Gettysburg - a visit.

[R9SCarry]

For those who have not been to Gettysburg - let me copy here a post I made on THR 18 months or so ago.  It will hopefully prove of interest both for the firearms aspect as well as a small glimpse of the area.

I am lucky - it is only 100 miles away - for many folks it is probably too far.  This will hopefully allow them to feel they have seen just a little of it.

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A short sojourn at Gettysburg.

Last week, my wife and I took off on the bike for a trip over to Gettysburg .... something we wanted to do all this summer but also choosing good and reliable weather (and, avoiding Labor Day weekend!!).  We lucked out on that score, with perfect conditions.  Arrived latish Wednesday and stopped over, with all of Thursday free for exploration and then returned home late Friday morning.

I daresay some here have visited but equally many have not ... for most I expect, way too far from home.  It is tho one of those ''must visit'' places if at all possible ...... three days (July 1st, 2nd and 3rd in 1863) ..... within which timeframe thousands of lives were lost, in what was reckoned to be the most pivotal battle of the war, despite that dragging on a further two years more.  Forget here the politics and ''the cause'' ...... remember instead all the young blood that was spilled, countryman fighting countryman.

Let me share some of this visit .... primarily from a weapons standpoint, having taken a considerable number of photo's in the Visitor Center as well as touring the battlefields.  The displays are superb, exemplifying the amazing diversity of both rifles and handguns, many of which were bought from European sources as well as home produced.

It was also fascinating to see just how advanced was the artillery, with not only skillfully engineered cannon but also, a vast variety of shells, many fuzed.  It is not difficult to imagine the horrors on the battlefields - the carnage and losses.  It is estimated that some seven million bullets were fired in those three days!

Now - some pic's which I hope might be of interest to some.  One of the problems with items on display behind glass was reflections .. both of other lighting and - making things difficult for using flash too.  So, some pic's are far from ideal but still hopefully convey a flavor... I also will have to post in limited numbers due to posting restrictions on images per post.


This picture is one display of pistols and revolvers ..... everything from old single shot front stuffers to the more exotic cap and ball revo's.


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Just one cased display of long arms .. it included the not over popular Colt repeating carbine, the one using a revo cylinder.


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First of a few pic's showing some examples of revo's dug up .... unfortunately in pretty corroded condition.


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More of same tho, somewhat less damaged.


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The caption card says it all .....


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A nice Colt ... sorry focus not ideal.  Had to place camera against glass to cut out flash burn-out.



(have to post in two parts - whole thing is too long!)

[R9SCarry]

Part II


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Here is a fascinating piece ...... probably very collectible and worth a lot.


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A very personalized revo here ..... and with its provinence also I am sure, very valuable.


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A nice example of what many guys must have had in their equipment.


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Just one of many cannon muzzles ..... but interesting because of the stampings and thus manufacture info.  This one I guess was brought in later if the date anything to go by.  It has what appears to be the ''trigonal'' rifling.


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Here is a bronze example ... I find the quality of rifling quite remarkable.


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A rather beat-up selection of lead sabots ....


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Supposedly a very unusual event .. but here this bronze piece has blown .... quite close the muzzle.  I wonder if it had suffered from some form of obstruction.  The wall thickness as far as can be seen, looks quite thin.


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Sage words .............







Just a few of the many patterns of shell that were on display.


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Finally in this selection .... a photograph of the PA Monument .  A superb piece of construction which was put together almost a century ago.


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I have a large selection of other pic's taken whilst touring the battlefields ... I will perhaps post one or two later on.

In case anyone has ever wondered .... I am passionate about firearms! :p

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[R9SCarry]

Last bit which was added. -

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Here are three more pics .. I am sure they will seem well familiar to those who have been.  First is maybe a ''sniper's'' view of Little Round Top from Devil's Den ... then another the the Den itself.  Finally ..... a diagram of the attack - as with all plaques ... difficult to capture.

[Aglifter]

Enjoy Gettysburg while you can -- there's a push to put a casino there... I'm starting to understand why my church forbids gambling -- it's not the gambling, it's the people who associate with it professionally.

[R9SCarry]

Casino??  Gettysburg??

Holy moly - is nothing sacred!

[BlueGrips]

Oh, that famous Little-Round-Top where Chamberlain had ordered his Regiment "Fix bayonets! Charge! Fix bayonets! Charge! Fix bayonets! Charge!" and he leaped down from that boulder roaring like an animal...

I had the pleasure to visit Gettysburg last year. This place  humbled me and brought patriotic tears to my eyes. I recommend a horse-back tour that will take you down to the southern side of the battlefield (717-334-1288.) My tour started pretty early at 9am, and needless to say, I was the only one showing up and had the guide all for myself!

Also, I recommend an old novel named "The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara. This was the book that started my passion for the war.

God bless.

[Richard S]

The Gettysburg Address
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
November 19, 1863


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.



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Source: Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, edited by Roy P. Basler. The text above is from the so-called "Bliss Copy," one of several versions which Lincoln wrote, and believed to be the final version. For additional versions, you may search The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln through the courtesy of the Abraham Lincoln Association.

[MountainMan]

Thanks Chris - that made my day.

Dave

[Michigunner]

Richard,

I will always enjoy reading those immortal words.

Thank you.

[Michigunner]

cuteo100,

Thanks for the pictures.  We will go there next time in Pennsylvania.

I also want to go to the Harley motorcycle plant in York.  The time we tried, they were down for a model changeover.

Bill