Pennsylvania
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Security is heightened here as
well
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It was worth the wait to see
the Liberty Bell
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Chocolate World Entrance, Hershey,
PA
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Chocolate Kisses! Yum!
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Just street lights!
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Rifled bore steel cannon from
Civil War - range 1 mi. Notes
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Smooth bore bronze cannon from
Civil War
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The "Valley of Death"
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Site of Pickett's Charge
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Keen Lake, Waymart, PA
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Pennsylvania countryside
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Pocono Mountains
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Old Time Fiddlers in the Pocono
Mts. Notes
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Gettysburg Battlefield
Gettysburg was probably the most grusome battle of the Civil War. The battle
only lasted 3 days, yet 51,000 men and one woman lost their lives in those three
days. In 1 day in 1 wheat field, the field above labelled "The Valley of
Death", over 4,000 lives were lost. Just as a reminder there were 58,000
lives lost in Vietnam over many years. Time tends to make us forget our past.
The battlefield is lined with monuments built in honor of the men in the many
regiments that fought here.
The battle of Gettyburg was just that, a battle fought all around the town. It is surrounded by hills on the east and south eastand this ridge of hills became a major line for the battle. The picture labelled "Valley of Death" is taken from the top of a hill where the Union soldiers mounted their artillery so they could fire into the valley and fields below. It became a place where the Confererate soldiers were kept from taking the important hill and many lost their lives in that valley. Believe it or not, the armies were using a new "Sharp" rifle that with a trained marksman could hit a man at 1,000 yards. The Confererate soldiers down in the woods gave the artillerymen a fit firing the "Sharp" into their implacements up on the hillside.
Another thing that struck me in a strange way was the alliegance these young soldiers had to their leaders. Most were uneducated farm boys that could not have understood the political things going on in those times. Without today's communications tools, how did these boys from states miles away come to this place to die, did they really know what they were fighting for??
As the war began, President Lincoln offered
Robert E. Lee a promotion to General in the Union Army. Lee refused saying he
wanted to stay in Virginia and see what position Virginia took in the war. When
Virginia decided to seceed and join the Confederate cause, Lee became General
Lee of the Condeferate Army. Lee's decision upset many people in the Union Army
and the U.S government and when he left to fight, the government seized his
farm and home in Virginia that was called "Arlington". To make sure
Lee could not try to get it back later, they had Congress name it as an official
national cemetery. It is what is known today as "Arlington National Cemetery"
and Lee never got any of his land back. He lost his Union Army pension and was
never granted his US Citizenship back until about 100 years after his death.
Gravity Train
While visiting Honesdale, to watch the "Old Time Fiddlers" we discovered
the story about the Gravity Train. To get coal down from the mountains to the
canal, they constructed a train that used gravity to move it down the mountian
side. The last two cars of the train were loaded with mules that were then use
to pull the empty cars back to the top. The trip down the hill took 30 minutes
and it took 3 hours to pull them back to the top.