Harper's Ferry and Gettysburg - Nick

John Brown painting at Harper's Ferry

4/1/17

Yesterday we packed up our camper and started to drive to Pennsylvania. We drove for about an hour and we did math. Then we stopped on the way at Harper’s Ferry. It is an old village from the Civil War times. The main thing that happened there was a guy named John Brown made an attempt to stop slavery but his attack was stopped and he was found guilty of murder in trial. He was later hung. After that we went back to the car and drove for another half hour to our next campsite. After we got the trailer set up Andi and I went and played on the playground for a little while. When we came back to the camper we had dinner. Next we watched a movie called Miracle. We had ice cream while we watched the movie. We didn’t finish the movie.

4/2/17

Yesterday we had an uneventful morning. We slept in late and had cereal for breakfast. Then we went to Gettysburg. Gettysburg is where a major battle happened in the Civil War. Many people thought it was a big turning point in the war. Then we watched a video about the battle of Gettysburg. The battle lasted 3 days. Then we saw a cyclorama. A cyclorama is a painting that goes 360 degrees. The cyclorama was saw was showing the 3^rd day of the battle of Gettysburg. It was painted by a man named Paul Philippoteaux. Then we went and saw the museum for a couple minutes. We didn’t stay at the museum for very long because it was lunch time. They didn’t allow outside food or drink in the café so we ate our lunch in the car. Then we went in an audio tour in our car. My favorite stop was a lookout tower where you could see the whole battlefield. Then we went shopping. We got groceries and I got a football. Then we went home and had dinner.

Part of the cyclorama

4/3/17

Yesterday we had cereal for breakfast. Then we went back to Gettysburg. Andi and I did our junior ranger thing. We got the highest score so we got a patch. Some of the questions were in the video we watched. The video was about all three days of the Battle of Gettysburg. My favorite was the 3^rd day when the Union army took the shape of a large fishhook on the high ground. The Confederates had way more men but the Union army had better ground. The Union army won the battle. We also saw the cyclorama again. Then we went back to the museum. Andi and I had some questions to answer in our junior ranger book. We had to answer some questions about the formations of the armies and stuff like that. We also had to answer some questions about different commanders. Then we turned in our junior ranger books and got a patch. We also had to take an oath. Then we came home. I played catch with a football with my dad. We had hamburgers for dinner. Then we read a book for a little while and went to bed.

Today we had cereal for breakfast. Then we did some math. Next we went to Gettysburg again. The first thing we did was go to Dwight Eisenhower’s old house. He was the thirty-fourth president. His house was on a 198 acre farm. He had 500 chickens! The first room we went to in his house was the dining room. There was a fireplace, a really nice coffee table, an antique rug, some pianos, and couches. My favorite thing in the living room was a circular couch that went 360 degrees. It was a model of a piece of furniture in the White House. We also saw the sun room where Mr. and Mrs. Eisenhower would eat dinner. There were 8 bedrooms in the house. We also got a junior ranger badge at the house. Then we went back to the Gettysburg battlefield. We started to do the auto tour but Andi and I both did not feel good so we went home. We had pizza for dinner and then had a camp fire. Andi and I each had two smores and I made one for my mom.

One of the Wisconsin Monuments
at Gettysburg

4/5/17

Yesterday we went back to Gettysburg again. First we finished the driving tour. We saw lots of monuments. We hiked up Big Round Top. That is a hill where the Union forces set up a defensive line. It was a long hike. There were lots of monuments on the way. Some of the monuments were Wisconsin monuments. Then we went to Little Round Top. That hill is where a general from the Union called Sickles was supposed to be guarding but he moved his troops to Devil’s Den because he thought it would be easier to defend. The Union got troops back to Little Round Top just in time. Next we went to Devil’s Den. That is where General Sickles moved his troops to. It was really just a big rock pile. Then we saw the Pennsylvania monument. It had the names of all the Pennsylvania soldiers. Andi noticed that it looked like R2-D2. We looked it up on google and she was the first one to realize that. This had nothing to do with anything else, but my favorite Union general was General Meade because he looked like a snapping turtle. Next we went home and had a campfire.

4/6/17

Yesterday we went back to Gettysburg for the 5^th time. The first thing we saw was the David Wills house. That is where Lincoln stayed before he gave his speech, the Gettysburg Address. It started like this: “Four score and seven years ago…” and ended like this “and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” It was a 2 minute speech and it was ten sentences long. We actually got to see the room and all the original furniture Lincoln slept in. then we went and saw the film and the cyclorama for the third time. Then we went back home. I played football with my Dad. Then we had fish sticks for dinner. Then we got our brand new telescope out. It took us about an hour to set up. When we finally got it set up it was kind of cloudy but we could see the moon. It was so cool. You could see all the mountains and craters. We tried to keep looking at it for a while but it got too cloudy. Then Dad and I got his night vision goggles out that they use in the Marines. They were really cool. You could see infrared light reflecting of the rear lights of the car that you couldn’t see with just your eye. Then I came in and read my book till I went to bed.