Gettysburg 150 Reflections: July 4 National Cemetery Photos

Here are a few more photos from the Gettysburg 150th. These are from July 4 when I was stationed in the National Cemetery to talk about the dead of Gettysburg and their meaning for the nation. This was the best July 4th of my life. The crowds of visitors were phenomenal. There is nothing like wrapping up a ranger program in the Gettysburg Cemetery on July 4 by stopping at the grave of Sumner Paine, grandson of the signer of the Declaration of Independence who was killed on July 3, 1863 at Gettysburg. His death is a fitting example of the message Lincoln tried to convey when he came to Gettysburg in November 1863. The dead of Gettysburg, and indeed, the dead from all American wars, have given their lives so that the nation founded on the idea of equality and conceived in liberty will not perish. God Bless the United States.

 

 

Note: These pictures were all taken with my smartphone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ohio flags and buckeyes placed at every Ohio grave, something which I will never forget for the rest of my life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A native Ohioan kneels at Ohio graves on a very special July 4. Remembering all those who died 150 years ago...

Gettysburg 150 Reflections: Pickett's Charge Photos

 

 

 

 

Here is part 2 of my photos from the Gettysburg 150th. Again, some are from my cell phone and personal camera, some are from friends, and some are from the park facebook page. Hope you enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

 On the evening of July 2, there was an amazing double rainbow over the battlefield. I didn't capture the whole thing, but I did capture it hitting Cemetery Ridge at the point where Ambrose Wright's brigade of Georgians was hitting the Union line 150 years earlier to the moment. This is from my backyard at Codori. Simply breathtaking.

 

 

 

 

 

 Sunset at Codori on the 2nd

 

  

 

 

 

 Myself at the 106th Pennsylvania monument on July 2

 

 

July 3 started out very rainy and cloudy. It did not bode well for the Pickett's Charge commemorative walk that day.

Visitors were gathering at the Virginia Memorial in the rain 3 hours before we even began organizing the separate brigades and 5 hours before the walk began.

 

Starting at 1 o'clock, rangers began organizing visitors into brigade groups. As you can see, the sun had started to come out. This was still two hours before the walk began, and Garnett's brigade, to which I was assigned along with my friend and colleague Ranger Chris Gwinn, was already getting crowded.

Ranger Dan manning Richard Garnett's brigade. Each brigade for the walk had a separate flag with the brigade commander's name on it. Brigades in Pickett's Division had light blue flags, Pettigrew's division had red flags, and Trimble's division had green flags. Because visitors were allowed to choose their brigades, Pickett's was the most crowded. We either had the same number or more visitors gather with us on July 3 than Pickett had soldier's in his division 150 years earlier. Again, simply amazing.

 

 

 

 

 This is a panorama photo I took with my cell phone just before we stepped off. It shows Garnett's brigade in line of battle, with Ranger Gwinn walking in front. The photo is really amazing because it shows how far the brigade stretched, which was likely the length of Garnett's actual brigade. Chris and I likely had over 2,000 visitors with us, meaning we had more people walking with us on July 3 than Garnett had to make the original Pickett's Charge 150 years earlier. If you click on the image you can enlarge it. At certain points the visitors are standing six or seven ranks deep.

 

 

 

  

 

The view of Garnett's brigade from a distance just as we began to advance.

 

 

 

 This picture does not do the sight justice. When we crested the final ridges and saw Cemetery Ridge for the first time, I heard gasps and exclamations from the visitors behind me. Chris and I tried to do informal interpretation as we advanced. I turned to the visitors, told them that those were all Union soldiers and asked them to put themselves in the shoes of those soldiers whose footsteps they were following 150 years to the moment. This moment was a far more powerful teaching tool than any ranger talk I could have designed on my own. It showed rangers and visitors alike what the march was like and what the sights were like. Knowing how many Union soldiers lay ahead and continuing on anyways brought a new perspective on these Confederate soldiers who made this assault for everyone involved, rangers included. Words really can't describe the thoughts going through our minds at this point.

 

 

 Garnett pushes forward to the wall. After reforming on the Union side of the Emmittsburg Pike, Chris and I told our group that this was the last stretch, the point where most of the Confederate soldiers fell. This was the stretch where Garnett himself was killed. The soldiers advancing from this point on leaned forward as if walking into a heavy rain storm. The atmosphere in the group was electric, and then we yelled, "Garnett's Brigade, Forward to the Wall!!!"
 

 

 

 

 Once at the wall, the rangers stopped the advancing brigades.
 

 

 

 Gettysburg Foundation President Joanne Hanley caught up with me at the stonewall and snapped this pic. Thanks, Joanne!

 

 

 

Chris and I gather for a brief ranger conference after stopping our group.


 

 

 Thanks to Antietam colleague, friend, and social media team member Ranger Mannie Gentile for this shot at the wall. Yes, the Confederate battle flags do make this appear to be an SCV advertisement, but I assure you it is not.

 

 

The Pickett's Charge commemorative walk was a tremendous success thanks to the hard work of everyone involved. I work with some very dedicated and talented park rangers. Pictured right to left:
Rangers Phillip Brown, myself, Chris Gwinn, Jared Frederick, and GNMP Supervisory Historian Scott Hartwig. An interesting crew indeed.
 

 

 

 

 

 Thanks again to Mannie for this shot. Chris and I after the walk, with the Garnett and American flags behind us. Chris is a good friend and I was very fortunate to work with him on this event. We can say that we led more people across the fields of Gettysburg than Garnett himself did!




Stay tuned for a few more pictures from Gettysburg 150 to come.

 

Gettysburg 150 Reflections: Photos Part 1

 

I realized halfway through writing my post with my observations and reflections from the Gettysburg 150th that I would not have room for all of the pictures which I wanted to post. I decided to put up some photos over a few posts. The past week was one of the greatest of my life, and these pictures are just a short overview of why. Some are my own, some from colleagues, some from the NPS Gettysburg facebook page, and a few from the Civil War Trust. Enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Trace Adkins signing the National Anthem at the June 30 ceremony. Awesome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jared Frederick, myself, and Nate Hess on Cemetery Ridge on July 2 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jared got a few good shots of me in action. I really like the one directly above. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A shot of me preparing for my first program of the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love this picture. The kids sitting on dad's shoulders listening to my program. Hopefully they will be future park rangers some day...

  

 

 

 

 

 We had very large crowds for all of our talks at Cemetery Ridge on July 2

 

 

  

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Thanks to the Civil War Trust for this shot of me reading the Samuel Fitzinger letter on July 2. Behind me is the Codori Farm where Fitzinger was killed and buried. Here is a link to the letter.

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Jared for this shot of me doing my super ranger point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To wrap up the July 2, myself and a few of my colleagues went to the evening program at Meade's Headquarters for the Council of War. Rangers John Nicholas and Angie Atkinson led the program and did a phenomenal job. I got to sneak into the Leister House just before the program started to avoid the huge crowds. Here, in the room where I am pictured standing, 150 years earlier to the moment, George Meade and the Union high command was deciding the fate of their army on July 3, and helping to decide the fate of the nation in the process...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Stay tuned for more photos in the future...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gettysburg 150 Reflections

Today is my first day off in about two weeks. While I am laying low today, visiting the fiancée in State College, I thought I would take a moment to post a few thoughts about the last few weeks at Gettysburg National Military Park.

To briefly recap my week for the 150th:

June 30: I worked the evening ceremony which began the 150th commemorations, handing out programs to thousands of visitors. I was blown away by how many folks remembered me from Antietam. Visitors remembering your programs from past visits, especially details of those programs, is the highest compliment a ranger can receive. Thank you all so much.

July 1: I worked the Visitor Center, leading Battle Overview and Civil War Soldier programs. Despite the hectic nature of things in the building, the programs went great and I had a blast.

July 2: I worked at the Cemetery Ridge Key Moment station, delivering a few programs and answering questions and providing informal interpretation non-stop from 9:30 am to 6 pm. I was joined by rangers Jared Frederick and Nate Hess. Jared and Nate are terrific park rangers, and together our interpretive trio did a great job telling the story of fighting on Cemetery Ridge on July 2. I was fortunate enough to have a Civil War Trust crew tag along on my one of my programs and take pictures (pictures to follow).

July 3: I did a live interview with Mark Zimmerman on WCRF at 7 am (thanks Mark!), and then went to the Visitor Center to prepare for the Pickett's Charge walk. Nate and I were at the Virginia Memorial answering questions for a  few hours, then at 1, we started gathering visitors into groups for the walk. I was leading Garnett's brigade with friend and colleague Chris Gwinn, who is a great ranger. Chris and I had a blast leading our group. By our estimate, we had anywhere from 2,000 to 2,500 people just with us. Garnett's actual strength was about 1,800 at the battle. Thus, Chris and I led a bigger group of visitors in Garnett's footsteps than Garnett actually had soldiers 150 years earlier. Simply amazing.

July 4: I was in the National Cemetery all day doing talks about the dead of Gettysburg and the meaning of the battle. It was the best July 4th of my life. All the graves had American flags on them. I led three programs, each with 75-100 + people. I ended each one at the grave of Sumner Paine, a lieutenant from the 20th Massachusetts who was killed on July 3, 1863, and whose grandfather Robert Treat Paine signed the Declaration of Independence. Words can't describe how powerful those moments were. Some of the best of my NPS career thus far.

Now, for some general overview thoughts...


1. I work with some amazing people. The professionalism and dedication of my colleagues on staff at Gettysburg is absolutely remarkable. For five days, from June 30 through July 4, the park was literally overrun by visitors. This led to enormous crowds on some of the programs. Several hikes numbered over 1,000 people. Over the days of the anniversary period, the interpretive staff did hundreds of programs for well over 100,000 visitors (just those going on programs alone, not all those in the park). While our voices began to fade, everyone continued working hard to get the job done. It was a remarkable event.

2. GNMP Supervisory Historian Scott Hartwig and the staff who planned the Gettysburg 150 event did a phenomenal job. The challenges they faced were overcome with incredible team work. The Gettysburg 150th should serve as a model to the entire National Park Service for what can be accomplished if individuals work together for the common good of the park and the visitor. The park's maintenance crew did a fantastic job of preparing the park for the flood of visitors, and everyone who worked on this event in any way shape or form deserves a resounding standing ovation for their tremendous efforts. This was one of the best and biggest events in the history of the National Park Service and a perfect example of why the NPS is one of the most important branches of the Federal government.

3. Gettysburg was very fortunate to have the great weather that we had. Each day rain and thunderstorms were in the forecast, but aside from some rain on the morning of July 3rd, the weather each day was great.

4. The American public still cares about Gettysburg and about history. The numbers of people who came out to pay their respects to those who fought for their freedoms 150 years ago was astonishing. And, perhaps even more remarkable was the tone of the general public. Despite massive crowds, parking troubles, shuttles all across the battlefield and town, the vast, vast, vast majority of the visitors we encountered were delightful. They even went out of their way to thank us. It was something which doesn't happen often in this line of work. Working in the NPS means that you will normally have lots of people yell at you for no reason at all. That did not happen once this week in all my visitor interactions. For that, we at Gettysburg thank the amazing folks who came to visit us this week.

5. My view of Gettysburg has been forever altered by what occurred this week, specifically in regards to Pickett's Charge. Leading what was likely over 2,000 visitors in the footsteps of Richard Garnett's brigade on July 3rd 150 years to the moment from when they made their march was remarkable. When we first saw the thousands gathered on Cemetery Ridge to watch our approach, I heard gasps and exclamations from the visitors behind me. It was one of the most remarkable moments of my life. I turned and told the visitors to picture all those to their front as Union soldiers, and then to ask themselves why they were still going forward. It was, as we like to say, an interpretive moment unlike any other.

The answer to that question lies with every individual soldier who made the charge that day, and it is as simple as the answer given by a kid on my Join the Army program yesterday. Every soldier at Gettysburg fought and made the attacks that they did because they thought it was the right thing to do. They could have deserted. They could have run away. They could have feigned illness. But those who went forward into battle did not shirk their responsibility. They embraced it and did their duty as they understood it. This is a question at the heart of understanding Civil War soldiers. I have tried to include it in every program I lead at Gettysburg, especially those that discuss Pickett's Charge and Day 3. Those soldiers, North and South, were remarkable individuals, and remembering their combat motivations is one of the most important aspects to studying the American Civil War.




The Gettysburg 150th was an amazing event, and I can't recap it all in one blog post. I will do another post (or two or three!) with some pictures and more reflections. There is however, one final thought I would like to post.



Over the winter, things were very difficult for me. I did not know whether or not I would have a job with the NPS again this year. I had essentially told myself that I was likely done working as a ranger, and that I had gotten great opportunities and needed to move forward with whatever opportunities God would give me next. Then, just before Easter, I learned from Keith Snyder at Antietam that I could return there in the spring and fall, and from Scott Hartwig that I could work at Gettysburg for the summer season. I can never say thank you enough to my two bosses, Keith and Scott, for giving me the opportunity to remain in the NPS and work at the two premier Civil War battlefield parks in the country.



As thankful as I am for everything Keith and Scott have done for me to give me the chance to continue my NPS career, I am even more thankful that God has given me these blessings as well. God has a way of reminding us what his plans are for us when we are feeling discouraged and down. Over the winter I truly believed I was done in the NPS. Yet, this past week I was working the Gettysburg 150th as a Gettysburg ranger. There were countless times over the past week when visitors came up to me to tell me that they remembered me from Antietam and that my tour or program had had a big impact on their life or their view of history and America. Many told me that they remembered the story of my ancestor who died at Antietam for their freedom. Those are the moments where I would start tearing up and feel as though God was nudging me, saying "don't give up". Those comments are the highest compliments rangers can receive, and they mean the world to us.

My most important take home thought from the Gettysburg 150th is that God has blessed me with some tremendous opportunities, and I am very proud and humbled to have taken part in these events. All the credit for whatever successes I have had in the NPS goes to God for helping to lead me along on this path. Going from no NPS work to working the Gettysburg 150th as a park ranger reminds me that no matter what happens, God has a plan, and if we just trust in Him and work hard, He will provide and keep turning a few pieces of fish and a few loaves of bread into a bountiful feast (or, in my case, a dead end in the NPS to one of the most amazing opportunities of my life in the NPS).

 

 

 

 

 

This is my favorite picture from the Gettysburg 150th. It was taken on my cell phone by Ranger Troy Harmon on the morning of July 4th in the Soldier's National Cemetery. The American flags behind me are a stirring reminder of the price paid for our freedoms on the fields of Gettysburg 150 years ago...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pickett's Charge Commemorative Walk: Reflections on July 3, 2013 at Gettysburg National Military Park

Today was an amazing day.


There will be pictures to follow and stories to tell, but for now, I just wanted to note what occurred today at Gettysburg National Military Park.


Park Rangers led thousands of visitors across the fields between Seminary and Cemetery Ridge this afternoon in a Pickett's Charge commemorative walk. I had the honor of being with Richard Garnett's brigade of Pickett's Division, along with friend and colleague Chris Gwinn. We had roughly the same number of folks with us today that Garnett did 150 years to that very moment. When we stepped off, Chris had the idea to have the brigade shout "Virginians!" several times, which they did. It gave me chills. I was in tears when we stepped off because of the emotions of the moment and the number of people who were present. I have never experienced anything quite like it before.

When we reached the stone wall on Cemetery Ridge, visitors were caught up in emotion, and so were the rangers. There were pictures, hand shakes, cheers, and then silence, as the solemn notes of taps floated over the massive crowds (early unofficial estimates are that over 10,000 people were there on Union lines and in the Confederate groups).

Standing at that wall saluting the American flag, surrounding by the throngs of people in silence, I could only think of one thing:


The men who fought here 150 years ago would be immensely proud to know that 150 years later to the moment, they had not been forgotten.

The takeaway message of today, and of the Gettysburg 150th, is this: Americans still care, and Americans still remember the sacrifices that were made for us many, many years ago.


Today was one of the best days I can remember, and the Pickett's Charge Commemorative Walk was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I did not hear a single visitor complaint from the crowd of thousands.


More to come on this and the Gettysburg 150th. For now, sleep, rest, and vitamins, because tomorrow, on July 4th, I will be in the Soldier's National Cemetery at Gettysburg to talk to visitors about the Gettysburg Address and the meaning of the battle.


God Bless America. Happy Fourth of July.

July 3, 1863

July 3, 1863, was the final and climactic day of the battle of Gettysburg. It was the day on which Robert E. Lee lost the battle, and George Gordon Meade won it. It was a day which forever changed the future of this nation. Today, and all days, we remember the sacrifices made 150 years ago so that this nation may live. In the words of Abraham Lincoln:

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.