Life’s Ideas

One of the highlights of our visit to the United States is the Gettysburg National Military Park in the state of Pennsylvania. We got there after lunch time and we went to check out the tours of the battlefield. We could just go around with our car but the tours are much nicer so we went with it. The fee was 24 dollars per person. The bus is air-conditioned, very comfortable and gives you a good view of everything. The tour started at the very beginning of the battle and there were stops along the way. The tour guide talked us through the American Civil War.

The Gettysburg battle is the bloodiest battle of the American Civil war with a casualty of 51,000. It also ended the civil war. Most soldiers did not have serious wounds but they still died due to lack of medical attention. There was no proper hospital in Gettysburg at the time to take care of so many wounded people.

One of the prominent buildings there is the Hall of the Presidents. It is a wax gallery of the American Presidents and their wives. We did not really went inside since we were only interested in the tour.

Another is the house of David Wills, where Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous address which today is considered one of the best speeches of his presidency.

The last stop of the tour is the famous valley of death where we got to feel the difficulties of being in the valley with your enemies high above you at the devil’s den. The place gives you the creeps of the actual battle. From the devil’s den, we could also see Camp David from very far away.

The park was really made to look like the site of the original battle. There was a photographer who had pictures of the old Gettysburg and so they restored the place back to the way it looked then. They build barns and farm houses where they were before. They also put big trees and plants where they were supposed to be. There were also old houses that are still standing there. The look of the old town is still there.

Tags: Abraham Lincoln, American Civil War, battlefield, David Wills, devil's den, Gettysburg, Gettysburg address, Hall of the Presidents, National Military Park, Pennsylvania, valley of death

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 at 4:14 pm and is filed under History and Culture, Travels|Vacations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.