I taught English language arts for almost 30 years in Erie, Pa, at the middle school level. I also had an interest in the Civil War. Living in Pennsylvania, Gettysburg was my favorite battle to read about, and I visited the battlefield many times. In 2011, I published a book entitled True Heroes of Gettysburg to help my students honor the battle as much as I do. I was able to do book signings in Gettysburg at the bookstore in the Battlefield Visitor Center.

In 2013, I had a challenging homeroom class that met in the morning and at the end of the day. The kids were driving me crazy! By November, I decided that I needed a break, and I took a couple of days off and drove down to Gettysburg. There were a lot of activities going on around the battlefield at the time because it was the 150th anniversary of Lincoln reciting the Gettysburg Address. President Obama was also supposed to make an appearance one of the days.

I had never been to Gettysburg in the fall before. The leaves that were still on the trees made the scenery quite spectacular. It’s a five-hour drive from Erie to the battlefield, and before I check into my hotel, I always take the back road to Little Round Top. There I sat down on a big rock by the statue of General Gouverneur Warren. It is my favorite place to sit and watch the sunset. His statue looks out over the land in front of Little Round Top. I stopped and tried to recreate in my mind just what happened at this place in those three days of 1863. I wondered if I would’ve had the courage to stand and fight like the soldiers guarding the hill had.

My next stop was a little of the left statue to the where there is a castle that honors the 44th New York regiment. Right next to the castle is a big rock that marks where Col. Strong Vincent was shot trying to rally his troops. My second book, Strong Vincent: A Call to Glory, comes out by the summer of 2024. The book follows Vincent’s life and tells how he boldly brought his troops to Little Round Top. I wondered how he found the courage to risk his own life at a crucial moment when the Confederate troops were getting closer and closer to breaking through his defenses. If you look ahead of the rock, you see the scenery that Vincent selected to defend. The boulders are still there. Vincent’s soldiers were outnumbered, yet they still were able to drive the Confederates back.

After looking around the battlefield, I began to think about my own life. How stupid it was to let my students bring me down. Here soldiers struggled to fight off Confederate charges, and I’m sitting in the same place moaning about a few disruptive students. I decided that to make it through the rest of the school year something had to change. That something was my attitude. I was going to go back to school the following week and have a new outlook. My problems seemed so minuscule compared to Strong Vincent’s.

When I went back to the classroom, I kept my promise. I ended up having one of the best school years of my career. I actually began to enjoy the kids that I had problems with before my trip. One of them even told me on the last day of school that I was his favorite homeroom teacher that he ever had.

I remember that trip every time I return to Gettysburg. I recommend visiting the battlefield. It’s a great place to wash away the problems of feeling sorry for yourself.