Smoke permeated the air of Gibson Ranch as loud shots rang out across an open field. On May 17th I went to Gibson Ranch to experience first hand the reenactment of the battle of Gettysburg which, ok, didn’t take place in California. However, while listening to the steady beat of a drum and a war cry it isn’t hard to be transported there.
The day started with the park opening up to the public at 11:00 AM with scheduled pre-battle presentations and events. One demonstrated how to make a Civil War quilt pattern. During the Civil War the women of the North worked behind the scenes quilting to raise money for the war efforts, in the end the women raised over 4 million dollars to support the troops.
For those with a solid stomach there was a field hospital demonstration. Unfortunately one of the biggest evils of the Civil War was infection. Medical efforts for the soldiers was very primitive and many maimed during battle died of severe infections.
President Abraham Lincoln made an appearance and read what is one of the most famous speeches in our nation’s history, The Gettysburg Address. Delivered with great conviction the speech honored the efforts of the fallen soldiers at Gettysburg and their perseverance so “that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
At 11:30 all the camps closed in preparation for the main event, a re-enactment of the battle. Troops aligned on both sides of the battlefield, The Union soldiers dressed in blue waving a flag bearing the stars and stripes. On the other side, Confederate soldiers without a true uniform were led by gentlemen astride gleaming mounts, waving a flag of what they hoped would be the symbol of their separate nation.
There was quiet, and then the dance between the North and South broke out; brother against brother and the winner loses all. Horses pulled canons sending devastating blows to the opponent, men on foot surged towards each other using both the fire power and bayonet. It was a game of give and take; first the South pushed forward sending the Union troops back but as time wore on the North gained more resistance driving into the Confederate soldiers pursuing them back towards their camps.
For 3 days 140,000 men fought the battle which was considered the turning point of the war and the end of General Robert E. Lee’s invasion of the North. When it was over, the Battle of Gettysburg left a quarter of the Union soldiers and almost a third of the Confederates wounded or slain. Just a few days after our nation’s Independence Day marked the effectual begging of the end for the Southern forces.
The day was long and hot, but my afternoon visiting the Civil War reenactment at Gibson Ranch was an Experience worth remembering.