Some time ago I was in Maryland for a retreat, and we were near Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. I had never been to Gettysburg, that sight of the pivotal battle that turned the tides of the Civil War, so we rode out there one day.

It was altogether too cold, and there was too much snow and ice for us to tour the battle field. But we had the opportunity of visiting the Cyclorama - the giant painting on canvas the high water mark of that awful war. Paul Philippoteaux was the artist. He came to America in 1881 from France to study the battlefield and interview eye witnesses. The scene that he painted took place on July 3, 1863 and it focused on Pickett’s Charge. The fields around the town of Gettysburg had already seen two days of fierce fighting. Now, on the third day, General Robert E. Lee poi…