Gettysburg -
Just finished watching a special on it.
Supposedly 161,000 fought there. 51,000 died there in 3 days. (Apprx. 1 in 3.) If you factor in tge wounded the statistics were staggering.
I was stationed fairly close to there for 4 years. (Apprx 7-10 miles away.) I used to frequent the museum's there. Fascinating place. It is a very humbling. Never really knew 1 in 3 who fought there, died there. Almost as many Men who lost their lives in Vietnam, in 3 days. Sobering. The weapons collection in a couple of the Museum's are fascinating.
Anyone been there? Care to share?
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I was there in the Summer of 2003; the 140th anniversary of the battle. There are certain places which impart a strange feeling of your not being alone, and I'm not talking about being surrounded by other visitors. Gettysburg, Gallipoli, Normandy, Auschwitz-Birkenau are some of the places I've visited where I could feel the history. It wasn't necessarily pleasant. 6 -
The "Special," I was was watching (and have seen multiple times before,) was "Haunted History," on the History Channel. Supposedly one of the most Haunted places in the US, due the the events that took place there over three horrific days. Walking through the graveyards, brings it home. I was unaware, until this viewing that there are multiple mass pit graves, unmarked, on the grounds.
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"Almost as many Men who lost their lives in Vietnam, in 3 days"
And the total population of US was 31.4 million vs 180 million in the 1960's
Helps you understand why the emotions about the "Civil War" ran so deep for generations.0 -
Not to rain on your parade, but the 50,000 (+/-) number is total casualties, not deaths.
https://www.historynet.com/gettysburg-casualties
From the link:Nearly one-third of the total forces engaged at Gettysburg became casualties. George Gordon Meade’s Army of the Potomac lost 28 percent of the men involved; Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia suffered over 37 percent.
Of these casualties, 7,058 were fatalities (3,155 Union, 3,903 Confederate). Another 33,264 had been wounded (14,529 Union, 18,735 Confederate) and 10,790 were missing (5,365 Union, 5,425 Confederate).
Visited the battlefield over 50 years ago, and frankly do not remember much of it. It is on my bucket list to go back and spend a few weeks visiting the major battles of the war.
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Sorry for the inaccuracy. That was the figure stated in the Special. I found it rather surprising that 1 in 3 had died. The math did not make sense, if you factored in the wounded, it seemed too high.
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It is amazing to me that documentaries contain as many blatant inaccuracies as they do these days. You would think there would be at least one fact checker reviewing all of the important information. A simple 'Alexa, how many people died during the battle of Gettysburg' would given a much more accurate answer. Sadly, it seems to be more and more common as it seems those who write and direct these things do not have any knowledge of the subject from personal experience or even prior study of the events. Usually I would imagine it the result of a casual review of facts and laziness. There are times, however, where it seems deliberate and designed to put a political spin on events of the past.KenK/84Bravo said:Sorry for the inaccuracy. That was the figure stated in the Special. I found it rather surprising that 1 in 3 had died. The math did not make sense, if you factored in the wounded, it seemed too high.
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Dad was a huge civil war buff we went to Gettysburg several times, I loved eating at the Good and Plenty restaurant run by Amish people 
Cool stories and facts I would love to go back as an adult and check it out again before the lefties destroy it0 -
I've been to Gettysburg 5 or 6 times and am a member of the Gettysburg Foundation - a nonprofit that works with the National Park Service to maintain and restore the battlefield to 1863-like conditions. That a place where such horrors took place can be a memorial to courage and fidelity is truly amazing. 0 -
Back in 1978 we went on a vacation to the northeast and included visits to several battle sites. We did the tour of Gettysburg and ended the tour at the cemetary. As I stood there a cold chill went up my spine and I started shivering for several minutes. None of the other battle sites we went to affected me like that. Years later Dad went there and told me later that the same thing happened to him while he walked through the cemetary.Doing ancestry research many years later I found that we had 2 ancesters that fought at Gettysburg, both of whom survived.
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was there when about 10 yrs old 0 -
Three of the bloodiest days ever 0 -
I have never been there but it is on my bucket list. I know the chilled feeling some get when they visit historical sites of battles though. Back in 1996 I spent a day touring The Little Big Horn and was hit with pins and needles along with those eerie standing hairs while there.
I enjoy watching the movie "Gettysburg" every year or so along with the PBS Civil War mini series by Ken Burns. Both attempts at bringing history to light are quite well done IMHO.0 -
Going through there now it is hard to believe all of the action that too place there. We stopped one year on our way to Rolling Thunder and a guide took us through on our motorcycles. Viewing some of sites I cannot believe how anyone survived there is no where to take cover. 0 -
Got that same feeling visiting the "sunken road " at Antietam where the dead lay three deep. Most killed in a single day of the war. 0 -
Cornflk1: 31535381985691/comments/31535374680987
Got that same feeling visiting the "sunken road " at Antietam where the dead lay three deep. Most killed in a single day of the war.
I have visited Antietem multiple times as well. Not only the "Sunken Road, but have paddled Antietem Creek inumerable times, stopping at the Bloody Bridge to eat and look around. Being a student of History, I find these places fascinating and humbling.
We would paddle Antietem Creek to where it flows into the Potomoc not too far downstream, and then have moderate rapids to play in at high water.
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I do not believe that PBS covers American history that well.
The casualties in most units during the war was due to disease, but those casualties in the Texas (Hood's) Brigade were due mostly to combat. Their casualties at Antietam were 82.3% (or was that Gettysburg?)...the highest casualty rate of any unit during the war. At Gettysburg, they took the Devil's Den...How was that even humanly possible? Then they faced the more impossible task of taking Little Round Top...considering the difficult high ground...even more difficult than that of the Devil's Den.
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