We stopped in Gettysburg PA to see the battlefield and monuments to all the men who fought in this Civil War battle.  It’s very well-known so I won’t put in any details about the battle itself.

One thing I did not know was that when the battle ended, both armies continued on their campaigns and left the dead and wounded where they lay!  There were over 7,000 men from both sides that died at Gettysburg and they lay all around the town and fields outside of town for days…weeks…months…while the few hundred people who lived there, mostly old men, women and children since all the young men were gone to the war, struggled to care for the wounded and bury the overwhelming number of dead soldiers.  During the months after the battle, and continuing long after the war was over, relatives of those who died flocked to Gettysburg to try and find their relatives.  The townspeople had to deal with the aftermath of this battle for a LONG TIME!

Here are pictures that we took during the auto-tour of the area…it was too large and spread out to do it any other way! :