Reflections on Gettysburg

This past Memorial Day weekend, the men of Sykes Regulars conducted a living history on the site of General Meade’s headquarters in Gettysburg Pennsylvania. I had been looking forward to camping out on this battlefield since joining Sykes a year ago this month. And I must say, it was a mesmerizing experience for a lover of the American Civil War like me. It is one thing to visit and tread upon such a venerable field of battle such as Gettysburg. However, to sleep upon that same field after all of the tourists (and even the park rangers) have gone, is something in and of itself.

On Friday and Saturday nights I found myself alone with my thoughts and surrounded by lightning bugs while looking across Gettysburg’s moon-bathed fields. Foremost among my thoughts those two evenings was what those boys in blue thought as they tried to get what sleep they could those three nights on Cemetery Ridge. I am sure they all thought of home as they looked up at the stars like I used to do when I was in Iraq back in 2003. Quite a few of them were undoubtedly scared. Looking out across those fields, I could easily imagine some young private imagining a rebel behind every fence or lurking in every shadow. I did not see any ghosts while camping on Cemetery Ridge my two nights there. But if I was a scared, hungry, and tired private of the Army of the Potomac, I imagine I would have conjured up at least a couple of gray-clad banshees.

Gettysburg is a relatively quiet battlefield during the day. It is deathly quiet after midnight. I am quite sure those evenings would have been punctuated by the moans of the wounded and the piercing cries of wounded horses. I am sure the noncommissioned officers of that era would have placed a premium on noise and light discipline just as much then as our army does today. Nonetheless, I could easily imagine the murmur of comrades, the muffled inquisitions of lost messengers, and the labors of lost men searching for friends—both living and dead—on a too dark night. Regardless of the situation, I am quite sure that any noise would have sounded louder and more revealing than a cannon shot to the ears of anyone back in the summer of 1863.

Of course, not all my thought my two nights in Gettysburg were so deeply reflective or particularly insightful. I like to think they were in hindsight. In reality, I was probably more caught up in the simple beauty of a warm summer’s evening in rural Pennsylvania than anything. Working in a Washington, D.C. cube farm has reminded me of the simple boyhood pleasures of growing up where fire flies, moon light bright enough to read by, and the rustle of leaves on a warm summer evening could be taken for granted. Lightning bugs, moonlight, and rustling leaves—let alone crickets—tend to get lost easily in the noise and light pollution of the urban sprawl that is Northern Virginia.

Gettysburg has all the beauty and grandeur of Yellowstone to a lover of history like me. You will not find elk, bears, or snow capped peaks. But on any trip to Gettysburg, you will find history and honor in abundance. After dark, you will find even more when you are left alone with your thoughts. I had a great time at Gettysburg because I was able to sleep on the same ground as those soldiers I have spent a lifetime reading about. Not even allergies and a head cold could take that experience away from me. Forgotten Regular 2010 was a real treat and I am honored to have done so with my friends in Sykes Regulars.