Walking The Ground

07/05/2025

07/03/2025

It was great to see so many of you on a steamy Wednesday afternoon!

Yesterday the Liberty Rifles recreated the 69th New York to full scale, marching miles across the Gettysburg battlefield and culminating with their advance through the Wheatfield. And we had a truly impressive and dedicated crowd along with us!

There are still some great Ranger-led Battle Walks at the park today too if you’re around town.

07/03/2025

Union artillery at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863.

Intersecting fields of fire from the Union batteries created a killing ground that the Confederate infantry of the Pickett-Pettigrew-Trimble attack advanced through with heavy casualties.

07/01/2025

The Charge of the Rough Riders at San Juan Hill.

The attack on Kettle Hill (not San Juan Hill) by the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry (Rough Riders) July 1, 1898, was part of a day-long engagement at Santiago de Cuba by U.S. Fifth Army Corps.

The troops of the Cavalry Division under “Fighting Joe” Wheeler fought dismounted, except for a few field officers who were mounted, including Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt on his horse Little Texas.

American casualties were high - the cost of attacking uphill against blockhouses and entrenchments. Fifth Corps lost 144 killed and 1,024 wounded compared to Spanish losses of 58 killed and 366 wounded.

The hard-won U.S. victory and capture of the high ground enabled the Fifth Corps to invest the Spanish garrison of Santiago in a 14-day siege that led to the surrender of 11,500 troops.



🖼️ Frederic Re*****on, loc.gov LC-DIG-ppmsca-37596.

07/01/2025

Located 50 miles northwest of Baltimore, the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, was the site of the largest battle ever waged during the American Civil War. Fought over the first three days of July in 1863, the Battle was one of the most crucial engagements of the Civil War and was also the inspiration for President Abraham Lincoln's immortal "Gettysburg Address."

Gettysburg National Military Park will commemorate the 162nd Anniversary of the battle with a variety of special programs and events on July 1-3.

Image: Summer storm clouds above the cannon at The Angle.

07/01/2025

FIRST BATTLE OF EL ALAMEIN.

The First Battle of El Alamein commenced 1 July 1942. Today is the 83rd anniversary of the battle.

At 10:00 on 1 July, the 21st Panzer Division of the German Afrikakorps attacked the ridge at Deir el Shein. The 18th Indian Brigade - comprising just three infantry battalions - held onto the position throughout the day, before finally being overrun. Many men of the 2/3rd Gurkhas, 4/11th Sikhs, and 2/5th Essex were killed, wounded, or captured. The brigade's heroic stand gave the withdrawing Eighth Army to reorganize and stand on the Alamein Line.

Among those captured at Deir el Shein was Private Joseph Harper of 2/5th Battalion, The Essex Regiment. He was my great uncle. Uncle Joe would spent the next 14-months in captivity, escaping from a POW camp in Italy September of 1943 and taking to the hills with Italian partisans.

On this 83rd anniversary of the battle, we raise a glass in memory of the men who fought at Deir el Shein - to the ones who came home and to the ones who did not.

🥃🇬🇧🇮🇳

07/01/2025

JOYEUX ANNIVERSAIRE!

Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, born 1 July 1725.

Rochambeau was commander-in-chief of the «Expédition Particulière», the French expeditionary force sent to North America during the Revolutionary War.

07/01/2025

07/01/2025

FIRST DAY OF THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME.

The Battle of the Somme commenced 1 July 1916. The battle raged for 141-days with over 3 million men locked in combat. One of the deadliest battles in history, the British Army sustained 420,000 casualties and the German Army 445,000 casualties.

Today, 108-years later, the Somme battlefield has returned to farmland. Military cemeteries are a mute testament to the men who fought and died in the battle. The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme commemorates the 72,337 British and Dominion troops who died during the battles and have no known grave.

The Somme battlefields are among the most visited of the First World War. The visitors include descendants of the men who fought there, students on field trips, and military personnel participating in staff rides. A 57 mile (92 kilometer) circuit of the battlefield known as the Remembrance Trail links many of the battles’ locations and sees over 200,000 visitors each year.

As the book of Ecclesiastes reminds us, “Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth for evermore.”