If you are at all interested in either Pennsylvania or American history, you will surely have heard of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and the historic activities that took place there for the period of the American Civil War. The three day long battle that took place there in July 1863 was cruel and bloody, but was hailed as a victory for the Unionist North.

If you are at all interested in either Pennsylvania or American history, you will surely have heard of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and the historic activities that took place there for the period of the American Civil War. The three day long battle that took place there in July 1863 was cruel and bloody, but was hailed as a victory for the Unionist North.

However, one glance in the Union Army burial ground in the Gettysburg National Cemetery on Cemetery Hill will persuade you that the victory came at a very high price. The cost in human life and human suffering was gigantic on both sides. Later on in the same year, Abraham Lincoln gave a discourse which was to become renowned throughout the world as the Gettysburg Address.

These days, the Gettysburg National Military Park is a tranquil place, but it serves as a moving reminder of the battle that was fought, the strategies employed, the heroism of the combatants and the willingness of military leaders to sacrifice the common soldier for political objectives.

If you go to the Gettysburg National Military Park, you would do well to begin your trip in the visitors' centre. There you will be able to pick up books, pamphlets and leaflets to help you orientate yourself when you are on the battleground, even if you are familiar with how and where the genuine battle was fought.

If you think that it would be too much for you to work things out for yourself or if you do not have a lot of time, you could join one of the frequent guided tours. If you are somewhere in between these two positions, you could first watch a film in the Cycloarma Center, where there are also historical objects recovered from the theatre of war on the numerous excavations that have taken place over the nearly 150 years since the battle at Gettysburg took place. If you do not look around the museum before you go on to the battlefield, you ought to look later.

If you are visiting Gettysburg to enlighten your children about that most important era of American history, you ought to first check out the special interest programmes available to 7-12 year olds in the warmer summer months. One programme allows children to enlist in the army of 1863 for an hour in order to get a sense for what it was like for soldiers of the day and what it was like for the children that helped them go into battle.

Another programme consists of a story-teller recounting stories of what it was like to be a child in the days of the Civil War and the role that children played both in the war and in civilian life back then.

Gettysburg is a fascinating place to visit whether your family was involved in the battle there or not. Many of the combatants' names and place names like Devil's Den and Cemetery Hill will already be known to you and a visit to the Gettysburg National Military Park will bring them back to life for you.