This past week I had the opportunity to visit Gettysburg. With Memorial Day fast approaching, this visit was even more meaningful to me. We did not have time to visit the area like I would have wanted to but we did do the driving tour. You can purchase a CD and a map at the visitor center for the driving tour. The CD tells the story as you drive from one site to another. You can pause the CD and get out to take a closer look at any time.
While at the visitor center you can have your photo made with a statue of President Abe Lincoln. The center also has a movie about the battle which is supposed to be great.
As you drive you will notice several interesting things. The first odd fact is that the Southern army arrived in Gettysburg from the North, marching south while the Northern Army arrived from the South.
As you drive you will see several cannons and monuments showing the location of different regiments. As you hear the story you should take time to get out of the car and look across the fields at the cannons on the other side facing you. At Little Round Top, you can look down the hill and think about an enemy force trying to climb the hill to reach your location. Likewise, from the base of Little Round Top, look up and think of the courage it would take to try to climb this hill while being fired upon from the top.
The best end to the visit is a stop at the cemetery, where you can see the graves of only a few of the men who died in the battle. Take time to walk down to the monument where Lincoln gave his famous speech. After the tour, the speech may be more meaningful to you.
To try to understand the war and the men who fought in it, you should make one last stop. This stop is not on the tour map or was not on any I saw, but it should have been. The final stop is near the cemetery and is called, “Friend to Friend Masonic Memorial.”
This memorial shows the true spirit of the civil war. It shows both the best and the worst of the war. The memorial tells the story of two friends Union General Winfield Scott Hancock and Confederate General Lewis Addison Armistead. The two men were best friends and had served and fought together side by side in the United States Army before the civil war. When the civil war started, Armistead said that he could not raise his sword against his fellow Southerners.
The two men parted, both taking command positions in their armies. During the war, both men proved their courage and leadership skills on several occasions. On the final day of Gettysburg, the two friends met. During Pickett’s Charge, Armistead lead his troops across the bloody field into the guns of the Union Army commanded by Hancock.
Armistead’s troops were able to penetrate Hancock’s line but were quickly driven back in defeat, ending the battle of Gettysburg. Both Hancock and Armistead were wounded in the fighting. Hancock sent his staff assistant, Doctor Henry Bingham to the dying Armistead. The memorial shows Armistead giving his personal belongings to Bingham to take back to Hancock.
The memorial is dedicated to the “unique bonds of friendship enabled them to remain a brotherhood undivided, even as they fought in a divided nation, faithfully supporting the respective governments under which they lived.”
With all that is going on in the world we should stop pointing fingers at each other and look at these men. Neither side was all good nor evil, they were men, brothers who fought for what they believed.