Phil Gast
CNN
6/30/2013
“For every Southern boy fourteen years old, not once but whenever he wants it, there is the instant when it’s still not yet two o’clock on that July afternoon in 1863.”
So starts a powerful passage by William Faulkner in “Intruder in the Dust.” The Mississippi novelist and poet poignantly painted the scene of dry-mouthed young men anticipating battle.
But the Confederate attack, known in the annals of history as Pickett’s Charge, ended about a mile away in failure, gray-clad troops blunted by determined Union troops at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Those young boys recalled by Faulkner were stopped at the Angle, a stone wall considered the high-water mark of the Confederacy — perhaps the last chance for victory in the U.S. Civil War. Instead, the Union prevailed at Gettysburg, a turning point in the four-year war that claimed at least 620,000 lives.
This weekend and through July 7, between 200,000 and 300,000 visitors — more than the number of combatants — will flock to the town and fields of Gettysburg National Military Park to mark the 150th anniversary of the three-day clash, which cost an incredible 51,000 casualties.
Pickett’s Charge will be the climactic event of a large re-enactment this weekend outside of park boundaries. On July 3, the actual anniversary of the attack, National Park Service rangers will guide thousands of visitors in loose formation across a gently rolling field. Others will stand where Federal regiments poured rifle and artillery fire into the arc of Confederates.
The event ends with the playing of Taps by multiple musicians, a solemn remembrance of selfless sacrifice by the warriors at Gettysburg…
The article, with a slide presentation, continues at CNN.
A Confederate Civil War cavalry reenactor shoots at Union soldiers during Pickett’s Charge on the last day of a Battle of Gettysburg reenactment on Sunday, June 30, during 150th anniversary celebrations in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. More than 10,000 reenactors will pay tribute to the major clashes that took place in the pivotal Civil War battle in July 1863.
Also, We are all the children of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg determined what philosophy would rule the country, and, by extension, the free world.
It hadn’t started out as a “Civil War” but rather a “War Between the States.” Actually, both sides often referred to it as the “War of Rebellion.” It was only clear after Gettysburg it was a war about civil rights and the radical American conservative ideal of the expansion of freedom for all…
Breitbart News will be broadcasting the opening ceremony of the 150th anniversary of Gettysburg on Sunday from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. EDT and partnering with N3 to offer 20 hours of coverage of the 150th anniversary of Gettysburg over the next eight days, which will include live reenactments and discussions with some of the leading Gettysburg historians and filmmakers. Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot Ch. 125 will alsohave a three-hour “Gettysburg 150” special tonight from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. EDT.
