Gettysburg National Military Park was a stop on our American Bicentennial vacation (a year early) in 1975 and our American Presidents and Civil War Battlefields trip in 2009. So this time when we arrived at the Information Desk, we knew we wanted something other than the driving tour. The ranger suggested some Ranger Talks and we headed out quickly to catch one. We joined Ranger Daniel Vermilya at Lydia Leister’s Farm which served as General Meade’s Headquarters and where the Union council of war was held the evening of July 2nd 1863. From there the group headed out to Cemetery Ridge to further understand reasons General Lee ordered Generals Trimble, Pettigrew, and Pickett under the command of General Longstreet to charge the center of the Union line. After lunch we gathered with others under a tent behind the Visitors Center as Ranger Chuck Teague gave us a perspective of life as a common soldier in the Civil War. He even explored some of the health care practices of the day including the use of calomel for the treatment of diarrhea. We may need to do more research on the effects of this particular blue pill and whether it may have played a part in the life history of a Civil War ancestor of ours.
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