Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863 ................

[General Ray]

During the Civil War, the Confederate Army and the Union Army fought outside a small town called Gettysburg on July 1-3, 1863. The Battle of Gettysburg was largest battle in the Western hemisphere. Here, more men died than any other place in North America and they were Americans, North and South, all of them, proud Americans.

With Stonewall Jackson dead, and Grant heading for Vicksburg, the South needed a major victory to gain support from foreign powers and encourage the antiwar effort in the Union. General Lee had two choices,

 

[Ron J]

you will see the grave site of Capt. George T. Woodbury, Yankee of course, buried in Newburyport Mass. The Stone reads: Capt. George T. Woodbury , Commander Battery D. 1st. New Jersey Light Brigade, Army of the Potomac. Looking on line, found out Mr. Woodbury was a Union Army officer, entering the Civil War as a 2nd. Lieut. in the 1st New Jersey Militia regiment, raised in April 1861, serving only 3 months. Soon became 2nd. Lieut. in the 1st New Jersey Light Artillery, Battery B under Capt.John Beam. Beam was killed in action at Battle of Malvern Hill, where Woodbury became 1st Lieut. and second in command of the battery. In August 1863, became Captain and Commander of Battery D, which participated in General U.S.Grants 1864 Overland, and it goes on to say, he frequently commanded his artillery brigade in the Army of the James' 10th Army Corps ,against "Petersburg and Richmond in the Spring and Summer of the same year. He led his Battery at the Battle of Drewry's Bluff, at Battery Marshall in the Union Center, and stalemated fighting along the Bermuda Hundred Line. In August 1864, he fell off his horse and was injured enough, he was forced to resign from the Army. He spent the rest of his life as an Inspector of Arms, in Springfield Mass.Federal Armory. I am not "into" the Civil War materials that much, but always find your posts most interesting. I have visited Gettysburg once, detouring from visiting Carlisle Pa. for bi-annual Classic Car Swap Meets i used to attend for 20 years. I was glad i did visit that Special Place... All the monuments, the Cannon etc...the Lookout Tower etc.. Amazing.... Find it odd, the connection between the two posts!! Good Job General Ray!

 

[General Ray]

I plan to go back for a solid week to Gettysburg, I walked that same mile General Pickets corp did, I was alone that day and the rain was falling and the corn husks were blowing soflty in the rain and air, I was alone but felt and knew that I wasn't a lone, I could feel these great Americans all around me, I knew they were there with me and I felt it and lived it, no I didn't see ghost but did feel that some one or some thing was there with me and I liked that a lot, I was with them

Geneal Ray

 

[Ron J]

I forget which route i was on, but passing the historical markers, as i got closer, from the Carlisle end, was kind of eery, just as you said, you could almost see them or feel thier presence. It was just about daybreak when i drove through the battlefield. Difficult to explain unless you have been there. If i remember correctly, there was a Ford Dealership, on one end, and on the South side,there is a scenic Railroad. In Carlisle, there is a tremendous amount of history, but never had the chance to check too much of it out. The Army War College is there, which i believe has all the documents for every large engagement the Army ever had. They would be studied to find flaws or guidance. I visited Carlisle Spring and Fall for the weekly Car Show events, (as a vendor) from around 1982 to 1999, so i was tied up, unable to take advantage of the History, and explore. Rj

 

[Micheal_R]

Even upi here, we have heard of Gettysburg. We did not learn of it in the detail I am certain that your schools taught you...... but we did learn the basics of it.

Thank you for the history lesson

Cheers

Sunny skies

Micheal

 

[Wayne in BC]

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[Dan-MO]

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[General Ray]

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[General Ray]

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[General Ray]

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[Bayrat76]

It's funny in away to think that my ancestors fought on both sides. I guess the scares of war must of healed pretty quick. My grandmothers father and grandfather both fought with the Confederate, and my dads grandfather fought with union forces. I would like to seen a family get together with that in mind. I've said it before but I heard it called the war of northern Aggression. With my grandmother growing up on a plantation in Alabama, I wonder what was said when she brought home the son of a Yankee officer. She was born in 1883 or 1884. I think it would be like the movie Guess How's coming to dinner. Would I loved to seen the look on there faces.

 

[General Ray]

people after 1776.

The Civil War, finally decided which way this great nation and the nation of freedom for the whole world would play it's cards as she has done for more then 200 years, America is a guiding light that shines for all the rest to see. We may have our differences, we may have our problems but one thing is for sure, no other people love freedom and the right to live as free men more then Americans do and history has proven that time and time again.

It all started back in 1776, then the civil war and the men who fought it on both sides validated it, all Americans to bring to bare one finale America and her place in history, the land of the free and the keeper of freedom for the world because without America and it's history and people this world and country would not be free, simply put

Your grand mother was a brave lady Bayrat, she did her major part in healing the wounds of a great nation, she is what the war was all about and is what America is today, she help mold us today with her Yankee son, it don't get any better then that and I think she knows it with her warm smile

General Ray

 

[Royal]

about those battles is how they stood shoulder to shoulder and at close range and just shot each other to pieces. With the medical care of the day and small wound could easily be a fatal wound eventually from infection or lead poisoning.

An amazing part of our countries history indeed

 

[General Ray]

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