Gettysburg

Today the Freedom Tour group visited the site of the Battle of Gettysburg in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Battle of Gettysburg happened in 1863 during the civil war and was considered the “turning point” of the war. The Union (North) won the battle and eventually won the war. The group had tour guides come onto the busses and tour us through the open fields of Gettysburg, where thousands of men were killed right where we stood all those years ago.


During the tour, we visited some of the many monuments in the battleground. There are over 1,000 monuments in Gettysburg that remember those who fought for both the Union and the Confederacy. It blew my mind to think that some of our ancestors fought on this battleground all that time ago. Also to think what our world would be like had the south won the war. Just think, we would need passports to even go into the state of Virginia. Or to even go to vacationlands like Florida, we would need passports. It made me shiver to even think about that.

We also visited Little Round Top. Little Round Top was the hill that the Union was forced to protect or possibly face losing the entire battle. We hiked the hill and saw monuments commemorating troops from Alabama and our home of Maine who fought desperately to take the hill or keep the hill.


Overall our experience at Gettysburg was a good one. I think we all learned a lot more about the history of our country. It was a great addition to our trip.


By Thomas