GETTYSBURG, Pa. - Stand inside the "Bloody Angle" just behind a small stone wall any evening at Gettysburg, and as the sun goes down, you can almost see the 13,000 Confederate soldiers of Maj. Gen. George E. Pickett's division in one of history's most fabled charges marching straight toward you.
Stroll over 50 yards to the famous clump of trees that marks the high tide of the Confederacy. Gaze a mile over a hazy ribbon of road, lush green fields and a split-rail fence. You can spot on the horizon the massive Virginia Monument, which seems no bigger than a thimble.
That fine equestrian statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, far away on Seminary Ridge, is where Pickett's futile charge began. And, you could argue, where the Civil War that tore the nation apart began to end.
The Battle of Gettysburg, culminating in Pickett's charge, carved the future in more than just the stone of the park's 1,300 monuments honoring the 7,058 young men and boys who were killed here in a mere three days in July 1863. It changed history.
A battle that terrible today, in terms of percentage of our population, would leave an astounding 60,000 Americans dead in three days. That's more than the number killed during the entire Vietnam War.
The magnitude of such a disaster is incomprehensible, which is why 1.7 million people are attracted to the Gettysburg National Military Park every year, from every state and many foreign lands.
Natural beauty
But Gettysburg is also a great place to commune with nature, because the area is beautiful, with apple and peach orchards, newly mowed wheat fields, neat wooden fences and tall corn rows stretching to the hilly horizons.
A little over an hour northwest of Washington and nestled in the foothills of the scenic Catoctin Mountains, Gettysburg is out in the country, and has that feel of remoteness and isolation. It's only the monuments and the 400 black cannons - that pop up unexpectedly that make you realize this out-of-the-way place is so different.
The various state monuments honoring men who fought at Gettysburg make it clear it isn't just Pennsylvania's battlefield. It's America's.
Tourists speak in hushed, reverential tones. Fresh flowers and tiny American flags can be seen here and there, stuck into graves or left on monuments by visitors whose ancestors wore blue or gray.
