November 18, 2013

Starting the walk

View toward the 81st Pennsylvania Infantry monument

For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to walk in Gettysburg’s famous Wheatfield, but I have a (very rational) fear of blood-sucking little pests commonly known as deer ticks. Until recently I hadn’t noticed there was a wide path cut through the center of the field with the purpose of allowing folks to visit without being swarmed by disease-carriers. So, during my last visit in November, I could finally say I walked in that iconic field.

Winslow's Battery D, 1st New York Light Artillery

Along with being ecstatic that I’d completed one of my Gettysburg goals, I was extra happy to find that there were  . . . cannons! I could take photos of Civil War artillery all day. It’s sort of an unhealthy obsession :-) I should add that it was a perfect day to ponder the carnage that took place here, as it was cold, breezy, overcast, and sort of lonely. No one else around until we left. You could definitely feel the “ghosts” of the past.

**HONORED TODAY**

PVT. THEODORE (some say THOMAS) GEOGHEGAN

Co. D, 19^TH Mississippi Infantry

Born July 10, 1844 --- Died August 18, 1863 at age 19

Pvt. Geoghegan understood death long before he joined the army. In 1858, at the age of fourteen, he’d lost his father to yellow fever. After being wounded at Gettysburg and receiving an amputation to the thigh, he was transferred to Camp Letterman. He clung to life until the middle of August when he passed of his wounds. He was later buried at Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery. Records incorrectly list his surname as “Grohegan.”


(c) 2013 Skies of Blue and Gray