So, first stop of ours was to get a good cup of coffee. But that didn't happen until three in the afternoon. We headed for Emmitsburg, Maryland, to the shrine of Elizabeth Anne Seton, first American to be canonized. The shrine was beautiful, and the school house she worked in (the first free Catholic school in America) is still there and used as a retreat house. This place is also a site on the Civil War Trail (a series of significant Civil War sites) because Mother Seton's sisters, after her death, nursed thousands of soldiers wounded in a battle in Emmitsburg during the Civil War.
Emmitsburg lies just south of the Mason-Dixon line, which separated the northern states who were trying to abolish slavery from the southern states trying to defend slavery. In this case, Pennsylvania was the northern (yankee) state, and Maryland a southern (confederate) state. A political hotbed to be sure. Ultimately, the Civil war battles moved just north of Emmitsburg across the line into Gettysburg where a three day battle raged. It cost 50,000 lives of soldiers, and was the costliest battle in the Civil War.
The Gettysburg battle was one of the turning points in the Civil War, and the Confederate army had to reconsider it's decision to take the fighting north of the Mason-Dixon.
This was our next stop, just twenty minutes north of the Shrine. The death of so many soldiers who were buried temporarily, or just left lying on the field at Gettysburg induced the Pennsylvania governor at the time to purchase land for the purpose of a proper burial ground for those who gave their lives for the noble cause of freedom for all.
At the dedication of this cemetery, when most of the bodies of soldiers had been exhumed and moved from the Gettysburg battlefield, President Lincoln was asked to say, "a few appropriate words." Here he gave his profound speech, now known as one of the greatest speeches in American history, the Gettysburg Address. Read it here, or listen to it...I recommend the reading by Johnny Cash.
So, we eventually wind our way toward Lancaster, PA the county that is noted for its Amish and Mennonite communities.
Emmitsburg lies just south of the Mason-Dixon line, which separated the northern states who were trying to abolish slavery from the southern states trying to defend slavery. In this case, Pennsylvania was the northern (yankee) state, and Maryland a southern (confederate) state. A political hotbed to be sure. Ultimately, the Civil war battles moved just north of Emmitsburg across the line into Gettysburg where a three day battle raged. It cost 50,000 lives of soldiers, and was the costliest battle in the Civil War.
The Gettysburg battle was one of the turning points in the Civil War, and the Confederate army had to reconsider it's decision to take the fighting north of the Mason-Dixon.
This was our next stop, just twenty minutes north of the Shrine. The death of so many soldiers who were buried temporarily, or just left lying on the field at Gettysburg induced the Pennsylvania governor at the time to purchase land for the purpose of a proper burial ground for those who gave their lives for the noble cause of freedom for all.
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| monument erected where the Gettysburg address was given |
At the dedication of this cemetery, when most of the bodies of soldiers had been exhumed and moved from the Gettysburg battlefield, President Lincoln was asked to say, "a few appropriate words." Here he gave his profound speech, now known as one of the greatest speeches in American history, the Gettysburg Address. Read it here, or listen to it...I recommend the reading by Johnny Cash.
So, we eventually wind our way toward Lancaster, PA the county that is noted for its Amish and Mennonite communities.
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