In the Summer of 1863 two major armies were playing a high stakes game of chess:  one trying to end the country’s civil war by threatening its nation’s capital, and the other trying to defend its nation’s capital.

Both armies had been at war for several years, and after many hard fought battles in the “south”, the man in charge of the Army of Northern Virginia, Robert E. Lee, decided to take the war to the enemy.  It would allow the South to recuperate from two hard years of war, and it could be the decisive move that would put pressure on Washington, and President Abraham Lincoln.  With a Southern victory in the North, it could play out to be the pivotal battle in the civil war.

While the Army of Northern Virginia moved north into Maryland, and then into Pennsylvania, they hoped that they were moving on their own.  They also hoped that the Army of the Potomac would be complacent about their movements, and thus not be able to defend northern cities such as Baltimore, Philadelphia, or Washington D.C.

They were wrong.

The Army of the Potomac had used their cavalry effectively – for the very first time during the war – and knew that the Army of Northern Virginia was on the move.  They shadowed the Army of Northern Virginia – using South Mountain for cover – and headed north as well.  Both armies would converge on a small town in Pennsylvania; a town where many roads converged together liked spokes on a wheel, and would allow for the spread out Army of Northern Virginia to converge quickly.  A town where Confederate Cavalry General, John Buford, would recognize as a great place to hold off an attack because of the high ground in the vicinity.

That town was Gettysburg.

With my visit to Shiloh last year, and the lasting effect that it has had on me, it was only a matter of time before we visited another Civil War Battlefield.  I picked up Michael Shaara’s “The Killer Angels” late last year, and after reading that, my mind was made up as to what battlefield we would visit next.

I can’t wait for our trip this summer.  I can’t wait to actually see, and walk, on Seminary Ridge and Cemetery Hill.  I can’t wait to walk the Peach Orchard, witness Devil’s Den first hand, and walk Little Round Top, which the 16th Michigan fought valiantly with the 20th Maine, and Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, to protect.

It will be just the next step in my civil war travels, and I am looking forward to it.   Another sacred piece of ground that I must walk, and experience first hand.

A trip that will allow me to visit, and see for myself, where a pivotal moment in our nation’s history took place.

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