Gettysburg, PA

OK, remember how windy I said it was at the National Cathedral? Well, this picture proves it too! This is a look-out tower in Gettysburg, about 50 feet high. The wind was so strong that we could lean over-- far enough that we would normally fall-- and the wind would keep us up. It was nuts! In this picture we are leaning with all our weight into the wind.

Historical mansion in Gettysburg.

Actual battle grounds of Gettysburg

The Battle of Gettysburg lasted only 3 days, July 1 – July 3, 1863. The battle was fought in, and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and was the battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War; over 51,000. The Battle of Gettysburg is frequently cited as the war's turning point. Union Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac defeated attacks by Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, ending Lee's invasion of the North.

Actual cannons from the war.

Gettysburg Cemetary

I love what Lincoln said at the Gettysburg Address: "It is rather for us, the living, to stand here, we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that, from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here, gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve these dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people by the people for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

I think all politicians and Americans alike need to read this over and over again.