Gettysburg

On July 1-3, 1863 was fought the Battle of Gettysburg. Tanner, Hunter and I passed through here on July 1, 2009. Being a father I have pondered over the last moments of Sergeant Amos Humiston. Humiston was killed on the first day of the battle. When he was found on the battlefield his body bore no identification save an ambrotype picture of his three young children clutched in his hand.

His final moments were gazing at his children. The picture would be published in newspapers across the nation until they were recognized and that is how Humiston was identified (and his family was notified of his death). (If congress seeks to pass a slavery reparation bill, they should stop and think of Sergeant Humiston and so should children at what was given by millions to end slavery).
Amy Jo and I visited Gettysburg for the first time after getting married and on our way back to Utah. In 1999 we moved from New Mexico back to New England. Tanner and Hunter were with me as I drove the moving truck. We stopped at Gettysburg. Between the time we were married and the second trip with the boys we had discovered that Amy Jo’s great-great-great grandfather had been at the battle. Throughout the national park are placed monuments where various units served. It was on this second trip that my sons and I discovered where Rufus Porter Glass had been stationed and what his unit did. To my surprise he belonged to one of the units that repulsed Pickett’s charge on the third day, as the Confederates began to break through the Union lines at the Copse of Trees.

On that second trip I took Tanner and Hunter’s pictures at the monuments which are dedicated to the 19th Maine. Since we were passing nearby on our way up to visit New England and I had Tanner and Hunter (once again) I thought I would replicate the photos. Ten years have passed. My sons have changed. They are much larger in many ways. I thought about these changes. I have always felt that Gettysburg is a very special place. It is one of my favorite places. Each time I have passed through Gettysburg I think of the words of Lincoln spoken at Gettysburg, that “we cannot dedicate -- we cannot consecrate -- we cannot hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.”

On Thursday we walked on the ground that Rufus Porter had stood almost exactly 146 years earlier. I also thought (since it was July 4th Weekend) what Rufus Porter’s July 4, 1863 “celebration” would have been like. I wonder if they would remember the words which end the Declaration of Independence, that were announced to the world “four-score and seven years” before that they “mutually pledge to each other [their] lives, [their] fortunes and [their] sacred honor” towards the building of a new nation. I think they did remember for they had done the same. (What do you think the current federal government thinks about when it comes to their lives, fortunes, and honor?)

As I looked at the pictures it reminded me that Dad and Moms get older, children grow up, and time cannot be stopped, but the values which founded this nation and which had preserved this nation are timeless. They should be pondered and passed down. Gettysburg is a great place to share with your children these values.