2001 National Jamboree
Gettysburg National Memorial Battlefield
and Washington D.C.

Pictures received July 21, 2001.

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Gettysburg was the scene of some of the most intense fighting of the Civil War. Over four days in July of 1863, over 75,000 men under General Robert E. Lee of the Army of Virginia clashed with over 97,000 men of the Union Army of the Potomac under General George C. Meade. Although the Battle of Gettysburg achieved no great goal for either army, it did mark the point of northernmost advance of the Army of Virginia. Considered the bloodiest conflict of the Civil War, more men died at Gettysburg than in any other battle on American soil before or after the Civil War. Before the war, the town consisted of about 2400 residents. In the next three days, over 51,000 casualties of war were incurred. In Pickett's Charge toward Cemetery Ridge alone- in the span of only 50 minutes, over 10,000 men were killed or wounded. One can read about the battle, but it is only when you survey the monuments and the graves that you get an appreciation for the close proximity of the fighting, the rugged terrain, and the bloodshed that really occurred. When Abraham Lincoln delivered his now famous Gettysburg Address just four months after the battle to dedicate the cemetery there, he said "The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here". In 1872, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania transferred the land to the United States Government. A good website for an overview of the battle and the area can be found here.
On the way to the White House, followed by some balancing action on Pennsylvania Avenue.

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