What beautiful sculptures

I have driven the Battlefields of Gettysburg over and over again.  There is something very moving about being on this battlefield that takes a hold of a person.  There are over 1,000 monuments to all the different groups of soldiers who fought here situated at the site where they actually fought.  Some of these monuments are spectacular, huge sculptures, like this one for North Carolina:

And, then look at the detail and the intense expression in the faces of these men. 

Another very expressive monument is the one for Maryland.  You see, Maryland was a divided state with some of its men fighting for the North and others fighting for the South.  This monument actually shows two brothers--one a Union soldier and the other a Confederate soldier, each helping the other off the field of battle.

And, there is this statue of John Burns.  This man was 69 years old at the time of the Battle of Gettysburg.  When the fighting started, he came out with his old musket and joined in with the Union soldiers to fight the Confederates.  He receives three wounds before he was willing to leave the field of battle.

Another statue that I find significant is of Elizabeth Thorne. She and her husband, Peter, who was away fighting for the Union, were the caretakers of the civilian cemetary.  After the battle she was expected to bury 102 Confederate soldiers even though she was six months pregnant.  She had asked some friends to come to Gettysburg to help her; but when they arrived, they were so sickened by the smell of death in the area that they had to return home.  She and her elderly father buried all of those soldiers despite her delicate condition.  What stamina and courage this woman of the 19th century had.  This statue is dedicated to her at the entrance to Evergreen Cemetary.