Day 16: Milford PA to Harrisonburg, VA.

We dawdled but made around 350 miles. Spent 3 hours or so hiking around the Gettysburg National Military Park, in Gettysburg, PA.  We spent time looking at Cemetery Ridge, where the Union soldiers repulsed Confederate charges by General Pickett and General Jackson; after 3 days' battle the Confederates withdrew having lost 23,000 men wounded or killed (of their 70,000 starting number) while the Union forces lost 20,000 (of their 93,000 starting number).  The carnage must have been truly incredible; it was rather moving to walk on the same stones which sheltered the Union soldiers. We saw 'Round Top' and the very fields across which much of the fighting raged (but the whole battlefield is about 25 square miles). Anyway, this battle marked the turning point of the Civil War. It was costly. Most of the pictures we took are on the Nikon or Caren's camera and I won't upload them yet. But I will upload the address President Lincoln made----we stood on the very spot he spoke----when he dedicated a portion of the battlefield as a National cemetery (which he did on November 19, 1863---the battle took place July 1, 2, and 3 of 1863).