Gettysburg 150

[Tank]

Today is the 150th anniversary of picketts charge and the end of the battle of Gettysburg. Lots of interesting things on the web for those of you who are interested.

Gettysburg is cited as the turning point of the civil war, and Lees last best chance at defeating the Union army. His army suffered devastating losses and was never able to recover from it.

Today also marks the 150th anniversary of the Union victory at Vicksburg.

[James]

We have been having fun here at work with all the stuff on the web for the anniversary. Bunch of History nerd stuff that most would not be interested in. This is a fun little contest here though. 

 

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Who-Had-the-Best-Civil-War-Facial-Hair.html

[Kevin]

I went last October because I wanted to avoid the crowds and it would be cheaper. Wish I would have just gone now. Been following it on facebook. About two hours ago they had thousands of people walk the fields of Pickett's charge up at precisely the same time cooperates did it 150 years ago. Have you ever been Tank? If not, go. A place you instantly fall in love with. Take stick with you. I know some good bed and breakfasts.

[Tank]

I've been there twice and was amazed both times. We did a self guided tour with a map and a cassette tape in our car the first time, then used a tour guide the second time. It's an incredible place.

Sadly, stick has yet to go with me.

[James]

Burnside, Stuart and Ames are my top 3. 

 

I get to spend a couple weeks there for grad school to do research. Looking forward to it and doing some archaeological work as well. It will be my fifth time there and one of my favorite places although I prefer Shiloh.

[Kevin]

Very cool. Yeah they've been trying to restore the battlefield to it's original 1863 look to the best of their ability. If it's been awhile definitely go back and see how much it's changed. Hit up some of the battlefields in Virgina if you can.

[Pbonetheman]

Ambrose burnside. Cool name. Cool facial hair.

[Pbonetheman]

I watched Gettysburg the movie in middle school. It was really good, but really long. So I watched the first half one day and was going to watch the second half the next. The next day I put in the VHS to find that one of my family members had spliced it open and replaced the film with a porno. So history buffs, is It true that battle ended with a facial?

[James]

Ambrose burnside. Cool name. Cool facial hair.

He is why we call them sideburns

[red321]

The Esquire Politics blog has had a running series on Gettysburg the last week or so. I'm not a Civil War buff, but it's been some fascinating reading. (most recent article is on top, so if you want to read them all start at the bottom and work your way up)

 

http://www.esquire.com/archives/blogs/politics/by_tag/esquire%20gettysburg%20reenactment/15;1

[Futch Winkleman]

My $ is on Tony Kanaan.

[IEAngelsfan]

If anyone is interested in watching several civil war re-enactment battles locally, they have them in Prado Park in Chino one weekend every April .  They usually have 2 different battles each day with each side winning one battle.  Battles include artillery, cavalry and infantry charges with hundreds of re-enactment participants.  They also have two camps set up, one union and the other confederate.  You get to tour both camps and you can see the difference in resources each camp has.  It's really fascinating and we enjoyed the entire day we spent there a few years back.

 

Here's the flyer for next April's event

 

http://sccwa.com/CampoutFlyer11.pdf

[Tank]

Does anyone know if they still do the reenactment at Fort Tejon? And has anyone ever gone to see it?

[James]

Does anyone know if they still do the reenactment at Fort Tejon? And has anyone ever gone to see it?

I believe they still do reenactments. I went years ago and thought it was a bit of a waste of time to be honest. Probably had just read the Confederate in the Attic for the first time though and wanted much more.

[DowningRules]

I think I've mentioned it here before, and this thread makes me want mention it again:  DR is the great-great grandson of Gen. George E. Pickett.  (I think I have the count of the 'greats' counted correctly...never taken the time to do the correct counting).

 

He was a crazy SOB, appearantly.  He didn't want anything to do with 'his' charge and was angry about it to his dying day according to legend.

 

Pickett had a pretty remarkable life and was involved with some interesting military operations.  He would go on to sell insurance after the Civil War.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Pickett

[James]

DR, Thats awesome man. Pickett is a very interesting man. He is studied somewhat but probably deserves a bit more. Does your family have anything from him? Pics, diary, uniforms, etc. Guessing not but it is pretty amazing to hear stories about what family members still own. I dealt with this researching my thesis which led me to a little house in Redondo searching through the garage of my research topics great grandson. 

[halomatt]

I'm an eighth grade language arts teacher at a year-round school.  My team teachers and I conduct a civil war simulation with our students every year.  On our final day, the students, as part of their language arts and history finals, take place in a day-long simulation in which the students, who have been learning about the life of a "common soldier" for about six weeks, must construct an authentic (for eighth grade) civil war campsite, perform a skit in which they discuss the potential outcomes of the Battle of Gettysburg, their personal beliefs and reasons for joining the war, and their faith and trust in their leaders, and perform, in their groups a pass and review parade march with marching song that reflects their groups beliefs and reasons for enlisting.  Lastly, they reenact Pickett's Charge as a class with someone (me) reading a script.  The "charge" is actually a game of battle tag.  The students tag each other and then exchange battle cards and they must do what the card says. 

 

It's a ton of work and fundraising, but it's a great way of teaching something significant to the kids. 

[LBHalos17]

Great thread guys!  Thanks for the links; will check em out when I get some time...

I knew I would love studying History when I first read about "The Swamp Fox" (Francis Marion)

[Kevin]

I think I've mentioned it here before, and this thread makes me want mention it again:  DR is the great-great grandson of Gen. George E. Pickett.  (I think I have the count of the 'greats' counted correctly...never taken the time to do the correct counting).

 

He was a crazy SOB, appearantly.  He didn't want anything to do with 'his' charge and was angry about it to his dying day according to legend.

 

Pickett had a pretty remarkable life and was involved with some interesting military operations.  He would go on to sell insurance after the Civil War.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Pickett

 

 

John S Mosby created a story that said after the war there was an encounter between Lee and Pickett. Mosby said that Pickett was very cold towards Lee and when asked later why, Pickett's response was "That old man had my division destroyed at Gettysburg." Mosby then replied "Well it made you immortal." None of this conversation actually took place.

 

When asked why Pickett's charge failed, Pickett responded that "The Yankees probably had something to do with it."

[Rochambeau]

I watched Gettysburg the movie in middle school. It was really good, but really long. So I watched the first half one day and was going to watch the second half the next. The next day I put in the VHS to find that one of my family members had spliced it open and replaced the film with a porno. So history buffs, is It true that battle ended with a facial?

[Rochambeau]

That was a great movie. I saw the other one they made in the trilogy but I don't think they ever made the third.

[Kevin]

Gods and Generals imo was awful. Didn't realy follow the book at all and killed any chance they had of making the third and final movie.

[DowningRules]

DR, Thats awesome man. Pickett is a very interesting man. He is studied somewhat but probably deserves a bit more. Does your family have anything from him? Pics, diary, uniforms, etc. Guessing not but it is pretty amazing to hear stories about what family members still own. I dealt with this researching my thesis which led me to a little house in Redondo searching through the garage of my research topics great grandson. 

 

I have a couple letters written from the battle field to Pickett's wife which are cool, but the bummer is that some a-hole coat tail relative absconded with Pickett's sword to Hawaii some years ago.  Otherwise it would probably be in my uncle's hands. 

[DowningRules]

This is just plain great.  It's teachers like you that make a huge difference in our kids.  Thanks for making this effort.  This country is relatively young but its got some great history with amazing contributions by its citizens.  I worry that World War II vets' sacrifices will be forgotten as they pass away.  And what this country went through, and how we can still learn from it should never be forgotten. 

 

I'm an eighth grade language arts teacher at a year-round school.  My team teachers and I conduct a civil war simulation with our students every year.  On our final day, the students, as part of their language arts and history finals, take place in a day-long simulation in which the students, who have been learning about the life of a "common soldier" for about six weeks, must construct an authentic (for eighth grade) civil war campsite, perform a skit in which they discuss the potential outcomes of the Battle of Gettysburg, their personal beliefs and reasons for joining the war, and their faith and trust in their leaders, and perform, in their groups a pass and review parade march with marching song that reflects their groups beliefs and reasons for enlisting.  Lastly, they reenact Pickett's Charge as a class with someone (me) reading a script.  The "charge" is actually a game of battle tag.  The students tag each other and then exchange battle cards and they must do what the card says. 

 

It's a ton of work and fundraising, but it's a great way of teaching something significant to the kids. 

[James]

This is just plain great.  It's teachers like you that make a huge difference in our kids.  Thanks for making this effort.  This country is relatively young but its got some great history with amazing contributions by its citizens.  I worry that World War II vets' sacrifices will be forgotten as they pass away.  And what this country went through, and how we can still learn from it should never be forgotten. 

The history will be preserved from the WWII generation. Historians have made a conscious effort to do so but it takes teachers like halomatt to make history meaningful and tangible to their students in order to truly make the preservation worthwhile.