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This blog published Mondays and Wednesdays **
Another fall day, another gray sky. Believe it or not, I actually do encounter many blue sky days at Gettysburg in October and November. This, however, was not one of those. This shot was taken in the middle of the Wheatfield and shows, from left to right, a cannon of Winslow’s New York battery, the 81ST Pennsylvania monument, the 148TH Pennsylvania monument, and Ayres Avenue which opens into a “loop” that provides an amazing view of Little Round Top. Note the little flat boulder in front of the cannon. Is anyone else fascinated by the Gettysburg rocks, the way they just popped up in different shapes, sizes, and configurations wherever they wanted to with no apparent rhyme or reason? That’s always fascinated me and I’m not even a geology person . . .
**HONORED TODAY**
1ST SGT.
ISAAC W. ESTES
Co. C, 20TH
Maine Infantry
Born abt. 1838 --- Died
July 16, 1863 at age 25
Sgt.
Estes’ family story stands apart as one of the saddest I have yet encountered.
A young man of 24, he enlisted in the famed 20TH Maine Infantry in
August 1862, likely to the dismay of young wife Nancy. A daughter, Emma, was
born that same year, though I’m not sure if she was born before or after her
father’s enlistment. Sgt. Estes was mortally wounded at Gettysburg on the 2ND
and passed away just 2 weeks later. 9 months after his death, Nancy, just
21, also died, followed by daughter Emma in June. The little girl was
only 2. An entire young family was wiped out in eleven months. Sgt. Estes was
buried either at Gettysburg National Cemetery or at East Bethel Cemetery in his
hometown of Bethel, Maine.
(c) 2012-2016 Skies of Blue and Gray
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