[mainepatsfan]

I highly recommend anyone who visits the battlefield to make the walk from Seminary to Cemetery Ridge to understand how long a walk those soldiers made that day.

[Happy Rain]

May J.E.B. Stuart forever be damned for his part in blinding Lee and sealing the fate of states rights those July days.

[Reo]

My great-grandfather was on Culp’s Hill with Gen Williams 1st Division of the 12th Corps as they held the north end of the line all night and in the early morning. How humbling and thrilling it was to walk those lines a few years ago.

[Man50D]

I’ve always wondered what would have been the South’s next move had they won the battle?

[T.L.Sink]

Just a point of information: In his highly acclaimed book, “April 1865,” Jay Winik says that an astounding 620,000 men died in the Civil War - more than the total COMBINED who died in every war from 1812 through Viet Nam! And this was when our population was only about 30 million. I’ve been to Gettysburg and several of my ancestors died, not there, but in other Civil War battles. My grandfather used to tell me that when he was young it was just a given part of life that one routinely saw men without an arm, leg or in many other ways incapacited as a result of that war. And they’d be seen sunning themselves on the porches of the general stores in South Jersey talking about McClellan, other generals, and their own battle experiences. “Bliss it was in that dawn to be alive, But to be young was very heaven!” - Wordsworth

[Thunder 6]

I've stood in that treeline and looked across that field. I wondered what manner of men these were who made that march, in the open and under fire. And, what manner of men were the officers who ordered the charge?

An amazing and chilling place to visit, realizing the history of our country pivoted on this battle.

regards,

[PzLdr]

And once again, the battle of Runnel’s Farm, where Custer whupped J.E.B Stuart BEHIND the Union lines is ignored.

[Kartographer]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X1yPoAaKL0

[vetvetdoug]

My ancestors were with Archer's Brigade, 14th Tennessee Infantry, and was wounded at the triangle. The first killed were a Tennessean and a cavalryman from Illinois for the battle FYI. I was at the Cash Battery position at the 125th Anniversary to the second at Gettysburg back in 1988.

[mick]

A good read that changed my mind that Pickett's Charge was an illconceived attempt to break the Union line...had not Custer turned back Stuart the ending of the assult may have been different. From The book review:

THE CAVALRY BATTLE THAT SAVED THE UNION: Custer vs. Stuart at Gettysburg, Paul D. Walker, Pelican Publishing Company, Gretna, LA, 2002, 155 pages, $18.95.

"Most historians consider Confederate General George Pickett's infantry charge at Gettysburg to be the final, desperate act of the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. In The Cavalry Battle that Saved the Union: Custer vs. Stuart at Gettysburg, Paul D. Walker reveals the apparent genius behind the plan: Confederate General Robert E. Lee's grand scheme was to attack with infantry from the front while Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry swept into the rear of the Union formations."

"In an engagement rarely mentioned in histories of the battle, Union Brigadier General George Armstrong Custer--outnumbered and at a decided disadvantage--counterattacked with 5,000 Union cavalrymen. As Confederate forces massed opposite Cemetery Ridge for the decisive assault, four brigades of rebel cavalry and artillery attacked from the rear, with the outcome of the Civil War at stake......"