July 21, 2002 Bessie is a Civil War buff. It has always been her dream to visit the battlefields in Gettysburg. Home to the bloodiest battle ever in the western hemisphere, over 51,000 men were killed, wounded, captured, or missing after this three day battle in July of 1863. In the first picture, you can see Bessie as she overlooks the fields where the fighting took place on the first day. Off in the distance is the town of Gettysburg. The battlefield sites remain preserved today just as they looked almost 140 years ago. The second picture shows Bessie in front of the site of the famous Pickett's Charge. This final battle on day three saw 12,000 Confederate troops advance across the open field toward the Federal center. Over 5,000 soldiers were killed in less than one hour here. After this battle Confederate General Lee began pulling his troops back into Virginia. This battle was the turning point of the war and even though it would drag on for two more years, Lee would never again attempt an offensive attack on this magnitude. After touring the battle site for several hours Bessie made her way to the Gettysburg National Cemetery. Picture number three shows Bessie at the site where President Lincoln delivered his most famous speech, the Gettysburg Address in November of 1863 at the dedication of the cemetery. Even though the speech only took two minutes for Lincoln to deliver, it is commonly regarded as a masterpiece of the english language. The final picture shows Bessie on a cannon inside the cemetery. Over 3,500 Union soldiers killed in the battle are buried here.
