Tourist Recommendations (Harrisburg/Gettysburg)

1,751 Views | 21 Replies | Last: 6 yr ago by Rabid Cougar
SpiDer2008
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AG
Howdy! I have a day layover in Harrisburg tomorrow. Any Civil War tourist recommendations? Thanks!
SRBS
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The National Civil War museum is in Harrisburg
AEK
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AG
Gettysburg is awesome if you haven't been. It is the gem of the NPS Military Parks and is close enough to Harrisburg that you shouldn't have an issue if you want to visit. You can get there in about 45 minutes from the airport via I-76 and Hwy 15. Please note I-76 is a toll road. Other sites of note would be the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg and the Army Heritage and Education Center (AHEC) in Carlisle. AHEC is dedicated to telling the story of the American Soldier and spans all of our nations conflicts...so it wouldn't be Civil War specific.

http://www.nationalcivilwarmuseum.org/

http://ahec.armywarcollege.edu/index.cfm

Edit to add links.
SpiDer2008
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Awesome! Many thanks on the recommendations!
Rabid Cougar
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AEK said:

Gettysburg is awesome if you haven't been. It is the gem of the NPS Military Parks and is close enough to Harrisburg that you shouldn't have an issue if you want to visit. You can get there in about 45 minutes from the airport via I-76 and Hwy 15. Please note I-76 is a toll road. Other sites of note would be the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg and the Army Heritage and Education Center (AHEC) in Carlisle. AHEC is dedicated to telling the story of the American Soldier and spans all of our nations conflicts...so it wouldn't be Civil War specific.

http://www.nationalcivilwarmuseum.org/

http://ahec.armywarcollege.edu/index.cfm

Edit to add links.
"Totally Agree" to all the above ^^^^^^..... amend to " Hope you enjoyed it"
SpiDer2008
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AG
I was able to rent a car and head down to Gettysburg. Did the tour on my own. The visitor center and museum are awesome! I highly recommend going there before seeing the battlefields. They'll help you understand the context. Here's a few pics. Thanks again!

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JABQ04
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AG
I am roughly 35 days from my own trip to Gettysburg and Antietam. Pretty excited. Trying to convince the wife to let me squeeze in the Wilderness as well. It not looking good.
Rabid Cougar
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JABQ04 said:

I am roughly 35 days from my own trip to Gettysburg and Antietam. Pretty excited. Trying to convince the wife to let me squeeze in the Wilderness as well. It not looking good.
The one is a bit in the other direction?
JABQ04
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Not really. After Gettysburg/Antietam we'll stay with a friend who lives about 45 mins from the battlefield. But have to hit D.C. and Bush Gardens for the kids.
SpiDer2008
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Have fun! Make sure you go in town and go to the horse soldier. Lots and lots of artifacts/weapons for sale from Gettysburg and other battles and wars (i.e. They have a kieser helmet from WWI). Just don't let your wife know your bought something lol. Pretty awesome place.
AEK
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JABQ04 said:

I am roughly 35 days from my own trip to Gettysburg and Antietam. Pretty excited. Trying to convince the wife to let me squeeze in the Wilderness as well. It not looking good.
If you can't talk her into the Wilderness perhaps you can hit up Harpers Ferry, WV or the Monacacy Junction Battlefield (in Frederick, MD) instead. Also if you are into Medicine, the National Museum of Civil War Medicine is in Frederick as well. They also have a Field Museum around Antietam at the Pry House Farm. Very cool stuff and was where MAJ Jonathan Letterman put his reforms into practice.
The Original AG 76
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SpiDer2008 said:

Have fun! Make sure you go in town and go to the horse soldier. Lots and lots of artifacts/weapons for sale from Gettysburg and other battles and wars (i.e. They have a kieser helmet from WWI). Just don't let your wife know your bought something lol. Pretty awesome place.
About 40 years ago at one of the shops there i bought an old bill labeled as CSA $100 for ( I think) $20. It was a Republic of Texas $100 and worth a HELLOVA lot more. Doubt you will still be able to make such a find but the shops are great for browsing.
Rabid Cougar
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JABQ04 said:

Not really. After Gettysburg/Antietam we'll stay with a friend who lives about 45 mins from the battlefield. But have to hit D.C. and Bush Gardens for the kids.
Oh dear.......
VanZandt92
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Antietam Sharpsburg is my favorite as it is very quiet and scenic, but also because it has family meaning.

I haven't been to Gettysburg since I was a kid, but right now I'm focused on seeing NY and NJ Rev War sites.
AEK
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VanZandt92 said:

Antietam Sharpsburg is my favorite as it is very quiet and scenic, but also because it has family meaning.

I haven't been to Gettysburg since I was a kid, but right now I'm focused on seeing NY and NJ Rev War sites.
I am posting this since I did a tour of French & Indian and Revolutionary War sites last summer and it may help you plan your trip. My trip was based around genealogy and seeing some battlefields where my ancestors fought.

For Revolutionary sites I would highly recommend Washington's Crossing State Park and Valley Forge in the Philly area. I know you said NY and NJ but I'm including it just in case you haven't been. I also did the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall while there. I didn't get to do Brandywine but I plan to try and make it on my next trip.
As for NJ I was able to see Trenton and Princeton. Trenton is all urban now so it is hard to really get a good understanding of things for both the first battle and second battle but the street layout is the same and there are a few monuments and historical markers. There is also a great museum at the old barracks in Trenton. It is privately run but worth the price of admission. There is alaso a trail you can follow to Princeton in your car and the Princeton battlefield still has a little bit left to see. It is a state park and there is no Museum or welcome center as I recall. I didn't get a chance to go to Monmouth But I will try to make it back soon. Also the NJ side of the Delaware has a Washingtons Crosing site as well with a small museum but nothing like the Pa side.
In NY I went to Saratoga, West Point, and Ticonderoga (which was incredible). Ticonderoga is a privately run museum but it was by far the best site we visited. All were awesome and I will definitely go back.

For French & Indian war sites we stopped at Ticonderoga (Obviously) and Crown Point in NY (a state park). We didn't do Fort Stanwix (in Rome) or Fort William Henry (Lake George). Stanwix is an NPS site and William Henry is a private museum (also, not the original fort). I also wanted to go check out "Rogers Slide" but that will have to be the next trip.

Also, this is a little bit further west for you but if in PA I recommend you visit Fort Necessity and Jumonville Glenn as well as Pittsburgh (Fort Pitt). Braddock's grave is right across the National road from Fort Necessity which is pretty cool. Also I went to the Bushy Run Battlefield east of Pittsburgh which was technically Pontiac's Rebellion but I include it in the French & Indian campaigns. Again, all were awesome and the Pittsburgh and Bushy Run sites are State Run.

If you get bored you could also try to get some War of 1812 sites at Fort Montgomery (basically Canada and not used as I recall) and Sacketts Harbor in upstate NY. Random fact, Zebulon Pike is buried in Sacketts Harbor.

Anyways, so much history and so little time. I am hoping to get to Boston myself this summer to see the Revolutionary War sites but it may not happen until next year as I will be moving in July. Happy travels and have fun!
74OA
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For others heading to Gettysburg, if you haven't done so already, read "The Killer Angels" first to get your mind right.........

"The Killer Angels received the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

The Killer Angels has been required reading, at various times, at the US Army Officer Candidate School, The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina, the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, the U.S. Army War College, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the U.S. Army Special Forces Detachment Officer Qualification Course, The Basic School for Marine Officers (TBS) and Saint Joseph's University. It is one of only two novels (the other being Once an Eagle by Anton Myrer) on the U.S. Army's recommended reading list for Officer Professional Development."

CLASSIC
VanZandt92
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Good advice. I am indeed going to try and hit some PA sites and there is a new Museum of the Revolutionary War in Philadelphia.

I saw Fort Necessity by accident about 12 years ago. I was living in a camper on a river while I worked at a hospital up there and just stumbled upon it. I didn't know my French and Indian war at that point but now I do.
Rabid Cougar
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74OA said:

For others heading to Gettysburg, if you haven't done so already, read "The Killer Angels" first to get your mind right.........

"The Killer Angels received the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

The Killer Angels has been required reading, at various times, at the US Army Officer Candidate School, The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina, the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, the U.S. Army War College, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the U.S. Army Special Forces Detachment Officer Qualification Course, The Basic School for Marine Officers (TBS) and Saint Joseph's University. It is one of only two novels (the other being Once an Eagle by Anton Myrer) on the U.S. Army's recommended reading list for Officer Professional Development."

CLASSIC
THIS ^^^^^^^^

And "Landscape Turned Red" by Stephen Sears for Sharpsburg.

I highly recommend to use your iphone and use the Civil War Trust site for reference material and maps. I think all NPS sites have lots of reference materials on their websites now.

The land marks from that time period are very much still in existence at both of those locations for sure. Very easy to orientate yourself.

I am jealous..... one can never get enough of those places.
VanZandt92
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In terms of Sharpsburg, was packing last night and ran across letters from my ggg grandfather who was at Antietam. I don't put my fingers on those letters. He doesn't describe Sharpsburg but there are descriptions of them before the Battle of Oloustee where they hear the canon beforehand.

I also ran across hand written notes from my mother as to where my grandfather was by the hour at Antietam. 645 am the Federals came out of the cornfield and the Georgians opened up on them. They fought then retreated back to Bloody Lane, where the battle was just as fierce. They eventually retreated across the creek to fight another day.
VanZandt92
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In reference to my ggggg grandfather mentioned above, he fought multiple years for the Confederacy with his son George. He was relatively old for a soldier and I theorize that he couldn't see his son go to war alone. What were the words said to one another during the marches and battles? They fought all the way from Maryland down to Florida.
BQ78
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AG
Have you been to Olustee (Ocean Pond), nice little battlefield and a bit like the Battle of El Alamain with the Confederates as British? The yanks didn't have a chance.
Rabid Cougar
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VanZandt92 said:

In terms of Sharpsburg, was packing last night and ran across letters from my ggg grandfather who was at Antietam. I don't put my fingers on those letters. He doesn't describe Sharpsburg but there are descriptions of them before the Battle of Oloustee where they hear the canon beforehand.

I also ran across hand written notes from my mother as to where my grandfather was by the hour at Antietam. 645 am the Federals came out of the cornfield and the Georgians opened up on them. They fought then retreated back to Bloody Lane, where the battle was just as fierce. They eventually retreated across the creek to fight another day.
From his description , he sounds like he was with Lawton's Georgia Brigade on the south end of the Cornfield.
They didn't fair very well.

This is what they saw.

Lawton's Brigade at Sharpsburg
Rabid Cougar
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Rabid Cougar said:

VanZandt92 said:

In terms of Sharpsburg, was packing last night and ran across letters from my ggg grandfather who was at Antietam. I don't put my fingers on those letters. He doesn't describe Sharpsburg but there are descriptions of them before the Battle of Oloustee where they hear the canon beforehand.

I also ran across hand written notes from my mother as to where my grandfather was by the hour at Antietam. 645 am the Federals came out of the cornfield and the Georgians opened up on them. They fought then retreated back to Bloody Lane, where the battle was just as fierce. They eventually retreated across the creek to fight another day.
From his description , he sounds like he was with Lawton's Georgia Brigade on the south end of the Cornfield.
They didn't fair very well.

This is what they saw.

Lawton's Brigade at Sharpsburg
I just wanted to add this place is extremely moving. I had relatives in the Alabama Regiments in the Bloody Lane. To stand there and look and see what they saw and how close everything is in person is overpowering.

I have done living history most of my life, I used to do lots of ACW re-enactments so I have the sights, sounds and experiences (not the obvious ones of course) in my minds eye when I visit these sites.
It gives me chills just seeing the pictures on that website as I visualize the long line of blue line appearing almost as one from that wall of corn with their rifles at right shoulder and bayonets glistening in morning sun.
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