Four Score and Seven Years Ago

It was 150 years ago today that those words were spoken by one Abraham Lincoln on the battlefield of Gettysburg. Have you ever read this passage? What an amazing impact it had on our nation.

Since it is an important anniversary I will step aside from genealogy today and discuss a trip that I made with three of my children about a year and a half ago. It was on this day that we took a driving tour of the battlefield, occasionally exiting the vehicle to stand among the monuments, the breaths of many lost soldiers seemed to permeate the air as chills ran down our spines. Fascination over the stories of fighting and lost lives. One story in particular stands out in my mind, a son, fighting for the South stopped his fire long enough to visit his family in the home he grew up in at Gettysburg. As the son stepped out to leave the home he was killed by the North ... in his childhood yard. The wrath of war right here, death, loss, bullet holes in furniture, homes ... and bodies.

Caitlin, Michael, and Skyler at Gettysburg, PA

And now, here I am, supporting my children as they are willing to defend the same great nation that became because of that war. And I remember the feelings of standing on the battlefield, even visiting it when my boys were young and being lost from my husband in the chaos and voices that are said to walk the fields daily, in spirit. I keep coming to the word chills as I write this piece, goosebumps pacing up and down the spine a cold reminder of what things were 150 years ago.

If you ever have the chance, I strongly encourage you to visit Gettysburg, and feel the loss that strengthened our nation.