in the scene being depicted, often with the addition of foreground models and life-sized replicas to enhance the illusion. Among the sites documented in the painting are Cemetery Ridge, the Angle, and the "High-water mark of the Confederacy". The completed original painting was 22 feet (6.7 m) high and 279 feet (85 m) in circumference. The version that hangs in Gettysburg, a recreation of the original, is 27 feet (8.2 m) high and 359 feet (109 m) in circumference, although that version has lost some of its size due to the ravages of time. Its original size is estimated at 42 feet (13 m) high and 365 feet (111 m) in circumference.
Copies of the old posters for the cyclorama!
Looking at the museum. There is so much to see inside the museum. We really need to return when we can spend more than an hour. Lon enjoyed looking at everything. There were original uniforms, shoes. Tents, and weapons of every kind. There were home front things, it was all laid out well and all very informative.
It was after 5 when we left!
Our plan was to stay at Front Royal tonight. But as we drove down the road we saw so many things we could stop and see, we decided to go no further than Harper's Ferry. We will see that and Antietam too!
Lon is having a great time, he is learning alot!
On our way to the hotel in Harper's Ferry, we stopped for gas at Knoxville, MD.
We got 12.25 gallons at $3.58.
On our way to the hotel in Harper's Ferry, we stopped for gas at Knoxville, MD.
We got 12.25 gallons at $3.58.
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