The Fog

I found myself standing on Little Round Top the other morning at 6am. It was a very foggy morning and I wasn't sure what I would see from up there, but I figured that it was worth the effort to get there. As it turns out, the fog was very dense on the ground, but there was no fog in the higher elevations. This proved to be an extraordinary trip due to this.

I stood above the fog looking down on the Wheatfield Road, which was not visible from where I was. The fog had completely engulfed the wooded field to the right of the road....except for the few trees that were tall enough to peek out from the very tip of the fog. It was an interesting way of seeing the trees.

I was able to see the Codori barn (which is a good mile away) but was unable to see the Pennsylvania Monument which is closer. Fog leaves us with an interesting perspective of the battlefield. I've seen the fog in patches, over creeks and runs, rolling over the fields, and just plain covering everything. Each time I go out in the fog and look around the battlefield, I notice new things that I had never discovered before. It may be just how a tree looks or where a creek lies, but I notice something new every time. This was no exception.

I had no idea how the ground rose and sunk as you look out over it. I've been on Little Round Top a million times but I had never noticed just how the ground undulates. The fog brought this out. As I looked over the Valley of Death, I saw the fog laying very thickly in the area of Plum Run but as it got closer to Devil's Den, it thinned out and you could see the rising of the ground. Looking out over the fields of Pickett's Charge, I noticed the same thing, but I also noticed that that ground was so much higher than the ground in front of me.

Sometimes we need to see things from a different perspective in order to understand what we are really seeing. The fog has a way of bringing out the minor things that we don't normally notice. This can sometimes play a significant role in how we interpret what took place. Its not just Gettysburg (although I am most familiar with the battlefield) but any of the battlefields. We can look and look and never see what is right in front of our eyes. Then something happens (like fog) to cause us to see things differently and suddenly everything makes sense. This was what was happening to me that morning a few days ago.