Civil War ping
It's beautiful to watch, hypnotic and mesmerizing, but that's not why the people stand there for so long. They're staring at the grass but they're seeing something else, something that hasn't been there for 133 years. They seldom speak. When they do, it's usually in a hush, nothing loud enough to drown out the drone of the crickets.
This gave me a major, major lump in my throat.
The first time I visited Sharpsburg I remember thinking Even if I didn't come here knowing that this ground saw the bloodiest day in American history, I would somehow know it.
Other than at the Wilderness, there is a solemnity and a profound, indescribable sadness in that place that I've never experienced anywhere before.
The fact that Gettysburg sees six times as many tourists every year (I wasn't aware of that until reading this) is so sad, and so unfortunate. Outside of the battlefield itself (at least that part which hasn't been lost to commercialism), Gettysburg retains very little of the Civil War era pristine-ness.
Sharpsburg is an entirely different story. Stepping onto the battlefield there, one is instantaneously transported back 140 years. It is still pristine. Still quiet. Hallowed by nature and time. It has a mid-nineteenth century 'battle aura'. Then tears inevitably come without warning.
At Sharpsburg, much more than at Gettysburg (for which these words were written), I am always reminded of Joshua Chamberlain’s eloquence:
In great deeds something abides. On great fields something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear; but spirits linger, to consecrate ground for the vision-place of souls. And reverent men and women from afar, and generations that know us not and that we know not of, heart-drawn to see where and by whom great things were suffered and done for them, shall come to this deathless field, to ponder and dream; and lo! The shadow of a mighty presence shall wrap them in its bosom, and the power of the vision shall pass into their souls.
A (far less eloquent :) aside: My three sisters and I (I am the oldest of four girls) are going away on our annual 'sisters' weekend' tonight. (We plan an outing together once a year). This year we decided to simply 'get away' at a friend's cabin upstate for a three-day weekend. We will spend the weekend hiking, swimming in the creek, mountain biking, shooting (three of us enjoy target shooting … the fourth just watches), and just 'hanging out' together.
Because three of the sisters enjoy live rock band music (guess who the odd gal out is :), we have agreed to go to a club in a nearby town tomorrow night (I'll probably bring a book :). But, in order to be fair, they offered to drive four hours north to Fort Ticonderoga, NY on Sunday for me.
It got me to thinking. I have visited every major Civil War battlefield at least once but, other than Valley Forge which is just a hop, skip and jump from our home, I don’t believe I've ever visited any historical Revolutionary War battlefields or encampments (she hangs her head in shame). Sometimes we become so focused on one aspect of our history (for me it's always been the Civil War) that we neglect to take a look at other eras that had just as much, if not more, of an effect on the shaping of our country. I'm looking forward, belatedly, to taking at least a first tiny step toward remedying that on Sunday. :)
(Official end of rambling ... and none too soon ... :)
~ joanie