Battlefield Thoughts

This weekend I was able to walk across some of the fields and hills surrounding Gettysburg, PA. It was upon these fields that over one hundred thousand Americans met in battle and over fifty thousand lost their lives. It was overlooking these fields a few days after the battle that Abraham Lincoln gave one of the well known speeches in American history. Yet, it was my first time to walk upon that land and it truly was a humbling experience.
Out of all that I saw, there was one scene which still lingers in my mind. The current landscape which I saw in early fall is filled in with imagination of what it looked like in the heat of July in 1863. I stood upon the intersection of rocks known now as "The Angle." As I look west from my perch upon this slight rigde, I can see the vast plain laid before me with a line of trees a mile away. On that last fateful day of the Battle of Gettysburg, it was from those trees that the final Confederate charge was led across the open field. With naught but occasional rail fences for cover, 12,000 men traversed that mile under a steady rain of cannon and rifle fire. In the end, only a small handful of men made to the line of Union defenses and scaled the small wall at the point at which I stood. There, after so much effort, they fought hand to hand in an attempt to seize control of some ground. But it was for naught as they were defeated along with all who made that charge.
Such bitter moments of bloodshed proved to be a turning point in the war. And as I stood upon that geographical spot of earth, I pictured the scene. Thousands of men walking and running towards an almost impossible goal, sacrificing their life in the face of fire from fellow countrymen. We remember the words of Lincoln, but we forget the eyes of the soldier. What motivation and circumstances brought the country to that point in history? Stubborn men convinced of the necessity of their belief extinquised the lives of thousands and wrote the darkest chapter of this country's short history.
As I stood upon that battlefield, I could not help but be torn by the thought of history and the questions it brings. What is courage? What cause is worth sacrifice? What motives and arguments fuel the fire of hatred? What is the cost of freedom? Whose freedom is most important? Does victory of arms validate an ideal? Where is legacy created?
It is ironic that Lincoln stated that few would remember his words while the actions of these men would live in memories. Instead, history has glorified his speech and reduced the lives of men to a battlefield diagram and description. History only has space for a few, but death captures everyone. It was a humbling experience to see the ground where so many individuals spent their last breaths and passed into the beyond. My short time of living will eventually matter very little. The eternity beyond death is the only place where true value can ever be realized. How will that impact my life today?