The Battle of Gettysburg was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The fighting raged fiercely on the 1st and the 2nd of July. On July 3rd fighting resumed on Culp's Hill, and cavalry battles raged to the east and south, but the main event was a dramatic infantry assault by 12,500 Confederates against the center of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge, known as Pickett's Charge. The charge was repulsed by Union rifle and artillery fire, at great losses to the Confederate army. Lee then led his army on a torturous retreat back to Virginia. Between 46,000 and 51,000 soldiers from both armies were casualties in the three-day battle.

The both of us had visited Gettysburg, separately, over 30 years ago. Todays visit startled us by the number of changes made to entrance and to the visitor center(VC). The VC now has the look of a mall. After you walk in, no matter which direction you look, there are lots and lots of vendors. Comericialism thy name is Gettysburg NMP (GNMP). After looking for ten minutes and I finally had to ask someone where the GNMP ranger desk was. The crowds were busy buying. It reminded me of a county fair. The videos and other things to see are now for a fee. The wait lines were long so we decided to leave and continue on to Freeland, PA, arriving on May 17th before supper.

This ends our NPS journey from Tucson, AZ to Freeland, PA, about 3,000 miles, in May of 2013.

An epilogue is being written about the trip and will be included in this gallery.