Thoughts On Gettysburg and on American History

We are again at the first of July, the anniversary of the three-day Battle of Gettysburg.

It's been ten years - on the 150th anniversary - since I started blogging about this day, which kind of scares me how long I've been blogging in some respects the same things over and over.

I think I keep linking the same YouTube clip of Buford railing about the high ground.

I'm a little sad that some of the other clips from that movie keep dying out, either to copyright restrictions or the YouTube provider quitting. My blogger history is full of dead links anymore.

Anywho, on this day 160 years ago, the Union army held the high ground and General Lee was too stubborn, prideful, and unwell from an untreated heart attack in March of that year to pack it up and relocate his army somewhere safer like (checks map) Daytona Beach Florida. C'mon Rebs, it's summertime, get some surf in!

I shouldn't joke about the Civil War. In some respects we're still fighting that war over basic human rights for Blacks and for our society as a whole. There's this deliberate step backwards into our nation's darker eras as Republican conservatives push to whitewash history and reject the constitutional liberties their more liberal predecessors created for the United States to make us a more diverse, democratic nation.

We're at a moment in American history where we are called - each of us - to wage battle for equal rights in education and the workplace and our communities and even in our own homes.

Anyway, Twitter is dying so that particular battlefield is turning to ash, just wanted to let you know before the Confederates try to outflank everybody to Mastadon.

(psst, I'm on Spoutible at @paulwartenberg doom me at your peril)

Anniversary: Looking Back Again at Gettysburg

On this day in 1863, General Lee ordered Pickett's Charge across the wide-open fields of Gettysburg, into military infamy. So important was this battle, our nation maintains a national park surrounding the city of Gettysburg itself. So it is vitally important to remember, as you read the maps of the national park, that at no time did the Confederate forces reach that McDonalds' drive-thru right off of Business US 15!

...what? 

They didn't have McDonalds' back then?! How historically inaccurate is THAT!!! Damn the man. No wonder Pickett was pissed afterwards, he wasn't able to get any Shamrock Shakes!

I blame Time Lords the Time Variance Authority.

Seriously, I wonder sometimes what it would have been like for the locals to grow up in the middle of a national monument.

(Note: I had originally inserted a You Tube clip about the battlefield preservation, but the more I watched it the more I worried it was a big-ass advert to sell memorabilia, so I deleted it. I will insert instead a better, more honorable You Tube clip)

Anniversary: Gettysburg

I dread the possibility of a time traveler going back to July 1 1863 and warning Union troops that if they win the battle then in another 154 years some jackass becomes President. I know there's no causality between one or the other, but the specter of trump becoming President would scare any honest patriot into fleeing for Canada.

Anyway, in memory of the troops who died and lived on the battlefield:

Anniversary: Battle of Gettysburg Day Three, and The Real Cause of the Civil War

I have, right here, the actual Honest To God reason for the Civil War:

DONUTS WITH RED WHITE AND BLUE SPRINKLES are SERIOUS BUSINESS, ROBERT DOWNEY JR!!!!!!!

...okay, back to the history lesson.

On this day at Gettysburg, General Lee decided on an all-out attack at the Union center. Believing the Northern forces would be too spread out and reinforcing the flanks he had attacked on Day Two, he wanted to send as massive a number of troops he could - three divisions - to break the Union line altogether.

Problem was distance. It was pretty much a half-mile march across open terrain, and there was no damn way any army would last long crossing that space.

Look at that: that's what 14,000 men had to cross facing 10,000 guns in a near-perfect defensive position...

Lee planned on a massive artillery barrage as a means of softening up the Union lines before he sent his divisions across. It didn't work: Confederate artillery overshot the Union defensive positions along Cemetery Ridge leaving most of those troops and their own cannons intact. And the South didn't have enough artillery to ensure they could take enough Union positions out.

And somewhere before 3:00 PM, Pickett's Charge - along with Trimble and Pettigrew's divisions - marched across that open field.

It ruined the Confederate army: over 60 percent of those divisions were killed, wounded or captured. Generals like Lewis Armistead were killed. Troops and officers Lee could not replace were gone forever.

Instead of a decisive Confederate victory - and one that could garner European recognition and support - it was a decisive Union victory. Combined with the loss that same day of the key city of Vicksburg - which meant the Mississippi River was under full Union control - it signaled that the Southern states would not, could not win their war to preserve their way of life (i.e., agrarian plutocracy driven by slave labor and King Cotton).

And yet they kept fighting for two more years of civil war... and a hundred years of Jim Crow segregation and lynching... and another fifty years fighting the civil rights laws of the 1960s and today... /headdesk

Anniversary: Battle of Gettysburg at Little Round Top

Fighting would continue for the remainder of the day, but Little Round Top held. The bayonet charge saved the Union flank, and in its own way the Union itself.

Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain of the 20th Maine received the Medal of Honor.

Anniversary: Battle of Gettysburg

First three days of July in 1863, our nation witnessed one of history's most important, epic battles of all time.

...I think I got the wrong channel, hold on...

Oh, here we go.

That was General Buford, the first highest-ranking officer on the Union side to get to Gettysburg and realize how important the high ground was going to be there. He did what he could to prevent the Confederate forces to get that high ground first, and thanks to the arrival of General Reynolds' division they were able to deny the Confederates the hills on the eastern side of the battlefield.

On the Confederate side, General Longstreet realized exactly how bad the terrain was and argued against General Lee fighting for it, suggesting instead a flanking move towards DC to force General Meade to come off those hills. But Lee still wasn't sure where the entirety of the Union army was - his cavalry scouts under Jeb Stuart failed to report back, sowing confusion - and he wanted to fight, needing a victory on Union soil to convince Europe to recognize the Confederacy at last or else force the North to parley for a truce.

For the Union army, they were battered on that First day but held the high ground, giving them the advantage for the Second day...

At Gettysburg

I've mentioned before I wanted to come in person to Gettysburg National Park so I could bask in the history.  So this year I did.

Went to the park with my older brother - who lives in the area - and we spent most of the day there.  We did the film and Cyclorama (a wraparound massive painting depicting the final engagement of the three-day battle), walked about the Visitor Center - which had some special activities going on due to the anniversary of the battle - before driving out by car to the key points of the battlefield.  It is spread out at such distances that going by car is the quickest way to see it all (although biking it or riding Segways are options: hiking is for masochists).

What follows is a pictorial travelogue depicting the horrors of letting your older brother try to parallel park everywhere.  Oh, and the national park.

Arriving at the Visitor Center

Hanging Out With my Brother From Another Statue, the inventor of the chokeslam,
the Sage of Springfield, the Ayatollah of RockanRolla, Abraham Lincoln!

With my real-life brother Eric, checking out the historic firearms used in the war, outside the film
and Cyclorama studios.

Scenes from the Cyclorama

Signage from the Cyclorama

In the back porch of the Visitor Center, they are drilling the new recruits.

All along the Auto Tour - the road path circling across all the key parts of the battlefield -
there are memorials to every brigade, every division, every Corps, every state.

General Reynolds memorial

The Macpherson farm, along the first part of the tour, where the fighting began.

The memorial for the Eternal Light Peace... which was surrounded by cannons and
signs of battle.  Irony?  Sad?  Human, I suppose...

Some of the artillery positions along Seminary Ridge, where the Confederate Army
lined themselves during the Second and Third days of the battle.

The stone wall of Seminary Ridge.

North Carolina's memorial

Part of the North Carolina memorial overlooking the open field between the two armies.

I am pointing at the horizon.  Over there is the Union position.  Across this field Lee will order
two massive divisions to charge on the Third Day in an all-out attack.  Just look at how open that field is,
how far that is to march...

General Robert E Lee's memorial.

The Florida memorial

Florida Memorial

General Longstreet's memorial, which is kinda in a hidden spot and not as
popularly visited...

General - and President - Eisenhower's farm 

The Georgia Memorial

For mom: the Alabama Memorial

 And here is me at Little Round Top, at the far left flank of the Union line, where Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and the 20th Maine held their position under furious attack.

The stone wall used by the 20th Maine to hold the line.

Along Little Round Top, overlooking Devil's Den, where some of the bloodiest fighting took place.

Re-enactors, I think, walking along the memorials atop Little Round Top.
The actual re-enacting is going to take place on Saturday (on the 4th),
which I figure will have a big turnout (weather permitting).

 And one of the last stops of the tour: the Union line of the Third Day.  The Angle.  Pickett's Charge.

General Lewis Armistead's memorial. Of Pickett's Charge, his brigade reached this far before being overwhelmed.
Known as the High Watermark of the Confederacy, this is the closest the Confederates would ever get
to a major victory that could have won foreign support and convinced the Union to end the fighting.

The Copse of Trees

The other side of the open field that Pickett's Charge went across.  It seems almost
maddening to send 12,500 troops across such open fields, up towards a heavily defended line,
towards an army waiting for you.  Did Lee think numbers alone would work?  Did Lee
believe the legends already building about his success, about the determination of his soldiers?
Either way, Pickett's Charge broke the Confederate Army.

Also, there's a video clip of being atop an observation tower overlooking the Peach Orchard (some cursing involved, so NSFW).

Sickles was really an idiot.  Buford would have done better.

So I've made my pilgrimage to the battlefield.  As it goes, my vacation is going well, hope to visit Fort McHenry and to stick around for the 4th of July celebration in DC.

Personal: Travel to DC

(edit 9/2/15: Just noticed I'm suddenly getting all this traffic from Facebook for some reason.  Where are you all coming from?  What's going on?  If you can't comment here at least tweet me at @PaulWartenberg and let me know, thanks...  In the meantime, hang out, check the other article, try the veal...)

Just saying, I'll be up in the DC Metro area soon for the 4th of July, and I wanted to point out the necessity of travel by the Metro rail system.

And also to link to a hilarious translation of the Metro map underlying the whole system.

You may notice there are NO STOPS to the Georgetown campus area, which is a damn shame because that's where the Exorcist stairs are (IT HAS ITS OWN WIKI PAGE).  Just Google search "Exorcist steps" or "Exorcist stairway" and you'll even get a map location.  I guarantee you if there was a nearby Metro station the grid would say "Exorcist steps" instead of "Boring Academia campus". ;-)

I hope to get some pictures and upload them here when I get the time.

I really hope I DON'T GET SICK ON THE FLIGHT.  I'm learning that I pretty much better not TOUCH ANYTHING on the plane.

In other news, Rick Scott's being a jerk again, but I'll save that for a separate post.

Anniversary: The First Week of July Is Always Thus

Leading up to the 4th of July itself, we need to remember the great Battle of Gettysburg, of those who fought and died, of the causes won and the nation saved and the memories lost.

Next year.  Next year I plan ahead to be there in Gettysburg for this week.  It's one of those things every American needs to do...

Anniversary: A Lot More Than Four-Score and Twenty Years Ago, Lincoln Spoke These Words

Just got a reminder from one of the references I work with at the library.

Today is the 150th Anniversary of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.

As oratory goes, the address is short and simple.  The keynote speaker, Gov. Edward Everett, gave a more formal and better received speech at two hours length.

So why was the Gettysburg Address so famous while Everett's barely gets cited in any reference?

The Address has several advantages.  Its shortness made it perfect to fit on a single page and column of a newspaper.  It also makes it easier to memorize.

Above all, its simplicity in stating in such short words the cause of the war, and what the objective of the war should be:  A New Birth Of Freedom, from the end of slavery and the emancipation of blacks into American society.

...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.

Anniversaries: Gettysburg Day Three

The battle in most respects determined the fate of the war: the South suffered a decisive loss in the Eastern theater for the first time; Lee's army lost men it couldn't replace; and it failed to end the siege of Vicksburg the way Lee had hoped.

The war was fought for another two years (close enough) after this, because by this point only a total defeat of either side - especially the South, its leadership convinced in the righteousness of its cause - would have ended it.  But from this point on, all the advantages were to the Union: they had finally gotten a semblance of military leadership under Meade (and later Grant) to fight the Virginian theater, they had the numeric advantage of troops (the South intentionally fought with less manpower because they needed to keep enough white men back home to keep the slavery population in check), they had the economic and engineering might (the South had foolishly stuck to a cotton industry dominance and failed to create enough ironworks and grain farms to supply themselves).  This defeat combined with Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation effectively kept Europe out of the war for good.

On an end note, a fellow Hordian Andy Hall runs the Dead Confederates blog (tracking southern and Texan history), and had his own take on the Second Day of Gettysburg from the memoirs of a Texan soldier caught in the thick of it.  He's got a great blog: link it.

Anniversaries: Gettysburg Day Two

This happened 150 years ago today:

That sound you hear is Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain of the 20th Maine codifying the Badass Bookworm trope for American history buffs.

July 1st, So Many Things To Say

I was going to just focus on the fact that today is the 150th anniversary of the First Day of the Battle of Gettysburg.

But there's a ton of stuff happening in the world, which I gotta mention:

In Texas, the people are up and protesting against the Far Right Republican push to restrict access to abortion - and basically making it impossible for women to have decent health care in the process - using another special session of their legislature to circumvent a good number of procedural rules normally part of the regular sessions.

In North Carolina, the people are up and protesting against the Far Right Republican push to, well, destroy everything that's not a corporate tax cut.  Not just the pro-fetus agenda, but that the state GOP has killed off unemployment benefits (RAAAAAAGGEEEE!) in order to push their austerity agenda.  And this is in face of the facts that this has been one of the worst employment markets ever, and the fact that the unemployment benefits help the unemployed look for a job... any job...

In Egypt, they don't have Far Right Republicans to protest against... they do have the Muslim Brotherhood and their self-serving President Morsi, who have basically mismanaged the nation in its first year of supposed democracy into bringing out protests LARGER than the ones that pushed out Mubarak.

In fact, it's been a really busy week in protests.

More on Gettysburg for Day Two.  That is the one with Little Round Top. (fanboy squeal)