Gettysburg and Other Things

The Gettysburg Battlefield in 2019
(Source)

One hundred and fifty-seven years ago, two great armies clashed in the fields around the small Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg. It was part of the great struggle which would largely determine the course of this Nation of ours. Some hundred and four thousand men wore the blue uniform of the Union, some seventy-five thousand wore the gray and butternut of the Confederacy.

There were many issues which led to that war. Feckless politicians then, as now, could have acted differently to have avoided all of the blood shed during those years from April 1861 to April of 1865. Some still hold the loyalties from that conflict close to their hearts, rightly or wrongly, that isn't for me to say. But that war is over and has been over for a long time.

I can never let these three days, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd of July pass without giving some thought to that battle.

The 1st of July saw the build-up of forces in the vicinity of Gettysburg, oddly enough the Southerners advanced towards the town from the northwest, while the northerners advanced from the southeast. The reasons for that are not really relevant to this blog post, there are many sources where you can read about that yourselves.

The 2nd of July saw Longstreet's Corps attempt to turn the Union left flank, and fail.

The 3rd?

Let us just say that the valor displayed, on both sides, on the 3rd of July, 1863, was monumental. I shall speak of that tomorrow.

There were brave men and capable commanders on both sides of that war. They fought for their beliefs, however misguided some of those beliefs may have been. One thing I will never forget is that they were all Americans. (While some foreign adventurers did serve on both sides, their numbers were statistically insignificant.)

They fought hard and many of them died hard. Many suffered from their wounds and their experiences for the rest of their lives. Folks just can't seem to understand that for many soldiers the war continues, even after the last gun has sounded and all the documents have been signed. The things they saw, the things they survived, the memories of friends lost haunt the soldier. Some handle it better than others.

With all the current turmoil occurring in parts of the country (not everywhere, not even close) we should take a moment to remember the men who fought, and died, at Gettysburg. It is part of our history and always will be, no matter how badly some cowardly group of snot-nosed, filthy, uneducated, communist nitwits want to destroy that history. Remember, their endgame is to destroy the United States, ours is to preserve, support, and defend our liberties and our rights against those who would tear us down.

Again, feckless politicians, on both sides of the aisle, are not doing enough to contain, control, and eliminate these threats to our freedoms. They worry about re-election, that's it. A pox on their houses.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, 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.

-- Abraham Lincoln

Nov. 19, 1863

Amen.

I'm stepping away from my tale of Normandy for a couple of days. While the fighting continues, there are no major historical events which occurred on the 2nd and 3rd of July 1944 in which our characters are involved. They are all in reserve and awaiting further orders.

Tomorrow I will be commemorating Pickett's Charge by rerunning two posts, one from 2013, which is mostly pictures, and the other from last year. That latter post was another piece of historical fiction I wrote which I had forgotten about. I need an administrative assistant...

As to the name of the new vehicle, she has one, it was one of those things which occurs and then just feels right afterward. Though I must admit, it ain't very clever, but it fits.

Her name is Blue.

The other day I had to run an errand and after jumping into the car I just said, "Ready to go, Blue?" It just sort of happened. You might say it was completely out of the blue. So to speak.

Up until Big Girl, I considered all my cars to be "he." Why, I have no idea. Not all of them had names. Now Big Girl came to me as a gift and The Nuke had already been calling her by that name. Perhaps I have been completely indoctrinated to the "Navy way," where all ships are "she." (Interestingly, in the Russian Navy they are "he.") So I just consider Blue to be a she. Go figure.

So, enjoy the benefits of liberty, remember those who fought for it, those who worked hard for it, and those who gave their lives for it. They were of all races, creeds, and colors, they all bled the same color.

Remember them.