148th Anniversary Of The Battle Of Gettysburg Marked At Battlefield
GETTSBURG, NJ (CBS) -- This is Gettysburg Weekend, which marks the 148th anniversary of the epic Civil War battle often called the high water mark of the Confederacy. Even today, there are things to learn about it.
Richard Goedkoop, a communications professor at LaSalle and licensed guide on the Gettysburg Battlefield, says the three-day clash used about 7 million bullets and 60,000 artillery shells. And with 165,000 soldiers (nearly one-third of whom ended up dead, wounded, captured or missing), it was the biggest battle fought in the Americas. Still, there are some wrong turns.
"There have been a number of myths. You do get a lot of people who have written about it. It's the most written-about battle in the history of the world. I think one of them, and I just got this when I was out at Gettysburg, was, 'Was the battle fought over shoes?'"
Goedkoop's answer is no. There were no shoe factories or warehouses in Gettysburg, and the Rebels had been raiding many Northern towns for supplies. He says the battle occurred because both armies were seeking one another and would have met some place, if not that place.
Reported by John Ostapkovich, KYW Newsradio
