"Well, it is all over now. The battle is lost, and many of us are prisoners, many are dead, many wounded, bleeding and dying." George Pickett

Today John Heiser and Scott Hartwig gave us our last tour of Gettysburg. It was an exciting chance to get to know the town we’ve lived in for a semester a little bit better. The morning began with a tour of the town from John Heiser, historian at Gettysburg National Military Park. We walked with him from the Appleford up to the train station that saw President Lincoln arrive in November 1863, for the dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg. It was powerful to stand in the same place where Lincoln stepped off the train while he most likely thought about the address he would give the next day. As we toured the town, John pointed out the old GAR post and the various buildings that had been used as hospitals during the battle. His tour gave us a whole new look on the town we thought we knew so well. Throughout the morning I marveled at how we are surrounded by our nation’s history while studying at Gettysburg.

John also took us on a tour of the myriad of barns that still stand on the battlefield. As he pointed out the features that marked each barn, John impressed upon us the importance of good research as a part of historic preservation. At several barns, most notably the Snyder farm, John gave us examples of preservation efforts that had gone horribly wrong even though the preservationists involved had the best of intentions. It gave us an interesting glimpse into the world of historic preservation.

We ate lunch at the famous Pickett’s Buffet which was an experience all to itself! As soon as lunch was over, we hiked across the road to Brian’s Barn to meet historian Scott Hartwig for a tour of Pickett’s Charge. The tour was a look at both the military and memory issues that tie our nation to the event that occurred on the third day of Gettysburg. Scott walked us out to the Virginia monument, approximately where the charge began and walked us all the way back in the same route the Confederate soldiers took on July 3. These soldiers belonged not only to Pickett’s Division, but to the divisions of Pettigrew and Trimble as well. While marching down the same path as they did almost 150 years ago showed us how difficult that march would have been for the soldiers. I was amazed that they could stay in straight battle lines in order to perform various maneuvers against the enemy.

We finished the tour at the Bloody Angle where we tried to imagine the close quarters fighting that took place on both sides of the wall. Scott urged us to look at the monuments dedicated to those regiments at the Bloody Angle and consider what such monuments symbolized and what they meant to convey to visitors to the area. Through the High Water Mark monument to the 72^nd Pennsylvania monument, we saw again the importance of memory when studying the Civil War.

It was a cold day, but a fascinating one that left us a little forlorn that we’d finished the battle of Gettysburg. But next week it’s off to Richmond for a weekend which will surely be full of great memories with wonderful friends! On to Richmond!