Posted on 07/03/2013 11:01:00 AM PDT by Wyrd bið ful aræd
Or rather, 150 years ago this minute, 2:00 P.M. eastern time, 12,500 men of three confederate divisions, under the overall command of General Longstreet, stepped into the burning fields of history in what we know as Pickett's charge.
God bless them...Men with the courage to stand up and march in formation across a mile of open, lead-swept ground for a cause they believed in simply aren't born any more.
I'm sure there are FReepers reading this at this moment who had ancestors in that body of men -- I have an ancestor who was standing on the other side of the wall.
As I said, God bless them. And may we always remember them.
I visited the line held by the 20th a couple of years ago. There were flowers on one point of the site then too. A lot of people remember and now add my son and his family to those who remember. I always tried to impress the importance of history on my sons and they have carried a lot of that forward.
SCARLETT
You’re a conceited, black- hearted varmint, Rhett
Butler, and I don’t know why I let you come and see
me.
RHETT
I’ll tell you why, Scarlett. Because I’m the only man
over sixteen and under sixty who’s around to show you
a good time. But cheer up, the war can’t last much
longer.
SCARLETT
Really, Rhett? Why?
RHETT
There’s a little battle going on right now, that
ought to pretty well fix things. One way or
the other.
SCARLETT
Oh, Rhett, is Ashley in it?
RHETT
So you still haven’t gotten the wooden headed Mr.
Wilkes out of your mind? Yes, I suppose he’s in it.
SCARLETT
Oh, tell me, Rhett, where is it?
RHETT
Some little town in Pennsylvania called Gettysburg.
Your Great Grand Father was in one hell of a fight. the 60th NY was part of General George (Pap) Green’s brigade. On the 2nd of July that brigade stopped Johnsons entire division in its tracks.
The 60th NY fought the Stonewall Brigrade on July 3rd. I had GGuncle’s in the Stonewall Brigrade. My GGgrandfather’s unit, the 49th VA, faced the 2nd MA and 27th IND on July 3rd.
My GGF was there (Culp’s Hill), too, as an aide to BG Alpheus Williams, 1st Div, 12th Corps. He was also in the Cornfield at Antietam in ‘62. I had the chance to walk both battlefields 4 years ago. Very moving.......
No standard time either. Best guess is local solar time.
Thanks for the info!
His portrait is mounted in my living room, and here is a site celebrating the dedication of George Greene’s Monument at Culp’s Hill in 1907.
http://www.slcha.org/cwrt/60reunion/reunion.php
(My GGF is seated near the middle)
My family toured G'burg in 1971 when I was 16. I remember going into the G'burg Cyclorama. After viewing the displayed pictures I remember thinking these weren't dead Rebels and Yankees, they were dead Americans.
Have had the priviledge of seeing the paintings at both Cycloramas - Atlanta and Gettysburg. Very impressive and moving.
I thought I recognized the Vogler name. Seem to recall a chain of funeral homes in W-S with that name when I lived there 1981-1995.
Yeah, you would think so. I agree it was really well done. I noticed the History/Hitler/Reality Channel had a 1 hour show on Gettysburg at 2 p.m. today. Caught just a few minutes. They were really pushing the economics of slavery in the South. Wish I had seen more. Around 1995 I was kayaing on the Ocoee River in TN when I met a dentist from Atlanta. He told a story of going to the Fox Theater on Peachtree Street in Atlanta to see "Gettysburg" when it first showed. He said he went to the facility for some relief and recognized Ted Turner at the adjacent urinal. Beaking the man code, he said he complimented Turner on the film. Ted replied that it had been a long term project of his.
To imagine doing this while under fire, with all that entails, was simply mind-boggling. Not sure that I could have found the courage for that.
I got a bit of the flavor when participating as a re-enactor in the 125th anniversity of the battle. I was among those doing Pickett's Charge. The Yanks were, of course, on the other side of the field and the sound of the cannon and musket fire was literally deafening, even from our initial position.
The instructions of my unit, at the forefront of the charge, were to fall about 100 feet out from the Yankee position. It was a bit of misery to lie there with all that noise.
I cannot imagine the courage of those who went up against real cannon balls and bullets. I don't think that I would have had the courage to do it.
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