Run, Spot, Run
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Run, Spot, Run
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About "Private Captain"
The two photos above were the starting point for "Private Captain." My husband and youngest son went to a Gettysburg reenactment in 1994 and came home with rolls of film to develop. When the pictures came back, and I looked through them, the dog jumped out at me and I knew there was a story to be told. I just needed to find the human characters to go with the dog! Ben, the main character in "Captain," is really my youngest son, Josh. Although I didn't use the name "Josh," as I did in "Ratzo," it was Josh I was picturing in my head as the action unfolded. Josh -- and this dog!
One of the most important parts of "Captain" is about crossing the bridge in Columbia. It was really the only way for Ben to go west, and he was very worried that something would happen to the bridge before he could cross it. The photos above show the Susquehanna River as it looks today (l to r): the piers that supported the old mile-long covered bridge still stand , now overgrown with bushes and vines, next to one of two bridges that now cross the river between Columbia and Wrightsville; the modern Route 30 bridge spans the water, as seen from the Lancaster County hills; and the ford Ben and Danny used is still visible from the hills above Columbia.
The fire that took out the longest bridge most people in either Lancaster or York counties had ever seen was started close to the Wrightsville side. The plan was to blow up a section to keep the Rebels from moving east, but, when that didn't work, the Home Guard soaked parts of the structure with crude oil and set the bridge ablaze. At first, the fire swept towards Columbia. But then the wind changed, and the fire rushed west towards Wrightsville. The scenes of the bridge burning above show the event (l) as seen at the time, in 1863, and (r) in a modern drawing recreating the event. Confederates helped the Wrightsville citizens put out fires that leaped from the bridge to nearby buildings.
Shown above (l), Josh and I visit the grave of my Uncle Bud, a.k.a. Clarence Herr, who died at the age of 19 in World War Two's Battle of the Bulge in Germany. Uncle Bud is buried in the National Cemetery at Gettysburg; and (r), Josh (who is now 21) in reenactment battle action at Gettysburg (in top photo, he's the forward slain body - he drew red wadding for his rifle, which meant he was chosen to get it!) THINK ABOUT IT: Can you trace your own family back to ancestors who fought in the Civil War? Many Army units had animal mascots during the Civil War. Can you find some of these animals through your own research? Why would a unit want an animal traveling with it? going into battle with it? Gettysburg is called the "turning point" of the Civil War. Why? Can you define the term "high water mark"? Where do you think the "high water mark" of the Civil War was?
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