LAST PHOTOS FROM GETTYSBURG, UNTIL THE NEXT TIME WE GO THAT IS.

I am having trouble with my laptop so it has gone in to be fixed. I do have my iPad but it is very tricky to add photos to my blog, and very frustrating. (If you have any advice I would be very happy to learn something new.) Anyhow, I found a post that I never got round to publishing from earlier in the year. Have a great weekend everyone and thanks again for visiting. 

These are the last few photos from Gettysburg.  

This is a statue of Abner Doubleday.  For years we had thought that he was the man who invented baseball, but this apparently wasn't so and was a myth.  However, he was a career US Army officer and Union general in the American Civil War.  As I read at Wikipedia, he fired the first shot in defense of Fort Sumter, the opening battle of the war, and had a pivotal role in the early fighting at the Battle of Gettysburg.  You can read more about him here.

The other photos were taken quickly because of the bitter cold that day.  I didn't hang around to make any more notes.  We resolved to visit again in the warmer months.  These were taken on Sunday, April 8th, 2018.

Beautiful skies but we hurried back to the car as we were slowly turning into popsicles.

MORE PHOTOS FROM THE GETTYSBURG NATIONAL MILITARY MUSEUM

The taller circular building in the photo above houses the Gettysburg Cyclorama.  I shared a few photos of this particular exhibit here.  It is a huge, ceiling to floor, circular painting by French artist Paul Philippoteaux, showing Pickett's Charge, during the Battle of Gettysburg on July 3rd, 1863.  Truly hard to capture in photos and if you ever get out to Gettysburg, I high recommend you go see if for yourself.

There are props in the foreground to give it a more realistic feel.

There were four versions painted, and this one is the only original.  You can read the whole story at this link.  A painting full of history and I get the same feeling here as I do when I go to every war memorial I have ever been to.  It very much feels like a sacred place.

In the museum there are advertisements from the day.  The following photo shows a circular map of the Cyclorama.

The next advertisement is about the second version of the painting, completed in 1883, exhibitied in Boston 

We moved into another section of the building, and the rest of my photos were taken inside the museum.

A Union Soldier

It was very hard not to get the reflections from the glass, sorry about that.

A troop of African-American soldiers fighting for the North.

Sojourner Truth, who was the author of the quote below,  (c 1797-November 26th, 1883) was an African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist.  

Sojourner Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, Ulster, New York, but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826.  She grew up speaking Dutch as her first language and helped recruit black troops for the Union Army.  In 2014 she was included in Smithsonian's magazine's list of the "100 Most Significant Americans of All Time."  I read about her at this link.  It is an amazing story.

(photo found online)

Gregg standing in front of a mural showing people from North and South.

There will be one last post from Gettysburg, when I can put it together, a shorter one.

SCULPTURE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN AT GETTYSBURG NATIONAL MILITARY PARK

Several people were drawn to this sculpture and I waited my turn to take these photos.  He was America's 16th President.  

At this link you can read his story.

GETTYSBURG HISTORY, A LADY SPY

Whenever I find myself visiting museums, such as the one on our trip to Gettysburg, the old photos always interest me.  I look at the faces, the expressions, their costumes, jewelry, background if there is something more than just a photographer's plain backdrop, even the frames that hold them.  At each photo is a snippet of history.  (My dear Mother always said I was a curious child and always found me with my head in a book.)

"Rose Greenhow, Spy - Rose Greenhow was a well-to-do widow in Washington D.C., and a Confederate spy.  Confederate president, Jefferson Davis, once said that one of her secret messages won the Battle of First Manassas."

I found this intriguing and did some research when I got home.  Rose Greenhow was a widow and a very well connected socialite, who ardently supported the south.  She knew the likes of John C. Calhoun, seventh Vice President of the United States from 1825 to 1832, and James Buchanan who was the 15th president of the United States, from 1857 to 1861.  She used her connections to pass on key information at the start of the Civil War.  

In early 1861 she was given control of a pro-Southern spy network in Washington D.C.  The war began in April of 1861.  Jefferson Davis credited her with ensuring the South's victory at the First Battle of Bull Run in late July 1861.  

When the Government found out that information was being leaked, the trail led to her.  She was put under house arrest by Allan Pinkerton, a Scottish-American detective and spy, after finding incriminating evidence at her home.  Allan Pinkerton was well known for establishing the Pinkerton National Detective Agency.

Rose was eventually sent to Old Capital Prison where her eight year old daughter, also called Rose, was allowed to stay with her.  The prison mainly housed political prisoners.  She was never subjected to a trial and eventually released from prison in the summer of 1863, when she was deported to the south.  President Jefferson Davis sent her as a courier to Europe, where she also gleaned sympathy for the Confederacy from many of the European aristocrats.  There were also strong commercial ties between Britain and the South.  She had audiences with Napolean III and Queen Victoria.

In 1864 Rose left for the Confederacy carrying dispatches.  (Her daughter stayed behind in Paris, where she had been attending the Sacret Hearts Convent.  Little Rose eventually returned to America in 1871, married a U.S. army officer, later divorced and returned to France.) 

Her mother sailed on a British blockade runner called the Condor, which ran aground off Wilmington, North Carolina.  Fearing imprisonment she took a rowing boat to shore.  A wave capsized the boat and Rose Greenhow drowned, weighted down with $2,000 of gold coins hung around her neck and also sown into her underclothes.  These were the royalties from a memoir "Imprisonment", which she had written while in Europe.  She was honored with a military funeral and on her gravestone read, "Mrs. Rose O'Neal Greenhow, A Bearer of Dispatches to the Confederate Government."

I found the above information here and here.  There is a lot more than shown in my post if you are interested.

The above photo I found online shows a photo of Rose and her daughter, Little Rose,  while in prison.  More of Little Rose's story can be found at this link.  I didn't find anything else about Little Rose.  My only hope is that she lived a happy life in her remaining years.

GETTYSBURG NATIONAL MILITARY PARK

On Sunday we went to Gettysburg.  The last time we visited was years ago, and Gregg has been wanting to go back for a while now.  We woke up to sunshine and it seemed a good day to go.  At 9.30 a.m. we were on our way.  I was surprised how short the journey was, only an hour and forty-five minutes.  The drive took us out of Virginia into Maryland, and then into Pennsylvania.

Our first stop was the visitor center where we saw a movie of the battle, and also a cyclorama that was very well narrated.  The 100 year plus artwork surrounded us, and lighting was spotlighted on certain scenes as the story was told.  Very impressive, very moving.  

We then looked through the museum and the exhibits were fascinating.  The old photos were of particular interest to me.  

Guided tours are offered but there were long lines for the buses. We elected to drive ourselves.  We got out of the car one time to walk up to one of the statues but truthfully, there was a bitter chill in the air and we didn't want to hang around.  It will be nice to go back in the warmer weather, and have talked about spending a few days next time, to explore not only Gettysburg but further afield.  It is on the bucket list.

Above and below you can see the equestrian monument of Winfield Scott Hancock, which we found on Cemetery Hill.  It was dedicatd in 1896 by the State of Pennsylvania.  General Hancock's information can be found here if you would like to learn more about him.

You can look at their website here.  I can highly recommend scrolling down and watching the video.  I will also share other photos in future posts.

We passed through very pretty countryside on this trip, and saw fields full of cows, horses and sheep and wide open spaces.  One farm had dozens of white geese and goats, and all these visuals made a very pleasant trip home.