Gettysburg Daily

January 9, 2009 10:39 AM

Gettysburg Daily features every day (and I mean every day) large photos and discussion of some minutiae of the Gettysburg battlefield. Topics covered include: Dinosaur footprints on the battlefield, artillery shells lodged in local buildings, battlefield panoramas, witness trees, and rampant development. Whoever does the site recently started an award program: "The Sickles," awarded for the dumbest thing done on the battlefield in the past year. The award is named after General Daniel Sickles. Previous Metafilter discussion of Sickles and his day at Gettysburg.
posted by marxchivist (15 comments total)

These guys have awe-inspiring dedication. Where a normal person would have two photos of a house with a shell embedded in it (one long shot, one closeup), they have seventeen. But if you're a Gettysburg fan, this is obviously a must-read. Nice post!
posted by languagehat at 11:06 AM on January 9, 2009

Great stuff - thanks!
posted by blaneyphoto at 11:09 AM on January 9, 2009

Sure it's cool, but its side-stepping of the question of which side were the dinosaurs on is pretty glaring.

Neat stuff, thank you!
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:14 AM on January 9, 2009

The dinosaurs were on both sides, and they wiped each other out. I don't care which side you're for, that's tragic.
posted by languagehat at 11:21 AM on January 9, 2009 [4 favorites]

There are seven nominations for a Sickle. Seven.

2nding impressive dedication.
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 11:27 AM on January 9, 2009

The dinos were Rebs, and there are photos to prove it.
posted by MrMoonPie at 11:28 AM on January 9, 2009

I should've added a (via), I suppose.
posted by MrMoonPie at 11:29 AM on January 9, 2009

The Union originally planned to use the dinosaurs against the Confederacy, but their plan backfired and they gots eated.
posted by steef at 11:32 AM on January 9, 2009

(Damns you, Johnny MoonPie!)
posted by steef at 11:33 AM on January 9, 2009

It cracks me up how they are so careful to state the time and the location of each shot of the battlefield features (ex. facing southeast at 10:03 AM), then they use that same criteria when showing us a picture of some folks taking the licensed battlefield guide exam.
posted by marxchivist at 11:42 AM on January 9, 2009

The dinosaurs were on both sides, and they wiped each other out.

That is factually incorrect. A lot of dinosaurs survived on the northern side, but when they wanted to go back to New York they were put in ships and sent back to pre-history.
posted by qvantamon at 11:43 AM on January 9, 2009

So very cool. Since Burns' film, I've been fascinated with the Civil War. I thought it would be neat to rent an RV and take a few months to visit various battlefields.

Kudos to these guys for keeping a faithful record of Gettysburg.
posted by willmize at 11:55 AM on January 9, 2009

Great post. Needs the magnificentobsessions tag.
posted by Rumple at 12:03 PM on January 9, 2009

Whoever does the site
Strange they are so anonymous. WHOIS turns up a privatized site registration. One clue: The 4th comment here says: "In addition to being a guide the maintainer of Gettysburg Daily is also a school teacher." The commenter heard a podcast interview with him but lost the link.
posted by beagle at 1:02 PM on January 9, 2009

This is great; thanks marxchivist. I grew up about 35 miles from Gettysburg and have been there often (unfortunately, not lately). I also have read/written much about the Civil War and/or dinosaurs, but never saw them combined in the same subject before. (Typed facing NW, 4:44p.)
posted by LeLiLo at 1:45 PM on January 9, 2009