The first place that we went to was Gettysburg National Cemetery. The cemetery was formally dedicated on November 19, 1863. Around 10,000 citizens attended the dedication. It was at this site that Abraham Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg Address. His address lasted for under 3 minutes. The main speaker at the event was Edward Everett. He delivered an address that lasted over two hours.
Lincoln's Gettysburg Address:
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. 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.Around the cemetery are tablets with stanzas from Theodore O'Hara's poem, The Bivouac of the Dead. The cemetery is the final resting place of soldiers from the country's major wars and conflicts after the American Civil War. There are approximately 3,512 Union soldiers buried in the cemetery. 979 of the soldiers are unknown.
The muffled drum's sad roll has beat
The soldier's last Tattoo;
No more on life's parade shall meet
That brave and fallen few.
On Fame's eternal camping ground
Their silent tents are spread,
And glory guards, with solemn round
The bivouac of the dead.
No rumour of the foe's advance
Now swells upon the wind;
No troubled thought at midnight haunts
Of loved ones left behind.
No vision of the morrow's strife
The warrior's dream alarms;
No braying horn, nor screaming fife,
At dawn shall call to arms.
Their plumed heads are bowed;
Their haughty banner, trailed in dust,
Is now their martial shroud.
And plenteous funeral tears have washed
The red stains from each brow;
And the proud forms, by battle gashed,
Are free from anguish now.
The neighing troop, the flashing blade,
The bugle's stirring blast,
The charge, the dreadful cannonade,
The din and shouts are past;
Nor war's wild note, nor glory's peal,
Shall thrill with fierce delight;
Those breasts that never more may feel
The rapture of the fight.
Like the fierce Northern hurricane
That sweeps the great plateau,
Flushed with triumph, yet to gain,
Come down the serried foe;
Who heard the thunder of the fray
Break o'er the field beneath,
Knew the watchword of the day
Was "Victory or death!"
Long had the doubtful conflict raged
O'er all that stricken plain,
For never fiercer fight had waged
The vengeful blood of Spain;
And still the storm of battle blew,
Still swelled the glory tide;
Not long, our stout old Chieftain knew,
Such odds his strength could bide.
For many a mother's breath has swept
O'er Angostura's plain,
And long the pitying sky has wept
Above its moldered slain.
The raven's scream, or eagle's flight,
Or shepherd's pensive lay,
Alone awakes each sullen height
That frowned o'er that dread fray.
Ye must not slumber there,
Where stranger steps and tongues resound
Along the heedless air.
Your own proud land's heroic soil
Shall be your fitter grave;
She claims from war his richest spoil,
The ashes of her brave.
Thus 'neath their parent turf they rest,
Far from the gory field,
Borne to a Spartan mother's breast
On many a bloody shield;
The sunshine of their native sky
Smiles sadly on them here,
And kindred eyes and hearts watch by
The heroes sepulcher.
Rest on, embalmed and sainted dead,
Dear as the blood ye gave,
No impious footstep here shall tread
The herbage of your grave.
Nor shall your glory be forgot
While fame her record keeps,
For honor points the hallowed spot
Where valor proudly sleeps.
Yon marble minstrel's voiceless stone
In deathless song shall tell,
When many a vanquished age hath flown,
The story how ye fell.
Nor wreck, nor change, nor winter's blight,
Nor time's remorseless doom,
Shall dim one ray of glory's light
That gilds your deathless tomb.
http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm
http://www.nps.gov/archive/gett/gettncem/bivouac.htm
After visiting the cemetery we made a stop at Little Round Top. This is the location that Joshua Chamberlain and the 2oth Maine were located.... The movie Gettysburg and the book Killer Angel did a great job of telling the story of these men.
After Little Round Top we made one final stop. We stopped at the area that is known as the High Mark. This is where the Union soldiers were organized. It is also the location that Picket's Charge was focused on taking down. General Hancock was in charge of the men and was shot while the battle was going on. He refused to leave the battle. His friend, Confederate Lou Armistead was also wounded at this location. Armistead did not survive his injuries. Hancock later ran for president of the United States.
One conversation that came up was the idea of dog tags...when were they first used? No one knew the answer so I decided to do a little research.
- During the Civil War - some soldiers pinned paper notes to the backs of their coats (name, home address)
- Spanish American War - crude stamped identification tags were purchased by soldiers
- Franco-Prussian War - 1870 - Prussian Army issued tags.
- World War I - War Department General Order No. 204 (December 20, 1906) - identifiation tags
- July 6, 1916 - two tags were issued per soldier. (one to stay with the body and the other with the person in charge of the burial
From Gettysburg we drove to Hershey Penn where we stopped at only one location. In this location was a store for Hershey a ride, food, and trolley ride, and a movie. We didn't have a lot of time so went on the ride as well as did a little shopping...Ms. Edwards ended up buying another sweatshirt...just what she needs......
I was a little interested in Hershey so I did a little research tonight.
- Milton Snavely Hershey (September 13, 1857 - October 13, 1945)
- Founder of the Hershey Chocolate Company and the town of Hershey Penn.
- He dropped out of school after 4th grade and became an apprentice to a printer and latter to a candy maker.
- He had several unsuccessful attempts at running his own candy making business
- He eventually established the Lancaster Caramel Company (1883)
- He eventually purchased 40,000 acres of land near his birthplace (Derry Church) and in 1903 started construction on the world's largest chocolate manufacturing plant.
- 1907 - Hershey park opened
- 1898 - married Catherine Sweeney.
- 1909 - opened the Hershey Industrial School
- 1918 - Catherine died and Hershey endowed the school with his stocks and assets (Milton Hershey School Trust)
- Hershey and his wife should have been aboard the Titanic. They ended up canceling their reservation due to illness (Catherine)
- During WWII - Chocolate bars were supplied to the US Military (Ration D Bars and Tropical Bars)
- Hershey died at the age of 88.
From Hershey we drove to Wilkes-Barre. We are going to spend the night and head home...I am looking forward to sleeping in one spot for a while....Of course I will be heading to Bowdoin College in a few weeks for a TAH program with Ms. Edwards.
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