Throughout our morning on the battlefield, we see Park Service people. Are they rangers or docents? Can't tell. They may be one guy, like Paul, with many of us. Sometimes we see them huddled with just a couple of people. Paul is a great story teller and he holds us, rapt, with his skill.
We are a couple miles south of Gettysburg where the Battle of Little Round Top was fought on July 2. We drive past the Peach Orchard. We stand on Little Round Top and imagine Chamberlain (a favorite of our Historian Al) ordering a bayonet charge. Like the other battlefields, it is at once stirring and disturbing. . .and thrilling to imagine the engagement that ranged across our view. What a contradiction in my heart!
Disobedience to orders figures here. Union general Daniel Sickles disobeys his commander, General Meade, about defending Cemetery Ridge and moves his troops to the Emmitsburg Road instead. Seeing the exposure, another general sends a message to a general to cover Little Round top. The second disobedience comes when Col. Strong Vincent rides up, assesses the situation and tells the messenger he’s taking responsibility for leaving his orders to take the hill. There isn’t time for anyone else to get on the scene. Vincent is killed that day, but the Union was victorious. Sickles is never court-martialed for his disobedience. (In our bus discussions, one of the military guys talks about how that often happens, that guys like Sickles often advance! Curious.)
You know what I wish? It may already exist. I can never follow those little blue or red lines snaking across a topographical map at the visitors’ centers. I wish there was a video version of the war that really showed how all the troops moved, and I could be a goddess-like observer from above.
We dine tonight at Hers Tavern, which existed at the time of the war. It's at the edget of the battlefield.
We dine tonight at Hers Tavern, which existed at the time of the war. It's at the edget of the battlefield.
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