In the Spring of 1969 I spent a month in a suburb of Washington D.C., just over the West Virginia border. My son had been seconded to work with the U.S.A.F. and the Colonel in charge of the Department with which he worked very kindly lent me a massive history of the Civil War, from which I was able to follow the campaigns. I had the opportunity to visit Harpers Ferry, Bull Run and Gettysburg battlefields, and the Blue Ridge Mountains, from the crests of which we had superb views over the Shenandoah Valley, scene of Jackson's campaign, and of "Mosby's Confederacy". The Civil War still looms large in American history, and the U.S. is a big country and has the space to keep its famous battlefields as National Parks. For example, Gettysburg National Park and Cemetery includes 39 square miles of battlefields, 415 mounted guns, 845 monuments, seven equestrian statues, and a National Museum, home of an electric map. At Gettysburg, the greatest battle on American soil, 159,000 men were engaged, and the combined casualties amounted to 50,000. The battlefields include Museums; maps; taped, illustrated lectures; and I at Gettysburg the electric map, shows in a lecture theatre by a series of coloured lights, accompanied by a commentary, the course of the battle. My wife is not interested in things military, but she found the map and commentary enthralling. One can tour the battlefield and see all the salient points, Seminary Ridge, Cemetery Ridge, Round Top and Little Round Top, and the famous Peach Orchard. Among the many monuments, including that marking the site of Lincoln's Gettysburg Speech, the ones that impressed me most were the Virginian Monument with its statue of Lee on Seminary Ridge, the statue of Meade on Cemetery Ridge, and, most moving of all, that marking the "high water mark" of Pickett's charge and of the fortunes of the South. The battlefield of Manassas or Bull Run, scene of two battles was also impressive - perhaps even more so than Gettysburg. It is not so cluttered with monuments as Gettysburg, and we visited it on a day of glorious sunshine. Here one sees the Monument to Stonewall Jackson "See where Jackson stands like a stone wall, rally on the Virginians" marking the spot where Jackson's brigade stand at the climax of First Bull Run. We also visited Harper's Ferry. Set in magnificent scenery under the shade of the the Blue Ridge Mountains at the junction of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, this was the scene of John Brown's raid and later Civil War fighting. The site has an arsenal, first established in 1796, it was the object of the Virginai Militia at the outbreak of the Civil War to seize it for the Confederacy, but before evacuating it, the Federals destroyed the arms stored there. In 1862, when he battle of Antietam was being fought Harper's Ferry surrendered to Jackson. The "Armorors House" is used as a museum and the ruins of the Arsenal can be seen as "John Brown's Fort", the fine engine house of the Arsenal, in which John Brown made his last stand. American battlefields are carefully preserved and rewarding for the history buff. American main roads are large and first class for driving, but don't lose your way and get on country roads -- which are gravel tracks. There can be rapid change in temperature in Virginia in the Spring. On the day of Pres. Eisenhower's funeral, it was snowing, but 10 days later at Bull Run it was over 80 degrees. Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter # 133 To Wargamer's Newsletter List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1973 by Donald Featherstone. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com