Gettysburg forever
“…Obviously I’m working on a story, and
here’s what I need to know: Why do battlefields have the power to entrance us?
So maybe not everyone has that feeling. Maybe it’s just the buffs who stand
there in a trance. I’ve often been struck by the way a Civil War battlefield is
the very opposite of the Civil War itself. They’re so serene. They’re orderly.
There are informational signs everywhere. I would not be surprised to learn
that Gettysburg is a giant no-smoking zone (will check). But for those of us
who have read a lot about these battles — and who know about the Peach Orchard,
and Little Round Top, and Culp’s Hill, and so on — there’s something powerful
about seeing the actual place, and just standing there. You think: This was the
place. These were the rocks. This was the view. And all the smoke and dust and
fire and blood and gore, you impose that yourself. Because it really happened.
And ultimately it was really tragic.”
Cassi Creek: Battlefields are haunting and haunted
places.
The majority of visitors to historical battlefields in this
period have never been involved in armed combat. They may come alone, in small groups, or on
tour busses, with guides who try to condense what should take days to
experience into minutes.
The battlefield “buffs” tend to know the history before
they arrive at a particular site. They
can generally match the current topography to the old maps. They know where the various formations
mustered and which paths they took when marched off into the active battle...
There are facts and factors that tend to be universal
within particular wars. The hardware and
the disposition of troops define the period of history. As the tools become more deadly, the
casualties become more numerous.
Artillery has been around since gunpowder became
available. Crew-served weapons, cannon,
culverin, etc, require attention to detail.
Every preparatory step must be followed exactly to ensure the shot goes
down range and that no spark remains in the gun to ignite the next powder
charge prematurely. Guns that have been
fired repeatedly may become hot enough to cook off a round left in the barrel
too long. Artillery and infantry tactics
from the earliest battles up to the American Civil War were fought in much the
same manner. Massed troops from one army
were marched or driven into the opposing army’s lines. Eventually one force defeated the other. Individual weapons were edged, pointed, and
brutal in nature and function. The
weapons changed over the years allowing
greater distances between the two forces at first contact. However, then and now, technology and
hardware do not capture and hold ground.
In the vast majority of battles, it has come down to infantry assaulting
fixed positions.
Gettysburg is a prime example of the end of Napoleonic wars
and the beginning of modern, mechanized wars.
Thousands of men contested for high ground in the face of withering
rifle and artillery fire. In many instances,
the combat deteriorated to hand-to-hand, fighting with bayonets, using rifles
as clubs when lacking time to reload.
I am one of the people who stand and stares at
battlefields. I saw the cannon
emplacements at Cemetery Ridge, at the Round Tops, It was impossible not to see
the opposing infantry trying to assault uphill while the cannon above them blew
the world apart around them. It was
impossible not to hear the order to crank the cannon down to zero elevation and
to load with grape and canister rounds. It
was impossible to ignore the smells and sounds that are endemic to any
battlefield. It was impossible to avoid
the continual cold shivers running down my spine or to ignore the dim ghostly
images that were there to be seen and heard at Gettysburg and at every other
battlefield I’ve walked.
The tools of war continue to change as technology evolves
and expands. The ghosts left behind by
those tools never change in nature, only in number.
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