I awoke during the night in my room
at the Gettysburg Hotel from a restless sleep on the evening of July 3rd, 2024.
Drawn to the window I witnessed the carnage after Pickett ‘s Charge on July 3rd, 1863, as it was laid out before me on the field of battle, 161 years ago to the day. Ghostly
apparitions by the thousands lay dead or severely wounded over the expansive
battlefield as merciless moaning emanated from all quarters while other
animated apparitions attempted to comfort and ease the pain and suffering. The
dead and wounded were all mixed up together, Confederate and Union soldiers
alike were hard to tell apart and too many of the faces were far too young to
die. The smell of gunpowder filled my nose and lungs. One young soldier
furiously dug a pit within which to bury his horse who had carried him for the
past two years. 50,000 Americans had died in three horrific days of fighting.
Virginia Mary Wade the only
civilian casualty of the three-day battle lay dead in her sister's kitchen,
where she had been kneading bread to feed the hungry Union soldiers who had
begged her for food. An errant musket ball had slammed through the kitchen door
passing through her heart. The three-day event was a turning point in the Civil
War and the Union would survive this test. Dawn was breaking now, and all the
apparitions disappeared before my eyes.
July 3rd, 2024
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