| If you are at all interested in either Pennsylvania or | | | | things out for yourself or if you do not have much time, |
| American history, you will certainly have heard of | | | | you could join one of the regular guided tours. If you |
| Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and the historic activities that | | | | are somewhere in between these two positions, you |
| took place there during the American Civil War. The | | | | could first watch a film in the Cycloarma Center, |
| three day long battle that took place there in July 1863 | | | | where there are also historical objects recovered from |
| was cruel and bloody, but was hailed as a victory for | | | | the theatre of war on the numerous excavations that |
| the Unionist North. | | | | have taken place over the nearly 150 years since the |
| However, one glance in the Union Army burial ground | | | | battle at Gettysburg took place. If you do not look |
| in the Gettysburg National Cemetery on Cemetery Hill | | | | around the museum before you go on to the |
| will persuade you that the victory came at a very high | | | | battlefield, you ought to look later. |
| price. The cost in human life and human suffering was | | | | If you are going to Gettysburg to enlighten your |
| enormous on both sides. Later in the same year, | | | | children about that most significant era of American |
| Abraham Lincoln gave a discourse which was to | | | | history, you ought to first check out the special interest |
| become renowned throughout the world as the | | | | programmes available to 7-12 year olds in the warmer |
| Gettysburg Address. | | | | summer months. One programme permits children to |
| These days, the Gettysburg National Military Park is a | | | | enlist in the army of 1863 for an hour in order to get a |
| peaceful place, but it serves as a poignant reminder of | | | | sense for wIhat it was like for soldiers of the day and |
| the battle that was fought, the strategies employed, | | | | what it was like for the children that helped them fight. |
| the heroism of the combatants and the readiness of | | | | Another programme consists of a story-teller telling |
| military leaders to sacrifice the common soldier for | | | | stories of what it was like to be a child in the days of |
| political objectives.f you go to the Gettysburg National | | | | the Civil War and the role that children played both in |
| Military Park, you would do well to begin your trip in the | | | | the war and in civilian life in those days. |
| visitors' centre. There you will be able to pick up books, | | | | Gettysburg is a fascinating place to go to whether |
| pamphlets and leaflets to help you orientate yourself | | | | your family was embroiled in the battle there or not. |
| when you are on the battleground, even if you are | | | | Many of the combatants' names and place names like |
| familiar with how and where the actual battle was | | | | Devil's Den and Cemetery Hill will already be known to |
| fought. | | | | you and a visit to the Gettysburg National Military Park |
| If you feel that it would be too much for you to work | | | | will bring them back to life for you. |