Letters From The Time Traveler: Some People and Places Never Move On
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Dearest,
As you know, I served for a brief time in the War Between The States. During that time, I served in Gettysburg. However, I don’t talk about how seeing my fellow soldiers fall on July 1–3 of 1863 affected me.
In the summer of 1863, more than 165,000 Union and Confederate troops amassed in the rolling farmland around the 2,400-person town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle that took place over three blood-soaked days would claim more than 7,000 lives and tally an astounding 51,112 casualties (dead, wounded or missing).
You might be surprised to learn that Gettysburg is now a very large national park. Many of the battlefields from both the Revolutionary War and the War Between The States have been preserved in that way.
These national parks attract millions of tourists every year. They are a wonderful way to learn about history and what has shaped this country. These types of places are important to preserve because one must know history in order not to repeat the mistakes of the past.
I have seen many examples in modern times of historical art, monuments, etc. being taken down or changed. Erasing history does not erase what happened. History is an immovable, unchangeable force. Just because someone in 2023 doesn’t like something that happened in 1860, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
Life is about accepting all things- those we can change and those we can’t. We learn from the mistakes of our ancestors and move on the best we can.
All of the battlefields and forts especially have a sense of time travel to them. But none are more impactful than Gettysburg.
Besides the battlefields themselves, the town of Gettysburg has been locked in time. I never expected to return. But I did in 1995.
I was with an associate and she wanted to go by the battlefield. I was very hesitant, as I had not been there in over 100 years.
