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make sure you take a personal tour of the battlefield... around 12am or so. You will probably meet many interesting 'people' who can give you first hand knowledge of the actual battle.

BEFORE you visit/tour the battle field area, go watch the presentation given by the Park Service. This is probably at the main visitor center (it's been 15+ years since I was last there.

They have a small auditorium and a diorama map - it's like you have an air-plane view of the battleground. The lights are turned down and they explain how the battle was fought over a 3 day period of time.

Battles back then were fought mostly during daylight hours, and at dark the lines retreated back to the safer wooded areas. Almost like camping at night. Folks from the towns would take their lunch and ride out and watch the battles from a hillside.

Seeing the presentation FIRST will put the entire battlefield in proper perspective when you tour it later. Program is short, maybe 30-45 minutes. Well, well worth it!