by Patrick J. Buchanan – January 6, 2003

Almost all who visit Gettysburg, best preserved of all the Civil War battlefields, find it a deeply moving experience. This is truly hallowed ground. Here, tens of thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers fought the decisive battle of America’s bloodiest war.

From the first clash of the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia, to Lee’s attempt to turn the Union flank at Little Round Top on the second day, to Pickett’s Charge against the Union center on Seminary Ridge on the third, to Lee’s bleeding retreat back over the Potomac as a frustrated Abraham Lincoln wondered why his newest commander, George Meade, had not finished Lee’s army with its back to the swollen river – it is an incredible story, told wonderfully well by the guides at Gettysburg Battlefield.