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I have read many books on the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. Too bad that
I did not find this book before I began to read about that epic Battle. The name of it is, "What They Did There" by Steve Hedgpeth. What it does is go over one by one, some or most of the main participants, giving you a better idea of what really went down and the character of a lot of the leaders. A bit of humor also, so it is not a totally dry book. I don't recommend books normally, but if you can get your hands on one at your library by all means read it. I got mine on Kindle for .99

Spent 2 days there last summer, walking-touring battlefields, area in general. Gets your attention for sure, very humbling thinking of the residents of that town, when the whole world just blew up around them !!

One surprising aspect is, there was only one Civilian Death in the battle. Jennie Wade was a 17 year old local gal who was baking bread for the Union Soldiers when her house was peppered by bullets. 150 in all. She was the only civilian killed in the three days of fighting. However by the time the battle in town got hot, a ton of people left for safety. Also, what those poor people had to do after the battle was heart-rendering. The people had to bury almost 8,000 dead soldiers and 5,000 mules and horses to get away from the stench. Sickening.

It was a tragedy that Meade didn't immediately pursue The Army of Northern Virginia and force Lee to surrender when he was pinned against a flooded Potomac. If the CSA had been forced to surrender in 1863, hundreds of thousands of men wouldn't have died or suffered serious wounds and much of the CSA wouldn't have been invaded and had its infrastructure damaged or destroyed.

Or Lincoln could have followed the Constitution. miles

Or P.T.G. Beauregard's could have held fire.

No American should fail to recall that Lincoln clearly pledged that he wouldn't initiate conflict in his first inaugural address, and I quote:

"In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and defend it."."

And we all know that a Politician would never lie. miles

The leaders of the CSA were politicians too, were they not?

In this case, Lincoln didn't lie. Beauregard's people fire the first shot, were clearly the aggressors, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Regardless, it is all a moot point today, as both April 12, 1861, and May 9, 1865, are dates long in our past.

I was not the one pointing out what a stand up guy Lincoln was. miles

I think that Lincoln was the greatest POTUS, as he preserved The Union.

My dad was at The Last Reunion of the Blue and Gray in 1938. Had a press pass.

Go to Gettysburg off season. Walk The Battlefield alone. Walk all of the length of Picketts Charge.

It's worth the trip.

New Years Day is when I usually do it.

I'll get that book. Thanks.

Wife and I did just that, as I recall it took about 17 minutes to get up to the Angle. As we walked we could look to the right and see Little Round Top and imagine the fire from the cannon there.

Incredible.

A girlfriend took one of the tours and the guide let her see the battlefield thru the binoculars of the General that was commanding that point that day.