''YOU WANNA CUDDLE?''

Little round top....


Like most ''older people'' I tend to wake early in the morning for the 'call of nature', sometimes have coffee, and then go back to bed and sleep until eight or nine in the morning and begin my day for a ''second time''.

We were at a campground outside Gettysburg, Pa. And the day before we had taken the ''tour'' of the battle fields around the small town. We went to the museum and did the ''tourist thing'' like so many of us do when we go ''looking and seeing''. I have always been fascinated by the civil war when this great nation tried to tear its self apart. I have visited many of the battle fields that men fought over and died defending what they though was right and what they were told was ''right'' at the time. I shall not debate who was right and wrong concerning the civil war but I will state that it was a great waste of life and limb and material that could have been put to greater use.


It was cold that morning when I woke. It was still very dark outside and I could not find sleep again so I made a ''to go coffee'' in my travel mug and locked the door behind me. I left a note on the table so Willa would not worry about me and I slipped out of the campground toward the battle ground in Gettysburg. I kinda ''ambled'' along in the truck not really knowing where I was bound but we had driven the lines the day before and I eventually came upon Little Round Top where one of the greatest battles of Gettysburg was fought and literally thousands of men on both sides lost life and limb. I parked the truck and, coffee in hand, made my way to the great monument known as Little Round Top. I sat down in the cold morning fog and sipped coffee and just listened.


It is amazing what you can hear in the morning before the sun comes up. Seemingly hundreds of Gods creatures are up and going to beat the sunrise and get an early start toward the new day. I sat there and listened to the world come awake. The early morning mist hung like a blanket hugging the ground and stacking up in the valley before me. As I sat there listening, closing my eyes so I might better ''see''. I could almost hear the cannon roaring their reproach to the advancing Confederate line of men so willing to give their lives for what they believed was right. My mind placed myself in the situation of one of the Union soldiers as he knelt behind the fence. My teeth tore open a paper bullet to load my 58 caliber rifle. I could almost taste the black powder from the bullet and I saw my fingers fumble with the cap for the ignition system to fire the gun. Thru the fog I could hear the steady tramp tramp tramp of the footfalls of the men as they approached in almost perfect alignment in their battle formations. Row upon row of brave men marching shoulder to shoulder with bayoneted rifles marching in perfect synchronization toward their deaths. The cannons beside me are silent now as they are swabbed with water to cool the barrel before being loaded with canister shot. I can hear the cadence of the gun crew as they load a powder bag and it is rammed home followed by the container of plumb size steel balls that will burst like a shotgun when fired. It is one of the most devastating loads that can be used in a smooth bore bronze cannon. When the enemy is at very close range they would sometimes use ''a double canister of grape shot'' against advancing troops. This was usually fired at less than twenty yards from the enemy and could take out a company of men leaving few survivors. On they came as I sat there with eyes closed and watched in the early morning fog. In my mind I could hear the beat of the drum and feel the roar of the cannon and the volley fire of the men on Little Round Top as they poured death into the advancing ranks. Great gaps were blasted in the advancing line and these were immediately filled by other men eager to be counted among the brave as they advanced upon my position. I sat and watched in my mind as the complete procession appeared before me. I could almost smell the acrid black powder smoke and feel the recoil of the rifle as I fired shot after shot into the great mass of men approaching me. I could hear the rifle fire mixed with the roar of the cannon and the screams of the wounded and dieing in my ranks and in the ranks of the approaching hoard.
''Give 'um the bayonet boys.''......''CHARGE''..
and the battle sounds were pierced by a great ''Rebel Yell'' as a thousand points of steel hurtled toward me.
This was Gettysburg and I was there on Little Round Top.


''Sir, you are not suppose to be in the park this early''......


The statement snapped me back to reality. It was one of the park rangers on patrol in the park. He sat down with me and we chatted for a few minutes. I explained that I could not find sleep and I wanted some personal time here in the park to ''feel the battle''. I explained that I was from North Carolina and about one forth of the casualties at Gettysburg were from the ''Tar Heel State'' and that I had ancestry that had bled and died here a long time ago. He asked if I had heard the cannon roar and kinda grinned at me. Yep, sure did and the musket fire and all the drums and the thump of the footfalls of the advancing line. Yep, I heard it all this morning thru the fog before the sun came up. He smiled and said that he sometimes could hear the same thing in the early morning hours before the clusters of tourists broke the silence of the park. He said he sometimes did what I was doing in the early morning. He would come out and just sit and listen and he swore that sometimes he could hear the cries of the wounded and dieing on the battle field.
We chatted for a few minutes and he told me to stay for as long as I wished. He left as the sun broke thru in the east and I rose and went back to the truck and made my way back to the campground.


''Where the heck have you been'' ????? ''I got up to go ''tinkle'' and you were gone''. ''I finally found your note and figured you were out rambling
again.''..........''You want breakfast now or you wanna go back to bed and cuddle''??????????


Nuff said.....
So it went in a campground outside Gettysburg Pa.


Willa and me....