Gettysburg;s Mayor, William Troxell, 86, was there as a child to greet returning soldiers at the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg in 1938. At first they kept the old men of blue and gray apart, but by the end of the commemoration the two former foes met each other and shook hands across the stone wall on Cemetery Ridge where Pickett's Charge ended.
Mayor Troxell has a picture of himself at age 11 with a Confederate veteran and wants people to rememeber that while historians like to concentrate on the battle itself, there was a whole other story in its aftermath. Some 20,000 wounded men were in and around the town in the days and months after the battle.. "Houses became hospitals, and the stench of dead men and horses lingered...."
According to Troxell, "The people that lived (in Gettysburg) at that time paid a greater sacrifice for the nation than any other small town has been asked to do."
How Would You Like To Have That Fought in Your Yard. --Old Secesh
No comments:
Post a Comment