Gettysburg - History at an important time

Friend and I visited Gettysburg today.  I've lived within 2 hours of the battlefield for over 17 years and had never visited.  It was awe-inspiring.  I left the introductory movie and the cyclorama with a real appreciation for that time in our country's history.  We had driven up just the two of us, but there was a large group of Viet Nam vets and their spouses coming in with us.   I wondered as we took in the cyclorama  how the vets felt about the description of the battle and the re-enactment of the cannons and fighting.  Did it bring up memories they wish to forget?  I couldn't figure out how anyone could have the courage to step into a battle knowing they would likely be killed or maimed.  51,000 casualties.  Imagine the enormity of the small town of Gettysburg (population 2,400 at the time) cleaning up the battle field with tens of thousands of dead bodies lying around, in the middle of the summer.


The other thoughts that were running through my head involved the terrible split in our nation now as we are on the eve of the next election.  How did we dig ourselves out of this most monstrous war of citizen against citizen to have  a united country?  I'd just been listening to an interview with David von Drehle the author of Rise to Greatness:  Lincoln and America's Most Perilous Year and was struck by his description of Lincoln and the era in which he led the country.  Surely, it was a much more difficult separation in the country?  And yet, we made it through.  I am not a Lincoln scholar, so cannot say that he was the greatest President, but I wish we had leadership that would move us forward, that could compromise, that could reach across the aisle.

I just ordered the book on my Kindle.  Maybe I'll become a historian after all.  That would surely surprise my friend, the Judge.