October 7, 2009 journal, a day at Gettysburg should tell us never to start a war with the 360 feet cyclorama recreated one of the most awful battlefields imaginable from the battle at Gettysburg where the Confederate troops almost defeated the Union troops as 1000's died. It is high ground where 5 roads came together just about 100 miles North West of Washington. Most of the history given or recited seem to be accurate, a few exceptions. This is a federal facility and filled to capacity with tourist not just in the summertime. . It takes a day to begin seeing it all. Because my home state was so well represented and because I have recently painted the State of South Carolina which included much of the same history of the Civil War, it was certainly interesting to me. Its my first time to visit Gettysburg, Pa. To experience the omni painting with its 3-D affect or its dimensional illusion is almost out of this world. It appears you are seeing 20 miles of the battlefield. The lighting effects and sound is perfectly timed to appear to be explosions from cannon balls. Souvenirs are everywhere in town and in the souvenir shops on the battleground. We should know & remember that 620,000 soldiers died in this foolish war for nothing. The Emancipation Proclamation was not signed until 2 years after the war had begun and then only included the states that had seceded from the union. Had it not been for the 40 percent tax on sourthern cotton exports the war most likely would have never happened. Irish immigrants by the thousands were forced into the army on the day they arrived at Ellis Island never knowing what they were fighting about. Some of the battlefields were so thick with dead bodies you could walk across 20 a. without stepping on the ground.