Tomorrow, Americans will celebrate our Independence Day:
It’s today, July 3rd however, when Americans should commemorate the event that upheld our country’s union. This event may have literally prevented the United States from being split into two, separate countries. And it came with a horrific toll.
On July 3rd, 1863; the third and final, bloody
day; the Battle of Gettysburg ended. Of
all the Americans who have died in all the wars our country has ever fought,
almost half - 620,000 - died in the Civil War.
Of all the Civil War battles, the one battle with the highest number of casualties
was Gettysburg – 51,000 Americans.
There are many stories related to Gettysburg. Here’s one from Harry Beckwith:
The battlefield was not a testament to heroism. It was an ugly health hazard - a field of
corpses that deeply concerned Pennsylvania's governor.
Nor was that corpse-strewn field a monument to greatness. The North's general, Meade, had so bungled
the battle, leaving Lee to regroup, that he submitted his resignation to
President Lincoln. But Meade's opponent,
Lee, had done no better, marching blindly into slaughter - a blunder so great
that he submitted his resignation, too.
The battlefield was Gettysburg...
I believe every American should visit the Gettysburg National Military Park and pay tribute those courageous Americans that preserved our union. Do we have the courage to continue it?
One man with courage makes a majority.
Andrew Jackson
Thankfully, the Union, and the succinct commemoration by one of our greatest leaders (who also gave his life for his country) prevailed. Abraham Lincoln spoke to unite all Americans, North and South:
Four score and seven years ago
our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in
Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great
civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so
dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We
have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for
those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether
fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
July 4th, as well as July 3rd, are days for us to remember; to honor; and to celebrate a united, United States of America.
May God bless you; and may God bless America!
GAP
When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could
leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.
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