The Gettysburg Story

This program is made possible by:

The Community Foundation of Tampa Bay.

The Gordon & Carol Beittenmiller Family.

The Shaara Foundation, Brett Bozeman,

Chelsea & David Remington, in honor of Gabor Boritt.

And by...

Over three days, across these ridges and fields,

through these woods and creeks,

on this ground,

America will live or die.

Join us, America's greatest battle,

as you have never seen it before.

The Gettysburg Story.

This film was shot on the Gettysburg battlefield

in close cooperation with the National Park Service.

The places you are about to see are the exact ground

where events occurred that changed

the course of American history.

The United States is destroying itself.

Civil War has torn the nation in two.

North fights South, the American dream is withering.

Now, in June 1863,

two massive armies are on the march,

lurching across hills and fields towards each other.

Soon they will collide, in the greatest battle

ever fought in the Western hemisphere.

The American dream will live, or die, by the outcome,

here, at this crossroads town, Gettysburg.

The Civil War began two years earlier.

Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States.

He believes in a free country, where all are created equal.

But slavery divides the nation.

Lincoln knows,

"A house divided against itself cannot stand.

"As a nation of free men, we must live through all time,

"or die by suicide."

Lincoln's anti-slavery beliefs

led to 11 Southern states

leaving the union to form the Confederacy.

War erupted.

Now in June 1863, Lincoln's army is losing the war.

Confederate general Robert E. Lee

wins battle after battle.

Lee moves his men into Pennsylvania.

Lee is confident in his mighty army.

"There never were such men in an army before.

"They will go anywhere and do anything if properly led."

His soldiers believe he is invincible.

Lee wants to destroy the Union army on their own ground.

The Confederates will win the war and their independence.

The end of the United States.

The Union command is in turmoil.

Lee's legend grows,

while Lincoln looks for a general who can beat him.

On June 28th, Union General George Meade

is awakened at 3 AM.

Lincoln has made him commander

of the largest army of the United States.

Exactly three days later Meade will lead the Union Army

into the greatest battle in American history.

Like many union soldiers, Private Isaac Taylor,

is unhappy with his 5th commanding general in 18 months.

"I shall hope for the best, but I don't like the idea of

"changing commanders on the eve of a battle."

Isaac Taylor and his brother Henry,

are members of the 1st Minnesota Regiment.

Isaac writes in diary,

"General Lee's main force is reported

"to be in Maryland and Pennsylvania.

"We shall probably pay our respects

"to him one of these days."

Lee wants a battle before Meade adjusts to his new command.

Lee orders his army to concentrate near Gettysburg.

10 roads intersecting in Gettysburg

make the town crucial for both armies.

Gettysburg's 2,400 people are in a frenzy

as Rebels draw closer.

Rebels take food, livestock and liquor.

The Confederates capture free blacks

to send into slavery in the South.

Terrorized blacks flee the area.

A free black farmer, Abraham Bryan, lives south of town.

Years earlier, his wife had been kidnapped

and taken south into slavery.

Now Bryan flees his property.

This white farmhouse and barn, on Cemetery Ridge.

On the other side of this ridge, in this small brick house,

Jennie Wade helps with her sister's newborn baby.

Jennie misses her sweetheart, Union soldier Jack Skelly.

"I do wish I could see you once more,

"for I have spent many a sad day since I seen you."

Jennie does not know Jack Skelly

has just been wounded by Rebels.

Nor does Jennie know that Jack has given a message for her

to their childhood friend, Rebel soldier Wesley Culp.

Years earlier, Wesley Culp had left

his family in Gettysburg for work in Virginia.

Now he fights for the Confederacy.

On the last day of June,

Union General John Buford's cavalry rides into Gettysburg.

Locals cheer the Union horse soldiers

coming to protect their town from Rebel invaders.

Buford knows Confederates are near.

He knows the fight is close.

That night, on these ridges,

Buford's men sleep on their carbine rifles.

Their country is on the verge of death by suicide.

Confederate soldiers march towards Gettysburg.

On the ridges around Gettysburg,

Union cavalry watch and wait.

A column of Rebel infantry crosses Marsh Creek.

At 7:30 AM, a union soldier rests

a carbine rifle across a fence rail.

Fires.

The first shot of the bloodiest battle

ever fought on American soil.

Gettysburg begins.

The Rebel Third Corps, surprised to find their enemy,

forms into battle lines.

Buford's Union cavalry, quickly outnumbered,

fights to protect Gettysburg's crucial roads.

They desperately need reinforcements.

Buford climbs to view the battle

from this Seminary Cupola.

Union General John Reynolds arrives.

Reynolds yells up to Buford, "What's the matter John?"

Buford replies, "There's the Devil to pay."

John Reynolds is widely considered the best Union General.

His troops consider Reynolds a bachelor.

To be a career soldier, a man who

has dedicated his life to the Army.

His soldiers do not know that Reynolds is secretly engaged.

His fiancée, Kate Hewitt, is Catholic.

Reynolds is Protestant.

Crossing lines of faith for love is unacceptable.

They plan to marry after the war is over.

He rides into battle.

Instead of his West Point ring,

he wears a gold band inscribed

with the words "Dear Kate."

Reynolds races to get his men into position,

"Forward men, forward, for God's sake,

"and drive those fellows out of those woods.

"Forward into line, forward double quick."

A bullet strikes him in the head.

Dead, instantly, before he hits the ground.

The battle has barely begun,

the Union Army has lost its great general.

Kate Hewitt has lost her great love.

Both Union and Confederate armies hurry to Gettysburg.

Union commanding General Meade says,

"I am going right at them and will settle

"this thing one way or the other."

Lee arrives at Gettysburg.

Lee did not plan to fight here,

he is unhappy his army has engaged.

Surprised by a major force in hostile territory.

But General Lee does not avoid a fight.

"If it is the whole federal force,

"we must fight a battle here."

Troops of both armies pour onto the battlefield.

A Pennsylvania regiment heads into battle.

Barking alongside them is their beloved mascot Sally,

a three-year-old brindle bull terrier.

Sally has served with the regiment since she was a puppy,

when the war began, marching into numerous battles.

Now she barks furiously at Rebels.

The vortex of combat grows.

The Rebel Second Corps sweeps down

onto the field from the North,

smashes into the Union line,

forcing the Yankees to retreat.

Chaos.

Union soldiers flee through the town.

Homes and streets turn into a vicious, bloody battlefield.

Civilians hide in their cellars.

The battle rages above them.

The Rebels, yelling wildly, press their advantage.

They want to fully whip the Yankees.

Jennie Wade is at her family's home on the edge of town.

Union soldiers retreat past the house.

Jennie stands in front and gives out water.

Confederates approach.

The little brick house is caught in the crossfire,

with Jennie inside.

The fighting ends on July first,

an overwhelming victory for Lee's army.

Again, they've whipped the Yankees,

crushed their lines, captured 4,000 men,

and sent the rest running, and killed their great general.

The Rebels raise their flag in Gettysburg's town square.

They are on the verge of the victory

Lee wants on northern soil.