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Monument to the First Minnesota
Erected in 1883 |
August 1, 2014 Can you believe that it's August already? Where has the summer gone? Today we moved sites. We originally were to spend just 3 days here but decided, if they would let us, to stay until Monday. We couldn't stay in the spot we were in because it was spoken for on the weekend so we spent the morning moving. Then the 3 of us, Holly included, toured some of the battlefield looking for the Minnesota Memorial. On July 2 as the Confederates were charging the hill the Union army collapsed, as an officer spotted it he yelled for soldiers to fill the gap. The First Minnesota, 262 strong, was at hand, he ordered them forward saying: ".. is this all we have?" and they held the line until reinforcements could be brought in; of the 262 soldiers only 47 walked off the field.
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| Looking down from Little Round Top |
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| Actual firing location for 12 lb cannon |
This isn't the only story of heroism, rather one of many but that seems to be what war is all about, stories of people their strengths and weaknesses. We started out reading every monument and soon had to quit, this place, the battlefields, have 1300 monuments and statues; the most of any place. It's amazing that both the Union and the Confederates thought they could win battles fighting up hill. This war was a turning point in war, with the advent of the Artillery in the form of cannon, they began to fight a war of trenches and battlements, snipers and sharpshooters. A sharpshooter armed with a Spenser Rifle could shoot 1000 yards.
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| Pennsylvania Peace Monument |
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