I love books and movies that accurately portray a time and place. When I started to write my split time novel, Georgia’s Folly, I knew I need to put boots on the ground in Gettysburg Pennsylvania. The Battle of Gettysburg is famous for three key reasons. Prior to Gettysburg, Confederate General Robert E,. Lee, never lost a battle. After the defeat at Gettysburg, Lee never won another battle. The battlefield is infamous in the human cost with more than 50,000 deaths in both Union and Confederate soldiers. The terrible losses inspired President Lincoln to deliver the Gettysburg address at the Soldiers National Cemetery.

This red brick building is ground zero for the start of the Battle of Gettysburg. On the night of June30, 1863, General John Buford climbed to the white cupola at the top of the Lutheran Seminary and saw dozens of camp fires of an army of confederate soldiers hiding in the hills. He realized the town was going to be attacked and organized lines of defense for the attack he knew had come to Gettysburg.

Walking on the vast, flat fields in front of the red brick building, it was not hard to image the chaos and carnage as the two armies met at the beginning of the three day battle that changed the course of the Civil War.