Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Wow! Just look at this place!

Wow! I'm all the way in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania!! How amazing is that?

The Battle of Gettysburg was fought from July 1st, to July 3rd in 1863. It was the most costly battle of the entire Civil War. It's called the Battle of Gettysburg because most of the skirmishes and battles were fought either in or around the city of Gettysburg.

Some people think that the Battle of Gettysburg was the turning point of the Civil War, but the most famous thing from the Battle of Gettysburg was a speech President Abraham Lincoln gave. When the battle was over President Abraham Lincoln wanted to know how many people had got hurt or died when fighting. He even stopped to dedicate a cemetery where the dead soldiers could be buried. Now the speech Abraham Lincoln gave is known as the Gettysburg Address.

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

That's a big Cannon!!

I decided to fly up to the top of a nearby tower and see what I could find. There were tons of amazing things to look at. There were a lot of battlefields you could look at from the top. There were so many people fighting and the battles were really big. When you climb the observation towers and look out you can see that the battles were huge and a lot of people were fighting. My friends Harper, Cordelia, and I went and looked at one of the cannons that was used during the war and it was HUGE!!

Eternal Light Peace Memorial

There are HUNDREDS of monuments and memorials on the grounds of the Gettysburg battlefields. They are all honoring men and women who fought, were wounded, died, or did heroic things. But my favorite was called The Eternal Light Peace Memorial. It was dedicated on the 75 anniversary of the battle. Now it's been 148 years since the battle. It's purpose is to remind us that we should never again divide our country and fight each other--like we did during the Civil War. That we should always work out our differences. Just like President Roosevelt said when he dedicated the monument. "All of them we honor, not asking under which flag they fought then - thankful that they stand together under one flag now."

Quack Report:

My quack was great!! The echo was fabulous!!! Definitely my all-time best quack.