New Gettysburg Museum

[oldbrownhat]

At new Gettysburg museum, Ken Burns gets a taste of battle he chronicled

"...It is the close of the first day of the Civil War’s Battle of Gettysburg, and public television’s renowned student of the war has come to imagine what it was like, not for the soldiers, but for the terrified residents as the conflict raged around them.

The location was the Adams County Historical Society’s new state-of-the-art museum that focuses on the experience of people as bullets flew through homes, buried themselves in mirror frames and bedsteads, and in one case killed a young woman while she was making bread.

Called the Gettysburg Beyond the Battle Museum, it is located at a spot north of town where the Confederate army overran Union forces and stormed into Gettysburg on the first day of the three-day battle...

...It was funded with the help of Burns, whose blockbuster 1990 documentary, “The Civil War,” captivated viewers and set public TV audience records.

Support also came from novelist Jeff Shaara, actor Stephen Lang and Susan Eisenhower, granddaughter of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who with his wife, Mamie, lived on a farm nearby after his presidency, the museum said...

"...“A lot of the audio, almost all of it, is real,” he said. “We went out to a firing range in Virginia and captured the real sounds. So when you hear a bullet going through glass, it’s actually the sound of a Civil War bullet going through glass.”

He said live rounds had been fired from cannons and rifles, the sounds recorded as they discharged and struck glass, metal and wood...."​

 

[Golddollar]

This is practically in my back yard. I'll have to go visit when it opens.

 

[Rudi]

Sadly, I fear, so many people have no idea of this these days.

 

[Narragansett]

Having been an electrical contractor in PA, my company did the electrical work in the new Gettysburg regional high school. A job that lasted 3 years. Every week, we had a job meeting in the morning on site. After the meeting I would eat my lunch at the battlefield before humping it over the mountain for an afternoon meeting at Shippensburg University.

The one thing I found most chilling was standing at the North's line of defense, and looking out into the field and trying to image Pickett's Charge across the open field.

 

[fordson]

Wife and I were at Gettysburg this pass October. First visit in three years. I’ve tired to go there each October as part of our annual Fall road trip. Need to put this new museum on my list for our next visit.

 

[moosedog]

I have been to Gettysburg six or seven times now. Got hooked on it when I went on my daughter's school field trip.
Soooo much to see that you really can't do it any justice in one day. If you do go, I would suggest the battlefield tour where you hire one of the guides that come with you in your own car and show you around. Get there very early in the AM.
It's almost magical for us Military History buffs.

 

[Narragansett]

I have been to Gettysburg six or seven times now. Got hooked on it when I went on my daughter's school field trip.
Soooo much to see that you really can't do it any justice in one day. If you do go, I would suggest the battlefield tour where you hire one of the guides that come with you in your own car and show you around. Get there very early in the AM.
It's almost magical for us Military History buffs.

My secretary used to do the tour on horseback every year. I think you need to do an advanced registration for that tour

 

[oldbrownhat]

This is practically in my back yard. I'll have to go visit when it opens.

I was thinking of you when I saw that article and figured you'd be the first one in line to see it.

 

[quikdraw67]

This is right down the road from my sister's house. I'll be sure to check it out.

BTW there is also a great WWII museum outside of Gettysburg. 2 operating Sherman tanks are the highlight of the collection. It's well worth a visit.

 

[WR Moore]

The one thing I found most chilling was standing at the North's line of defense, and looking out into the field and trying to image Pickett's Charge across the open field.

After being in the Federal gun (esp. cannon) positions, going to the starting point of Pickett's Charge was worse.

Unfortunately, I was working and had to go where the group went. Would have liked to have seen Devil's Den from both sides.

 

[oldbrownhat]

...The one thing I found most chilling was standing at the North's line of defense, and looking out into the field and trying to image Pickett's Charge across the open field.

The Lettered Streets Coffee House in Bellingham WA is in a building named "Pickett 1890"

Until 2019 the bridge over Whatcom Creek a few blocks away had a sign saying it was built in 1857 by Gen. Pickett when he was stationed in the PNW. The sign was removed after discussions deemed it too "politically sensitive."

In the article linked above it mentioned that his first wife was a native woman from the area with whom he had a child. I wonder if they have descendents still in the area.


Addendum: According to Wikipedia, "While posted to Fort Bellingham, Pickett married a Native American woman of the Haida tribe, Morning Mist, who gave birth to a son, James Tilton Pickett (1857–1889); Morning Mist died a few months later. "Jimmy" Pickett made a name for himself as a newspaper artist, before dying of tuberculosis at the age of 32 near Portland, Oregon.

And the house he built in Bellingham still stands.

 

[fordson]

There were two significant Confederate “charges” at Gettysburg: Barksdale’s Charge of the Mississippi Brigade on the late afternoon into evening of 2 July and the more famous Picketts Charge of 3 July. Barksdale would have succeeded in breaking the Union line at the weak spot on Cemetery Ridge had there been support troops to follow up his advance .

 

[IAM Rand]

Went there with my son back in 2014. Just amazing to take a tour. The guides are fantastic and worth every penny. We had a relative fall on the second day at Gettysburg, Charles Fredrick Taylor, he was the youngest Colonel in the army of the Potomic. He lost his life on Little Round Top. He helped drive his soldiers down to the field and was rallying the troops when he was shot.. July 2, 1863. He was 23 years old or should I say young.

Not to get political but, not sure there are many 23 year old's that would do that today.

Going there in June to spend a little more time in the area. My family lived in Kennett Square.

 

[Auburn4]

Made the reenactment with the park ranger on one side and the Alabama soldiers and flag on the other. On the 150th. Had goose bumps from start to finish. Uneven ground, fell twice. No words to describe what it must have been during the REAL THING.!!! # 75468 Will visit the new museum soon.

 

[PALADIN85020]

I have walked the very ground over which Pickett and his men of the Confederacy made their charge to the Triangle. I have seen their view of their target from the trees to the West of the field, and from the viewpoint of the defenders from the Union side of the field. I have also seen the inside of the small house that served as the Union command post about 100 yards behind the front lines of the Union.

I can only marvel at the bravery of the men on both sides where the final charge was made.

I have also walked up to the crests of both Round Tops - it gave me shivers to be there and again be awed by what happened there.

Gettysburg was a pivotal battle of the Civil War. A visitor should also see the battle museum and of course the graveyard where Lincoln made his Gettysburg address. History will come alive there.

My great-grandfather fought for the Union at the second battle of Saltville Virginia. He was crippled there and walked with a limp for the rest of his life. Those were very tough times for the whole country.

I firmly believe that the ghosts of the men who died at Gettysburg are still there in spirit. They will never be forgotten.

John

 

[Miracle Man]

I've always been a big history/war buff and I finally got to go this past summer. I will be going again soon, I hope.

 

[JJOG]

I lived in Gettysburg for three years. I've enjoyed walking every part of the battlefield many times! I would get up before dawn drink my coffee on the fields before hiking with my Nikon! You could feel the history on the sacred ground! I've been away for three years now; I still miss my walks throughout the battlefield!