Gettysburg

Jo Ankeny Lindamood recently visited Pat Flamm Crowner and her husband, David Crowner, at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, site of Gettysburg National Military Park. They toured the famous battlefield sites, including Little Round Top (below) where the 20th Maine held the line and swept Confederate forces down the hill.

Jo writes, "I read about Gettysburg and watched Ken Burns' Civil War series but still did not get the proper feeling until I saw where the fighting took place. Standing on top of Little Round Top and looking down at the rocky slope into Devil's Den and imagining the carnage is incredible."

Gettysburg was a three-day battle, July 1-3, 1863, fought in wheat fields and peach orchards. Losses were heavy on both sides and neither claimed it as a victory. On November 19, 1863 Abraham Lincoln declared that those sacrifices created "a new birth of freedom" that made all American citizens equal. If you can't visit on the Fourth of July, here's a virtual tour.