July 23-24 — A day at Gettysburg

We had a lovely gray day for our tour of the Gettysburg battlegrounds and cemetary. The relief from the blistering weather was especially appreciated since there is little shade available anywhere in the park. We purchased a tour app which we played on an iPad ($10 vs. $35 for the “official” recorded tour at the visitor’s center). It took us more than 4 hours by car to complete the tour — and we did not dawdle. That gives you an idea of the vast amount of territory involved in the fighting. We watched a movie at the visitor’s center before we started which gave us an idea of how the fighting unfolded and how uncertain a victory for the Union Army was. Looking at the flat farmland the Rebel forces crossed toward small rises of rocky outcroppings where the Union Army was entrenched, you could not help but think about how dedicated to their cause they must have been. Death or disfigurement were the likely outcomes even though they outnumbered the Union forces, perched on higher ground, blasting the Rebel lines with a line of canons and sharpshooters. The sharpshooters could shoot a man at 600 yards while the Rebel guns were inaccurate until they were much closer, 120-150 yards.

This photo shows a small section of the cyclorama oil painting which was completed in the late 1880’s by French artist Paul Phillippoteaux and a team of assistants. It took more than a year to complete and is longer than a foot-ball field. The artist spent months on the battlefield itself accompanied by veterans, a battlefield guide and photographer.

The photos below show some of the graves in the Gettysburg cemetary. Its dedication was the occasion of President Lincoln’s famous speech.

In this section, the stone markers show only a number. It is not surprising that many of the dead could not be identified as the bullets were the size of a man’s thumb which tore through soldiers. Letters from the battlefield told of decapitations so numerous that the writer described it as if a truckload of pumpkins had been overturned. There were more than 50,000 amputations, the only course of action for those who were “lucky enough” to be hit in an arm or leg. There were no antibiotics to attend to the massive infections caused by pieces of dirty uniforms which were embedded in the wounds.

This section of the cemetary had long arcs of cement in which names and ranks of the dead were recorded. You can see how closely the names are placed and presumably the bodies are also in close proximity.

Veterans from other wars are also buried here. This section had a number of graves showing a date of death as Dec. 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor Day.

We think Gettysburg is a great spot for a get-away — whether you tour the National Park or not. I raved about the Inn yesterday and haven’t been disappointed since. The innkeeper made dinner reservations for us at another inn — the food was delicious, but we think our inn had a much better atmosphere and location (but no restaurant!) The White Oak Inn does serve breakfast every morning. And not those tea bread and pastry spreads usually trotted out at B&Bs. These were delicious two-course affairs, elegantly presented and served. I’m pretty sure they added up to a full day’s calorie allotment which, of course, did not stop us from having a great dinner!

Before we left the White Oak Inn, we had a chance to stroll around the property. Really lovely.

Walk way to the pool.
Breakfast view.
Lovely!

View from the terrace just outside the pool house.

Steps away from the main house is a barn structure and a pool house. The pool is open to all guests. We think the pool house itself (a large living room area, a full size kitchen area and two beautifully appointed bedrooms) is only rented out when the entire inn is reserved for a group. And I’m thinking that some of the pool rules are probably broken.

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