We can never forget what they did here

I spent Memorial Day in Gettysburg this year and it was a wonderful experience on several levels. First of all I got to share the day with a friend from college to shares my passion for history and I loved having a travel buddy and having the time to catch up. Also, as a history buff I enjoyed browsing the museum and traipsing around the battle field with a very well informed park ranger.

I also experienced some poignant moments of reflection those that have fallen in battle and on the experience of the Civil War in general. I find that I have rather complex emotions about the Civil War. Of course I am glad that the Union was preserved and that it was the beginning of the end of Slavery, and yet there is something so horrible about brother fighting against brother and the sheer amount of death and destruction that makes even the eventual Union victory feel like a loss of sorts. Perhaps this is more personal to me because my own ancestors fought and died on both sides of the conflict. Thomas Jefferson once said that "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it's natural manure." I very much hope that is not true.