Gettysburg 150th Anniversary, Day 2- Tuesday, July 2, 2013

    Registration began at 8:00 this morning.  After a slow start and breakfast at Denny's, we made our way to the re-enactment site.  We went through registration, and then we made our way to the Union camp.  We were among the first there.  Julie stayed to make sure we were in he right place, and then took the girls for a day of fun elsewhere.

Scott's part:

    It seems very, very odd to have a bunch of strangers calling themselves the 154th New York.  They are nice enough, but it will take some getting used to.  What's stranger still is that people in this 154th are from all over the country, from as far away as Texas and Las Vegas.   This event seems partly to be a Hotchkiss Family reunion, so there is that part of the group that already knows each other.

     Don H., the organizer of this company, arrived shortly after we did but the command for our brigade is absent today.  Groups were left to fend for themselves to find where to camp.  Don and his crew brought up a U-haul trailer that basically had a whole company street packed in it with the tents and equipment for about 30 or so soldiers. He uses them for education programs in Nevada.  After some shuffling, we unpacked it and about eight or so guys set up his wall tent and a company street of about twenty or so smaller tents, including the one I brought.  

     They then laid out the equipment that they are issuing to the fresh fish as they arrive.  I worked to get some of my equipment in order, oiling my gun and so forth.  The sutlers weren't completely open yet, but I was able to find one that could help me with the parts I needed, and I now have a musket that is back in working order.  I spent some time playing my mandolin.  Other than that, it was a really quiet day in camp.  I was a little disappointed that we didn't do any drill.  That will come tomorrow.

Julie and the girls' part:

     We went to Roundtop Mountain Resort, where there was supposed to be ropes courses and zip lines and all sorts of fun activities for the girls, but they were closed.  Instead we went to Hershey Park and rode the ride and bought some Jolly Ranchers.  We went to dinner at Panera, and shopping at Barnes and Nobles were all three of us bought some things.  I bought a fold out map of Paris, like the one that Jenny gave us of London.  Then we went to see Scott in the camps.

    At shortly after 6:00, Julie and the girls ended up back in the Union Camp with dinner from Arby's for Scott.  After eating, Scott noted that it was still July 2nd and it would be interesting to go back to the battlefield to see some of the second day monuments.  We drove back to town, and made our way over the Round Tops, through the crowds, and to the Rose Woods.  Scott's goal was to find the monument to Capt. Henry Fuller of Little Valley and the 64th New York.  The small stone is hidden deep in the woods where Fuller was killed on July 2nd.  It's hard to find, though, even in winter, but in summer with the thick undergrowth, we were completely unsuccessful.  That part of the trip ended traumatically for Emma when she got a thorn in her foot.  We left without finding Fuller's stone, but we did see many, many fireflies coming out.  We also visited the 64th NY's monument just as the sun was going down.  We made our way back to the hotel in Carlisle, with stops along the way for supplies.