A person with more courage and dedication...

...than I'll ever have is my friend, Matt. Before we get too far, let's rewind little bit.

About 15 yrs. ago, when I began Civil War reenacting, I remember meeting an annoying, 14-yr-old kid from home who also thought he was a reenactor. I kept seeing him at events, and got to know him a little better. I basically watched him make the transition from annoying kid to responsible adult, and I'm glad I was there for it. He became quite the reenactor.

Every year, at the Gettysburg reenactment, it seemd like no matter the scenario, Matt's unit and mine met across the lines, and we found ourselves engaged. As the fight ended we always got to talking, and we got to know each other a little better.

A few years ago, I got Matt into a grey uniform, and he had fun. Since then, we've made the trips to Cedar Creek, Fredericksburg, and a few other major reenactments, and we've gone on more than our share of adventures. I even got Matt into a WWII uniform, and he and I 'hit the beaches of Normandy' during the annual D-Day reenactment on Lake Erie in Ohio. Through it all Matt and I became good friends. I love him like a brother.

Last year, Matt and his girlfriend Crystal (in the photos above, a girl who's also pretty awesome herself) spent an incredible weekend in Gettysburg. Matt has an ancestor who fought here, in the 62nd Pa in the Wheatfield, so we paid our respect at their monument, and at the PA Monument as well.

Matt is a kid who's been dealt a pretty tough blow. He lost his mom to an illness some 7 or 8 years ago. Rather than sulk and cry, Matt used this as a life experience and became stronger as a result. He's been trying to fulfill his life's dreams. He got his teaching certificate, and became a full-time teacher in a school district in a small town in NW PA.

But, there was always one dream he had, and one he was determined to accomplish. Matt wanted to be a US Marine. So, what did he do about it? He enlisted. At age 28, Mr. G, as his students call him, is headed for Parris Island on May 19th. "Crazy!" you say? "What the heck is he thinking?" You know what? This guy's stubborn enough, and detemined enough that he will actually do it, and prevail!

Mr. G, we're all gonna miss you the next three months or so. You'll be thought of often! Just remember, at the end of 'the Crucible', and when you're eating the warrior breakfast, your life will never be the same. You'll have done something amazing, and all of us who know you will have an even higher level of respect for you! Good luck!

The biggest choke in sports...

...since last year's Mets is currently happening, and I'm loving every minute of it. I'm referring to the Pgh. Penguins total dominance of the Philadelphia Flyers, a team who players, fans and coaches just over a week ago said, "Bring on the Pens! We're ready!"

If you watched any of the games so far (esp. last night's) you'd have seen that the Flyers were a lot of things, but 'ready' was not one of them. Out of synch, off their game, slow, unreactive. That's what they were.

Before the series started, I was told that the Pens playoff dominance would end. That didn't happen, so the excuses started, "We didn't have Timmonen!", "We've lost the first game the last two series'", etc. Boo-hoo! Cry me a river.

Then, game two. Improvement for the Flyers, but the same end result! So it now became, "Wait til we go home! You'll see us fly!" I've seen Penguins fly, but have yet to see anything from the Flyers that makes them even look like they belong in the playoffs in the first place.

What's the latest talk? "The officials are doing a horrible job! Too many calls against us!" Boo-freakin'-hoo but once again! A good team scores goals and wins games! A bad team cries and makes excuses! Regardless of who's doing what these days, I'm lovin' every minute of it!

"Let's Go, Pens!"

The Retreat of the Confederate Army...

...from Gettysburg is something that has always interested me. I had heard a lot of the white-washed, mainstream hype about how Meade and the Army of the Potomac had Lee's army in their grasp and didn't pursue, how the war could have ended right then and there, and about how little or no fighting happened during the retreat. When was younger, I thought it was true.

Then, about 13 years ago in the case of one, about 9 years ago in the case of a second, and about 7 years ago in the case of the third, I met some guys who about five years ago decided they were going to do something to change this myth. These guys felt that though they were in many cases minor, a series of fights occurred during the retreat, and that any tarnish to the reputation of JEB Stuart for being late coming to Gettysburg would be polised away by his conduct of protecting both the Confederate wagon trains, and the retreating Confederate army during the retreat.

I had heard of places such as Funkstown, Falling Waters, Williamsport and a few others, but had never been there. I was in Gettysburg on a few occasions when this group of soon-to-be-retreat experts made treks with others to Williamsport, but I had never gone along. Then, talk of a book on the retreat turned into action, and I was told (more than once) "Wait til the book comes out! You'll see just how much actually did happen in the ten days following the battle and during the retreat!"

In a previous post, I have mentioned this book, some smaller expeditions through the mountains near Fairfield, and my trip along the retreat of the Confederate wagon train of wounded. I had never done the entire retreat of the army, though I often wanted to (Seriously, little or no documentation of where to go or what to see was one of the reason that prevented such an excursion!).

Well, this past week, I got to make the trip. It was awesome! It was only two days ago, and I want to do it again! A friend and I left Gettysburg at around 1pm, and we got back around 8pm. Seven hours, you say? Seven hours well and truly spent, I say!

The book is called One Continuous Fight , and is due out in about 3 weeks. It has very detailed driving tours of both the retreat of the wounded wagon train and the retreat of the army. GPS coordinates are provided, as are distances between stops, directions, and places of interest. There are descriptions of what happened where along the way.

Two bits of advice: Don't try this trip alone. Without someone to navigate, you'll at least get frustrated, but you probably won't make it! Also, be prepared to go to some very isolated and off-the-beaten-path areas. You truly will at times feel like you are in the middle of nowhere! Why? Because you are!

Some of the jewels of this trip are the numerous period homes and barns along the way. Many areas have to look now almost as they did to the soldiers as they passed by. Also, something I never realized was the proximity of this retreat route to the town of Sharpsburg and the Antietam battlefield. You come within about six miles as you cross the Sharpsburg Pike at Jones' Crossroads.

To the authors, continued kudos to a job extremely well done! Yinz guys rock! To anyone considering trying either of the tours out, take a day and do it! You'll not be disappointed. Finally, to anyone who's already done it, spread the word! The tours alone are worth the price of the book!

Something positive out of all of this...

...for a change is the movie A New Birth of Freedom being shown in the new Gettysburg Visitor's Center. It's narrated by Morgan Freeman, has Sam Waterston doing the Gettysburg Address and it's worth seeing.

In typical new-VC fashion, it is a bit on the side of being politically correct. You start out with the issue of slavery, the causes of the war, etc. When the armies get to Gettysburg, the movie gets good. I do have a question about it, though; it ends with a segment on Martin Luther King. Why? I understand the tie-in to the new birth of freedom, reconstruction, and the civil rights movement, but MLK in a Gettysburg museum? I don't know. It's still worth a look-see, though.

The only two complaints I have about it are that at 22 minutes, it's not quite long enough (I understand for the average visitor, too much longer would have turned them away, though), and the $8 price of admission. That also is undestandable. You do have to help pay for the 'free museum' somehow!

If you go to the center, take the time, spend the money, and enjoy it. You'll not be disappointed!

The Bookstore in the new VC...

...if that's what you'd like to call it. I call it another "Gettysburg Gift Shop". Less than 300 titles? Newt Gingrich's alternate Gettysburg history?

And, the books aren't even together. They're strewn throughout the shop in no orderly fashion amongst the Lincolns-on-a-stick (?), the felt kepis and cartridge candy, and all the other junk you can already find in town.

Want to do some serious book-shopping on a busy weekday? Be prepared for dozens of kids playin shoot-'em-up with the toy muskets and such as you try to look at the books! I got so frustrated I left. Maybe I'll try to shop in December when no one's in town!

The potential is there for so much more. They have the space. Put the tourist-trap gift shop on one side, and the books on the other. I guess the idea of 'screw the seriously-interested', let's sell junk and milk the tourists has carried over fom Old Gettysburg Village and Steinwehr Ave. to the new Gettysburg Visitor Center.

And to think, like a lot of the rest of us, I waited anxiously for this thing! :-(

Out with the old...

...and in with the new! I went last Weds., and my thoughts are mixed. It is a very nice, very well-done Civil War Museum. The layout makes sense, the displays are presented in a logical and concise way, and it looks good.

That said, it is not what you think of when you hear the words, "Gettysburg National Military Park Visitor's Center". That is not even close to what this new creation comes off as being.

Why?

Very little of it is actually devoted to Gettysburg! If I wanted to go to a Civil War Museum, I would have gone an hour north to Harrisburg. It has one of the best in the country!

But, I did not. I wanted to see Gettysburg!

This museum starts of with an intro. to the causes of the war, a big presentation on slavery, the early battles, then Gettysburg, and then the remaining campaigns (with very little mention of the Western or Trans-Miss Theatres). Then, there is a brief bit on the aftermath, and the creation of the park. My favorite exhibit was the EXIT sign, which meant that I no longer had to take in the forced-doses (by the shovels-ful) of political correctness that I was being made to digest!!

The potential was there They could have done so much more. How about the events leading up to Gettysburg? How about an exhibit on "Why Gettysburg?", etc. More on the battle itself, and more on the effects of the battle, both during and afterward, on the town itself? How many wounded? How did they treat them? Where did they send them? How about the pre-battle fighting in Westminster, Hanover, York, Carlisle, and Hunterstown? Why no mention of Lee's retreat with his 17-mile-long wagon train of wounded and even some of the fighting along the way? Also, (and this will be the last one) if you are showing the general Civil War, what happened at almost the same time in Vicksburg?

I think this thing was given to us under false pretenses! When first proposed, we were told that it was necessary to have larger exhibit space, because the park owned significantly more relics and artifacts than it could display. This from the Gettysburg NMP website itself on the initial plan,

"The requirement of a new building dates back any years when the growth of the museum collection, based on the famous George D. Rosensteel Collection, was beyond the scope of the current visitor's center. The need for an updated building to house the park's extensive archival and museum collections was not the only predicament. Outdated visitor facilities, exhibit space..."

Yet, the new museum presents significantly fewer pieces of the collection. Why?

Anyone besides me see something wrong here?... We won't get into the disgraces of the so-called 'bookstore'. That will come later.

I don't know, for the average 'Joe or Jane public' tourist, this thing might be ok, but if you know more than who fought, what the battle meant, when it was, and how it ended, you will be more than a bit disappointed!

"Goodbye to an old friend"

This is a little late, but lots of things have been going on in Gettysburg. I didn't get to make it on the very last day, but on the Fri. before it closed for good, my friends Donna and Karl, and I went to see it one last time. It's kind of sad to see it go. It's one of those things that we all thought would be there forever. A "Gettysburg Institution".

Yet, at the same time, it is definitely time to move on. 50 yr-old technology to show a three-day battle with blinking lights? Surely, we can do better! I think the electric map was one of those things we all remember from our first Gettysburg school trip, something from our youth that helped us understand the battle (though on my particular first trip to Gettysburg, most of the kids were just glad to have two days away from school!).

I've only really seen this thing about 6 times, mostly when people who had never been here before came, so that we help them understand where things happen and why they did. So rather then lament on its demise, lets look to the future, and the new Gettysburg Visitor's Center. I've been there, and there will be more, much more, to follow on that subject.