West Virginia and the Battlefields

Saturday, 10/31/15 - Sad to leave Circle M Thousand Trails campground in Lancaster, PA.  The people here were so nice and the food was wonderful.  We are off to Falling Waters campground in the northern tip of West Virginia.  These states are so close together over here in the East, that I commonly do not know the state I am in.  West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland all touch at one place, and that is very close to this campground.  

We got parked and met our new neighbors, the Warrens, a very nice young family with two small daughters, ages 8 and 10.  They're traveling in a 38' motorhome and towing a Jeep and 4 bicycles.  We found out that they are from Colorado.  They home school the girls, and he works on his laptop in the motorhome.  She is the driver and he works while they are driving.  They are on a 13 month journey to every continental state (and I thought our trip was long!)  The girls were dressed up for Halloween and were excited to meet up with their friends here locally.  After their Halloween party, they came a knocking at our motorhome, and of course I had candy for them.  I told them that Halloween was my favorite holiday because I was almost a Halloween baby (I was born 2 minutes after midnight).  I also told them that this was the holiday I missed my grandchildren the most.  I love to go out trick-or-treating with them.

Sunday, 11/1/2015 - The girls came knocking again this morning.  They had a plate if cookies and a handmade necklace and birthday card for me.  I was blown away.  When did they have time to do this?  I thanked them, and they left for their friends' house again.  Here is a picture of my card.

Birthday Card, Necklace, and Cookies

Birthday Card Inside

Tom and I left for the Hagerstown Museum.  It was very small and a disappointment.  The only art piece that I enjoyed was a large marble bust of Abraham Lincoln by Gutzon Borglum, the same man that carved Mount Rushmore.

Monday, 11/2/15 - A big day.  Today we go to Gettysburg.  Gettysburg National Military Park covers a lot of ground (about 6 square miles).  The driving tour is 24 miles around the grounds.   We viewed a film about the 3 day battle in the Visitor Center Theater - it was very well produced, and Morgan Freeman narrated it. Then we went upstairs to a 360 degree Round Theater showing a 131 year old painting of the battles--unbelievable!  This painting was done in 1884.  With lights and sound and a narration, you feel that you are right in the middle of the whole battle.  It is called a Cyclorama.  Here is one picture I was able to take.

The Battle of Gettysburg

 I also have a panorama picture of about 1/2 of the painting, but it won't fit on this blog.

In July of 1863, about 166,000 men fought in this battle, and there were about 27,000 casualties over 3 days.  The reason Gettysburg is so important is that it was the first real Northern victory over General Robert E. Lee, halting the Northern invasion by the Confederates.  It also coincided with the Union victory at Vicksburg, which gave the Union control of the Mississippi.   Even though this battle was somewhat in the middle of the Civil War, it was truly the turning point for the Union Army.

After the Cyclorama (which almost brought me to tears), we toured the museum.  I really got into the narrations of regular people telling their stories of how the war affected them -  townspeople, farmers, slaves, and lower ranking soldiers.  After the museum, we loaded into a bus for a 2 1/2 tour of the battlefields with a tour guide explaining all of the events.  We didn't get back to the RV until after dark, and I was limited on pictures because it got dark, but it was a day I will never forget.  Here are some of my pictures.

Canon at Gettysburg

Gen. Robert E. Lee on Traveler

Base of the General Lee Memorial

Brig, General Warren
The Union General under General Meade credited will holding the high ground and repelling the Confederate Army

Tuesday, 11/3/2015 -  We are off to Sharpsburg and the Battle of Antietam.  This battle occurred in September of 1862, about 10 months before Gettysburg.  At this point of the war, General Lee was a formidable leader and had won most of his battles.  He was now ready to push northward toward the capital in Washington.  The armies met outside Sharpsburg, a small farming town, near Antietam Creek.  It was only one day, the the losses were staggering.  It was the bloodiest day of the war.   Of the 100,000 men that fought, casualties totaled almost 23,000 in less than 12 hours!  General McClellen of the Union army is credited for the victory, but that is not the real story.  He did defend and keep the invading Confederate army from breaking through to the North, but he had the capability of smashing the Confederates, and ending the war, but he did not.  Instead, he held his position and watched Lee retreat to Virginia.  However, with a big win on the Union side, Abraham Lincoln had the backing to proceed with his Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the slaves, which he issued on January 1, 1863.

Since we had a little more time here on our own, I took more pictures.  Hope you enjoy them.

Bloody Lane 2015

Bloody Lane 1862

The Unknown Soldier at National Cemetary

"Not for Themselves, But for their Country"
September 17, 1862

a small number of graves
the total in this National Cemetary is about 4,800

Lieut. Col . Duryee of the NY Zouaves
he was not killed at Antietam, but he lost 63% of his men

After the battlefields of Antietam, we headed south to Harpers Ferry, a little town at the joining of the Potomac and the Shenandoah.  Here is where John Brown rallied for the abolition of slavery in 1859, a year before the Civil War broke out.  In an attempt to spark rebellion and rally followers, he raided the National Armory at Harpers Ferry.  He and his followers were caught, tried, and hanged, but the news was enough to rile the North vs. the South debates.  We did not have enough time left to go down to the town, but talked with the Park Rangers at the visitor center and picked up a brochure.

So sorry about putting these battles in backwards order, but that is how we saw them.  The countryside where these battles were fought is beautiful, with rolling hills and dotted with farms.  It is hard to believe that such a horrific time in our history could have occurred here.

Back to the RV.  Picked up pizza for dinner and spent the evening reading.  Tomorrow is another 'catch up' day.  The dogs get groomed, I clean the RV, an we get ready for Washington DC.  We should be there on Thursday, 11/5 and stay until 12/2.  My cousin, Jeanette and her husband, Dave,  are flying into DC to join us on 11/7 and will stay for 11 days of touring.