Hiding out in the trees as we drove between the stops outlined on the map was a statue of a guy with a great big beard riding on his horse. We recognized the beard immediately as the one sported by our favorite confederate general, James Longstreet. The battle at Gettysburg didn't end up going so well for the Confederates, and they decided to use General Jim here as the official stool pigeon. How I see it is that Robert E. Lee told him to do a bunch of crazy stuff that Longstreet knew would lead to the needless deaths of loads of rebels, so he tried to postpone the attacks and convince Lee to not go through with them. Since everyone south of the Mason Dixon line all but worship Robert E. Lee, they had to blame someone for his errors, and Longstreet was their guy. Due to the controversy surrounding his reputation, it wasn't until 1998 that a monument was finally erected in his honor at Gettysburg, and it was placed back in the trees so it's not easily seen. The statue is of James Longstreet on his horse, Hero, and it is much smaller than any of the other monuments to Gettysburg Generals. Sara and I, on the other hand consider this our favorite statue on the grounds, mostly because its the only one that's not up high on some gaudy pedestal.
Standing next to the statue it feels almost as though we were actually witnessing him trotting by on the way to lead the rebels to their unnecessary deaths. As soon as we stopped to take pictures, Zoe got to work stacking as many sticks as possible on Hero's hoof.
If I weren't such a wuss I'd grow me a tight-lookin' Civil War beard. Unlike the soldiers of the 1860's I get all whiny when I haven't shaved for a few days and my chinny chin chin gets all itchy. Can you imagine having a great big Merlin beard and wearing those long jackets in the July weather as you ran around getting shot at? Yipes. The internet says that they kept their beards long due to the war-time razor shortage, but I think it was because their wives weren't around to nag the beards off of them. I wonder if there will ever be a time when it will once again become legit to wear a bushy beard, or at least some of those cool Martin Van Buren sideburns. Here in Milwaukee there are a lot of Harley guys that wear big long beards, and it makes me really jealous. Whenever I see these guys I really want to stare at them and fully contemplate their whiskered glory, but I know I should just look away because I don't want them to kill me.
Hiding out in the trees as we drove between the stops outlined on the map was a statue of a guy with a great big beard riding on his horse. We recognized the beard immediately as the one sported by our favorite confederate general, James Longstreet. The battle at Gettysburg didn't end up going so well for the Confederates, and they decided to use General Jim here as the official stool pigeon. How I see it is that Robert E. Lee told him to do a bunch of crazy stuff that Longstreet knew would lead to the needless deaths of loads of rebels, so he tried to postpone the attacks and convince Lee to not go through with them. Since everyone south of the Mason Dixon line all but worship Robert E. Lee, they had to blame someone for his errors, and Longstreet was their guy. Due to the controversy surrounding his reputation, it wasn't until 1998 that a monument was finally erected in his honor at Gettysburg, and it was placed back in the trees so it's not easily seen. The statue is of James Longstreet on his horse, Hero, and it is much smaller than any of the other monuments to Gettysburg Generals. Sara and I, on the other hand consider this our favorite statue on the grounds, mostly because its the only one that's not up high on some gaudy pedestal. 
Standing next to the statue it feels almost as though we were actually witnessing him trotting by on the way to lead the rebels to their unnecessary deaths. As soon as we stopped to take pictures, Zoe got to work stacking as many sticks as possible on Hero's hoof.
If I weren't such a wuss I'd grow me a tight-lookin' Civil War beard. Unlike the soldiers of the 1860's I get all whiny when I haven't shaved for a few days and my chinny chin chin gets all itchy. Can you imagine having a great big Merlin beard and wearing those long jackets in the July weather as you ran around getting shot at? Yipes. The internet says that they kept their beards long due to the war-time razor shortage, but I think it was because their wives weren't around to nag the beards off of them. I wonder if there will ever be a time when it will once again become legit to wear a bushy beard, or at least some of those cool Martin Van Buren sideburns. Here in Milwaukee there are a lot of Harley guys that wear big long beards, and it makes me really jealous. Whenever I see these guys I really want to stare at them and fully contemplate their whiskered glory, but I know I should just look away because I don't want them to kill me.
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