When Robert E. Lee decided to push north into Pennsylvania, it was inevitable that a huge clash between the great armies of the North and South was imminent. With the Army of the Potomac in pursuit of Lee and a fair amount of the fog of war on both sides, the armies, more or less, happened upon each other in a relatively unknown small Pennsylvania town. Gettysburg would become one of the most famous towns in all of America.

The invasion of Pennsylvania was a bold decision by a general known for his remarkable genius. The Army of the Potomac had recently suffered major defeats by Lee’s army that led to a carousel of generals being replaced by president Abraham Lincoln. Most recently, General George Meade was chosen to stop the army that no one had been able to stop yet. Meade would prove to be the right man for the job, his brilliant maneuvering and inspiring leadership would lead to a major victory. The Army of Northern Virginia was forced to turn tail and run, and although the war dragged on for another two years, they never regained the upper hand and were on their heels for the remainder of the war. Eventually, many of the brave soldiers who fought here would be the ones to accept Lee’s surrender.

I love visiting Gettysburg, and we have been back many times throughout the kids life. Visiting here forces you to discuss some pretty difficult topics that can sometimes be uncomfortable to think about, at least if you’re a good person. We walk the battlefield and discuss the reasons why young men had to go to war. We discuss how a country could become so divided that this became the only solution. The kids ask questions about slavery, we visit the museums and do our best to answer, as we all try to grasp what that word really meant. We stood and read the Gettysburg Address in the very place where Lincoln first read the words aloud to a crowd of supporters who had recently seen their town destroyed by war. We do our best to actually understand what he meant in those words. We try to understand what could drive a person so far as to assassinate a president and then his freaking dog a few months later. Trying to explain these concepts to young people forces you to realize how little you understand about these complex ideas and situations. The lessons seem as appropriate now as ever, and I hope all people get a chance to visit this sacred ground to help better shape their understanding of the world we live in and the people in it.

On this visit, we spent the day hiking around Little Round Top and the Devil’s Den which occupy the far left flank of the Union line. Some of the most heroic stories of the battle come from this far end which was so important to either sides victory plans. Kids today enjoy scrambling around on the rocks just as young people did before this area became one of the bloodiest battlefields on earth. In the evening we walked through town and enjoyed the historic charm that is unique to Gettysburg. In the morning we walked along both the Union and Confederate lines from the morning where Pickett’s Charge would take place. We even ran part of the way to try and experience how hard that must have been. We then walked over and spent about an hour touring the museum. For one last bit of fun on the way out of town we stopped at the little known dinosaur footprints. When construction workers discovered the prints on some nearby rocks they were sure to incorporate them into the building of the new bridge, creating a real life Easter egg.

It becomes abundant how often you have to say “We’ll have to do that next time.” I don’t think that if I got to visit Gettysburg a thousand times that I could do or see all the things there are. I am encouraged by the fact that my kids are begging to return, because I feel a connection to this place that keeps drawing me back and I might actually get to 1000 visits if they let me.