Devin and Gamble and Heath

The board game Garby and I played
for hours as kids

So today, 154 years ago, the battle at Gettysburg started. Right about now in fact.

Garby Leon and I used to play the board game when we were kids. It was amazing, took all afternoon at the very least, and made both sets of parents happy that we were out of sight, out of mind, and not into mischief.

The game started with just a few pieces. I remember that the Union

Positions on Day 1, July 1, 1863
150 years ago today

had cavalry  units under the command of Devin and Gamble (worth 1 battle strength each) and that the south had a big piece worth 3 under the command of Heath. The positions were set, we had a time sheet, and the battle was on, hour by hour.

The game was so well thought through that each outpost, regiment, artillery brigade, etc., were introduced to the board at the exact time they actually appeared on the field of battle. You could only move so far; cavalry could move 5 spaces, artillery 2 and the grunts, the big regiments, 1 square at a time.

My great great grandfather was there as an illustrator for a Vermont regiment. What he must have seen. Unimaginable. Horrible.

The map on the right shows the positions toward the end of the first day.  The Union (blue) retreated to the high ground on Cemetery Hill and extended the line to Round Top to the south and Wolf's Hill to the east.

High drama and if this had gone differently, day 1, we would have had a different flag.