Note: This post is for Ralph Crampton, my high school civil war teacher.

Woke up in that little reststop to the sound of bigrigs firing up for the day. Made good time across Pennsylvania’s east flank through Allentown and then over to Harrisburg where I pulled off to check out the National Civil War Museum. Set high atop a bluff overlooking Harrisburg, I had to see their perspective on the war, as this wasn’t a federal museum. Bit of a Civil War buff, myself.

I’m on my way over to Cincinnati, and man, I’m taking my sweet time.

229. “The National Civil War Museum”
230. “The glove of Stonewall Jackson.”
231. “Bite the bullet, soldier.”
232. “Union Forever!”
233. “Bowie Knife…”
234. “…and some info about it.”
235. “Wallpaper, allegedly from the room in which Lincoln died.”

The best part of the tour was this little documentary from the 20s showing aging Civil War vets reenacting battles, revisiting the sites they fought on and shaking hands over an old stone wall.

No stop in southcentral Pennsylvania is complete without a pass through Gettysburg. I was here back in 1997, on a very rainy day. I stayed in town with hopes of ghosthunting for a night. Got freaked out and chickened out, if I remember correctly.

236. “Fence.”
237. “General Lee, somewhat triumphant.”

I took the driving tour seeing Little and Big Round Top, the Devil’s Den, various monuments and an old barn that was unfortunately in the line of fire.

238. “The battlefield driving tour.”
239. “Overlooking the battlefield.”
240. “12th Infantry Honors.”

The Devil’s Den is my favorite stop on the tour. The visions of warring Yankees and Rebels is so immediate here. The battle here lasted 90 minutes. Scores died. These rocks have fascinated for years.

241. “Welcome to the Devil’s Den.”
242. “Den life.”
243. “The 118th Alabama Assgrabbers stormed the crevice directly below my post…”
244. “Another view of the Den.”
245. “Rock walls.”
246. “The nook where a Confederate sharpshooter died.”
247. “The original photo.”

I continued on and out into the open battlefields thinking about columns of charging soldiers running to the end of their young lives. Many, many died here on those couple days of battles.

248. “Big S, under a big tree.”
249. “Battlefield barn.”
250. “Cannonball wound.”

I finished the rest of the driving tour and started heading southwet down out of Pennsylvania into Maryland’s western appendage. Drove for a while and settled in Cumberland for the night to catch up on everything. Pretty quiet out here. Really nice.