Gettysburg Remembrance Day - 2017

This past weekend, I had the honor of traveling to Gettysburg, PA for the annual Gettysburg Remembrance Day, an annual Gettysburg Battlefield event for the anniversary of the 1863 Consecration of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg. The original cemetery consecration was the event at which, President Abraham Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg Address.

This was my first trip to Gettysburg and I will definitely be going back again. Whether you had ancestors who fought in the Civil War, as I do, or not, I think you will find Remembrance Day and the surrounding activities very enjoyable and educational.

I attended the event with my fellow brothers of the Massachusetts Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. The key part of the Remembrance Day event is remembrance of the soldiers who gave their lives at Gettysburg to preserve the union and abolish slavery. 

Friday afternoon, we placed both an American flag and a State of Massachusetts flag on the grave of every soldier from Massachusetts buried there. Additionally, we placed an American flag on the graves of the New Hampshire and Maine soldiers as well. 

Saturday morning, Remembrance Day, we gathered at the cemetery for a very solemn ceremony where we placed a sprig of rosemary, the herb of remembrance, on each grave and recited the name of each fallen soldier as an act of remembrance.

On Saturday afternoon, a parade was held through the town of Gettysburg and that night, the cemetery holds an illumination of the graves, where, again, all of the names of the soldiers are read aloud in remembrance.

People travelled from all over the country to attend the events that weekend and I made some new friends of fellow sons of Union Veterans from other states and also some descendants of confederate soldiers who travelled to Gettysburg for the weekend as well. People came to tour the battlefield and learn about the lives of the soldiers who fought there and the battle that changes the tide of the war. I found it to be a very respectful and educational weekend that brought people together in remembrance, peace and solidarity.