Gettysburg

Three full days of battle. Over 150,000 Union and Confederate soldiers engaged. Over 50,000 casualties (killed, wounded, or missing). The South's furthest incursion into the North that was repulsed by Union forces and ultimately served as the Confederacy's high water mark before its gradual but steady descent to defeat a little under two years later. These are a handful of facts that define the Civil War campaign which culminated in the battles that occurred near the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on July 1-3, 1863. I had a chance to join a staff ride to the battlefield as part of my course and got the opportunity to walk the various points of engagement and study the events more in-depth.

This is the view from Little Roundtop, which was a hill that formed the Union's left flank and was almost taken in a charge by the Confederates on the second day of battle, which would have been disastrous for the Union. General Joshua Chamberlain's 20th Maine Regiment saved the day for the Union by fighting back the Confederates on Little Roundtop.

Our great tour guide, Chaplain Steve, a diehard Gettysburg historian, explaining how the battle unfolded on Little Roundtop.

Very unique monument to an Irish brigade from New York that fought at Gettysburg. Love the celtic cross and the Irish Wolfhound mourning the soldiers' loss at the base of the cross.

Another neat monument to a unit from New York, this one composed of soldiers who had been firefighters before joining the war. See the man wearing a firefighter's helmet on the right.

A monument to the legendary First Minnesota Infantry Regiment, which faithfully plugged a gap in the Union line on the second day of battle to stall a Confederate charge. The First Minnesota suffered a historically high 82-percent casualty rate in that charge and has been recognized for its heroism ever since.

Monument to Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, which was given at this cemetery on November 19, 1863, to honor the memory of the soldiers who fell in the war.

We walked the fateful path of the Confederacy's Pickett's Charge, which was Robert E. Lee's final frontal assault against Union lines on the third day of battle. General Pickett's 13,000-man force was extremely exposed on the sweeping plain leading up to the Union lines and as the soldiers slowly advanced in formation, they were absolutely decimated by Union artillery. The horrors the survivors witnessed are impossible for me to fathom. Elements temporarily breached the Union line but the charging force was ultimately repulsed, sealing the victory for the Union.

Union Commanding General Meade's very modest field headquarters.

This is called the Cyclorama. Painted in the late 1800s by a French painter and his team, it is something like 40 feet high and over a football field long and it is mounted in a wrap-around fashion to create a panoramic effect.

Neat Civil War-era military band instruments.