Civil War sites in VA, MD, PA

Over the last two days, among other activities, we’ve visited four civil war battlefields. In Virginia, Manassas (aka Bull Run 1&2); in Maryland Antietam; and in Pennsylvania, Gettysburg.

We toured the visitors centre and varying amounts of the battlefields, with a field talk at the first Bull Run, a self driving tour at Antietam, and a bus tour in Gettysburg. So lots of names and battle tactics and positions running through my head, but feel that we have a rough sense of the first couple of years of the war. Lots of deaths, lots of bloodshed, cannons with a range of 2 miles and muskets with ranges up to two football fields. Lots of up-close bayonets and bullets, as I expected, but I didn’t expect the longer distance battles, especially the cannon warfare.

Manassas

Antietam

And the founder of the American Red Cross, Clara Barton

Gettysburg