Woodbury, CT, to Gettysburg, PA

11 January 2016:  The skies cleared today, and the temperature dropped.  It finally feels like winter!

I drove today from Woodbury, CT, to Gettysburg, PA.  I gave New York City a wide berth by following I-84 from near Woodbury to Scranton, PA, and then I-81 to Harrisburg, PA.  I drove around Harrisburg on I-83 and reached Gettysburg on US-15.  Parts of the drive were quite attractive: for example, wooded and rolling countryside in New York on I-84.  Other parts -- for example, I-81 around Wilkes-Barre -- were less attractive, and the driving itself was difficult (poor road conditions, heavy truck traffic, construction work).

Gettysburg is, of course, the site of a dramatic and decisive three-day battle during the Civil War (1-3 July 1863).  The fighting occurred over a broad area around the little town.  There is now a route marked along roads that can be followed to various key locations of the battle.  A visit enables one to appreciate the topography -- in particular, the hills and ridges -- that played a very important role in the fighting. 

I arrived in Gettysburg in time to drive to the area north of the town where the fighting took place on the first day of the battle.  Both armies were on the move, as Lee's Army of Northern Virginia invaded the North and Meade's Army of the Potomac screened Washington, D.C.  Small units of the two armies encountered each other almost by chance at Gettysburg.  More units were drawn into what became a major battle, with heavy casualties.  The Confederates succeeded in pushing the Unionists off the battlefield and through Gettysburg, but the Unionists then gained high ground south of the town that gave them strong defensive positions against Confederate assaults during the second and third days of the battle.  I'll visit those areas tomorrow morning, before continuing my drive.

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The countryside along I-84 near Fishkill in New York:

Fields and forests north of Gettysburg:

There are more than 1,000 monuments scattered around the Gettysburg battlefield.  They commemorate individuals soldiers, paricular units and noteworthy events.  This one stands at the spot where a Union Corps Commander, Major General John Reynolds, was killed early in the fighting during the first day.

This is a statue of General Abner Doubleday, who took command of Reynolds's Corps when the latter was killed.  Doubleday has been credited with inventing the game of baseball after the Civil War.

I'm spending the night at the Gettysburg Hotel, in the center of town: