A Gettysburg Address

Gettysburg today 2025

I went to Gettysburg Pennsylvania to visit some dear friends. My son and I rode a double decker bus, rode around in a rented car and walked in some places. We wanted to see what this Gettysburg was all about. We expected to stay in Pennsylvania a few days, but wound up visiting historic Gettysburg numerous times.

We traveled through the historic Gettysburg battlefield. Beautiful countryside, many statues of generals.

The position of a horse’s hooves on a statue tells the story of the rider’s fate. If both front hooves are raised, it is said the rider died in battle. If only one front hoof is raised, the rider was wounded in battle or later died from those wounds. If all four hooves are firmly on the ground, the rider’s death was unrelated to battle...NOT!

the position and pose of the statue do not signify anything, it's just a myth.

Did you know Lincoln DID NOT write the Gettysburg address on the back of an envelope?

My new hero is Thaddeus Stevens, who was a powerful Pennsylvania statesman and leader of the Radical Republicans. I never heard of him in school.

He was an advocate for civil rights and Reconstruction after the Civil War, he helped draft the 13th and 14th Amendment pushing for equal rights and voting access for Black Americans, leading to the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. He supported free public education. 

So what was the 60's all about when I was a girl...how did things get turned all around...with civil rights leaders, and voting marches...and killings and... ?

Let's not get off the subject.

It is a beautiful place with rolling hills, pristeen houses. You got old white folk sitting around the battlefield in different spots, in lawn chairs on the battle field reminising about the good old days, I guess. The frame of mind was different on that battlefield, for whites, as well as blacks. How so? I'm still processing it.

Mr Chuck Elder, a volunteer, toured the only black man residence during 1863. His name was Bryan or Brian, they don't really know the spelling.

There were other blacks, but this man was a backsmith and subsistance farmer. He had one horse, dairy cows and an orchard on 12 acres of land. You would think they would have his name on the deed and title for the 12 acres... He had 3 wives during his lifetime, two wives died. He fathered 5 children.

Ms. Meg Palm, also black, was a tenant on the land paying rent, she's mentioned because the slave patrols captured her and tried to take her into slavery below the Mason Dickson line, but they proved she was a tenant by a photograph...

I wonder how many people were subjected to being falsely taken as a slave? Makes me cringe.

The reason they had Mr. Bryan's story is because after the war, he came home to see his home burned down, and all livestock gone. So, in order to survive and restore his house, he and Mr. Basil Biggs, a farmer, and another black man, asked the Union officials if they would pay them $1.05 per body to bury dead Union soldiers.

Our guide, Mr. Elder showed us a picture of the dead union and confederate soldiers, stacked up like old beat up shoes. Mr. Bryan and Mr. Biggs buried the Union solders next to the Evergreen Cemetary. No Southern soldiers were allowed to be buried near the Evergreen Cemetary. They were left for the Confederate side to bury them.

I met women that got me to thinking about life and where I fit in...

The first lady I met was at the Airport when we were leaving. She had this Labradoodle named Belle, cute as can be. I hesitently rubbed Belle on the head, the dog looked at me as to say "What are you afraid of, lady? I won't bite!"

Belle's owner is Ms. Melitta McCully, she served 29 years in the Army. I prayed with her and thanked her for her service.

If you google her name, Melitta McCully, it will take you to the LGBT Center of Central PA History Project Dickinson College Archives & Special Collections

She has lived quite a life in the military. I respect her plight. We have all had and is

having hard times in these last days. She is on my prayer list.