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Surviving Gettysburg barns
May 19, 2017 15:58:17   #
JCam Loc: MD Eastern Shore
 
Early last week my wife and I needed to escape for a few days and decided to visit Gettysburg; from New England where we lived previously it was a fairly long trip and we had never had (or made) the opportunity to visit. Now it is only about two hours, a bit over 100 miles. Unfortunately between our decision time and Wed. - Sat. last week the weather forecast changed, and we had two and a half out of three days of misty, and a few periods of hard, rain.

It was not the best of conditions for photos and visibility was severely reduced at much over ½ mile, but we and my camera equipment survived. We got a chance to visit the Visitors Center and Museum as well as take the self guided driving tour wit the assistance of the Gettysburg Story, a three CD set that describes the landscape and the battlefield as you go.

Knowing how many of you all like barn photos, I have selected two for the first posting.
Both barns are and were on the battlefield; the red one was at various times used by the Union and Southern Armies over the three days.

The first picture, The McPherson Barn is about 4/10ths of a mile North West from the road and about 9/10th from Seminary Ridge, on the first day held by the Union troops. There is a smaller ridge known as McPherson Ridge between the farm and Seminary Ridge to the East. The Confederate 3d corps was sheltered behind the ridge and in the barn. Obviously the barn has had considerable rebuilding since 1863, but the tour information says that parts of the barn and other buildings, I assume mostly the stone masonry and foundation, but we did not get any more detail.

The second barn, known as the Mc Clean Barn is also a survivor of the three day battle. It was also liberated by the Confederate 2nd Corps troops late in the first day after driving the Federal 11th Corps south back toward Gettysburg, a distance of about mile, to what is now downtown.

The entire area probably 20 miles around has many old barns, but they are mostly on two-lane roads with little shoulder so very hard to photograph; unless you know they are coming up, the time frame at 50MPH is very short.

It is a great trip, and we will go back. If any or you are thinking of visiting the area, I think three days are the minimum needed to really see the battlefield and the Eisenhower Farm about 10 miles away. You have to take a tour bus to the farm; there is no private parking.

Next July first, remember that between 55,000 & 60,000 (they never got a good count) American men were killed between July 1 and July 3'd over these three days fighting for their way of life. In comparison, WW II D-day had 6000 men killed, and all of the Vite-Nam conflict cost about 60,000.

More pictures to follow as I get a chance to do some PP.

Mc Pherson Barn
Mc Pherson Barn...

Mc Clean Barn
Mc Clean Barn...

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May 19, 2017 16:28:23   #
ELNikkor
 
Thanks for the great photos and historic context. (Just as a note, though, the "60,000" figure does not reflect fatalities, in all, around 7,000 died; still a large number considering the total population of the US at that time.)

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May 19, 2017 17:18:18   #
LiamRowan Loc: Michigan
 
From Wikipedia . . .

"The two armies suffered between 46,000 and 51,000 casualties. Union casualties were 23,055 (3,155 killed, 14,531 wounded, 5,369 captured or missing),[8] while Confederate casualties are more difficult to estimate."

My great-great-great grandfather was in Pickett's Charge and survived, though he died in a later battle. Interestingly, the great-great grandfather of a colleague at work was in the battle on the Union side (Michigan regiment), so our grandfather's faced off!

Thanks for sharing the photos.

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May 19, 2017 18:24:00   #
BlackRipleyDog
 
LiamRowan wrote:
From Wikipedia . . .

"The two armies suffered between 46,000 and 51,000 casualties. Union casualties were 23,055 (3,155 killed, 14,531 wounded, 5,369 captured or missing),[8] while Confederate casualties are more difficult to estimate."

My great-great-great grandfather was in Pickett's Charge and survived, though he died in a later battle. Interestingly, the great-great grandfather of a colleague at work was in the battle on the Union side (Michigan regiment), so our grandfather's faced off!

Thanks for sharing the photos.
From Wikipedia . . . br br "The two armies s... (show quote)


In the small world realm, I am a descendant of one of the people hung for witchcraft in Salem. I met and talk with man a while ago who was also a descendant of someone from Salem of the same time; my ancestor's hangman. Spooky.

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May 19, 2017 22:26:24   #
Treepusher Loc: Kingston, Massachusetts
 
Beautifully maintained and photographed. Nice job, and thanks for sharing these!

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May 20, 2017 08:50:35   #
JCam Loc: MD Eastern Shore
 
ELNikkor wrote:
Thanks for the great photos and historic context. (Just as a note, though, the "60,000" figure does not reflect fatalities, in all, around 7,000 died; still a large number considering the total population of the US at that time.)


Thank you for looking and commenting. It is hard to comprehend the slaughter on both sides looking at the well cared for present day fields, but with the open fields and massed troops, it is certainly understandable. Even with the battle and unit monuments all over the battlefields, the stark reality of the loses to me wasn't as striking as seeing The Wall in DC.

There is a lot of uncertainty in all counts and estimates of the killed and wounded; the following is just one estimate and it closely resembles the 55,000 estimate I was given by one of the Park Ranger docents when I asked this specific question. The 60,000 estimate is what I was given in the early '60's as an ROTC cadet; it is probably no more or less accurate than other projections. Remember too, that battlefield medicine then was crude at best, and most ft the seriously wounded did not survive, even if they initially survived the battlefield surgery , there was little effort made to follow their life's history. Beyond the initial counting(s) of the dead by the Union troops, there was even less effort made to count or track the Confederate wounded. We'll never know the real number.

Battle of Gettysburg - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gettysburg
The two armies suffered between 46,000 and 51,000 casualties. Union casualties were 23,055 (3,155 killed, 14,531 wounded, 5,369 captured or missing), while Confederate casualties are more difficult to estimate.

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May 20, 2017 10:58:36   #
AuntieM Loc: Eastern NC
 
Wonderful old barns. I have never seen ones with the upper floor overhanging like these.

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May 20, 2017 23:55:46   #
sailorsmom Loc: Souderton, PA
 
Great shots of these two gorgeous barns, JCam! Hope you get to go back soon!

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