Gettysburg, a place where you really feel the full weight of history all around you: the history we've experienced and the very different one we could've had instead; On the 150th anniversary of the battle, the continuing wonder that is MGM's Oscar-nominated 1955 documentary two-reel short, 'Battle of Gettysburg,' narrated by Leslie Nielsen; History Channel's 2011 documentary "Gettysburg" narrated by Sam Rockwell

If you've never been to Gettysburg yourself, much less, like me, visited after spending LOTS of time brushing-up on the various aspects of the 1863 three-day battle that you once knew pretty well, but which has since gotten a bit hazy, it's hard to fully comprehend what took place there. 

Even more so then when as a kid without much knowledge or context, I visited Shiloh around 1967, and actually met someone whose grandfather had fought there.

How so many different aspects of our everyday life -as Americans- we now take for granted that could've been completely different if this battle had turned out differently.

In some ways, the more you actually know in detail about what happened there before visiting, the even harder it is to imagine, since when you are walking around there on a very warm day, all the details just seem like... well, an unbearable weight.

Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg by tour guide Gary Kross

http://youtu.be/OS_eZDl67vs

Little Round Top at Gettysburg by tour guide Gary Kross

http://youtu.be/rDhu75RN3wQ

Five minutes from disaster!

As far as I'm concerned, nobody should ever contemplate running for president of this country who hasn't spent some quality time there absorbing the atmosphere and the might-have-beens.

And talking about it publicly.

It's a genuine eye-opener in ways that you can't really imagine until you actually see it yourself, away from the tours, standing in the middle of an immense field.

The other thing that immediately is noticed by many first-time visitors are the large number of foreign visitors you meet there at the battleground, reminding you all over again -as if you needed reminding- that many other people far from this small Pennsylvania town realize its monumental importance, too.

Gettysburg - Pickett's Charge: The Plan

http://youtu.be/TRZj48Ys25U

Video History Today video: Picketts Charge, Gettysburg, PA

-Gives present-day orientation of what took place and how it looks now.

http://youtu.be/hDkiN7cVvhg

Civil War historian Edwin Bearss - Receding Tide (National Geographic)

http://youtu.be/tEil6U5uCts

Gettysburg National Military Park homepage

http://www.nps.gov/gett/index.htm

See other present day video of Gettysburg and other historical events at

http://www.videohistorytoday.com/

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Repeal1913 YouTube Channel video - MGM's 1955 documentary short: 'Battle of Gettysburg,' narrated by Leslie Nielsen. Filmed entirely on location at Gettysburg National Military Park, Pennsylvania. 
Director: Herman Hoffman, Producer/Screenwriter: Dore Schary, with Music Adapted and Conducted by Adolph Deutsch, Orchestrated by Alexander Courage.

1 of 3. Uploaded August 16, 2008. http://youtu.be/byG8wb1Pwzo

2 of 3. http://youtu.be/-1FKwUIyn4M

3 of 3. http://youtu.be/lkW7822UwaY

AcmeFilmCorporation YouTube Channel video: Gettysburg (2011).
History Channel Civil War documentary depicts the battle thru the eyes of eight men. Uploaded March 20, 2013. Director: Adrian Moat, Narrated by Sam Rockwell.
http://youtu.be/WEZrAmFSCEA