Awe Inspiring

Rating: 10/10 (2 April 2000)

I first went to Gettysburg when I was 6 or 7. Ever since, I have wandered those fields on a regular basis. I am an amateur military historian, and I give private tours of the battlefield. I have spent nights there, cold camping, and avoiding Park Service patrols. I have walked, driven, biked, rode horseback, and flew over in a plane, a chopper, and a hot air balloon. I don't believe there's an inch of ground there I haven't been on. I've spent hours at the Railroad Cut, the Peach Orchard, the Angle, Culp's Hill, The Cemetery, Spangler's Spring, and Barlow's Knoll, not to mention the east Cavalry Fields. I guess my point is: often, while standing on Little Round Top, beneath the statue of Gen. Warren, I look out over The Wheatfield and Devil's Den, or over to Cemetery Ridge or Seminary Ridge, I wonder - I try to imagine - what it was like. The movie Gettysburg, with any of it's inaccuracys, gave me the best vision I've ever had. I wish there had been four more hours.