I have a friend that is really interested in civil war history.

A couple things to consider.

You aren't going to get much re-enactment gear that is authentic or close to it there. Those uniforms and accouterments can be expensive. You may be able to find fairly accurate patches and stuff.

As for what to do there. You've gotten a bunch of good advice. Devil's Den, LRT BRT are great. Peach orchard and the wheatfield, while lesser known are pretty neat. The angle and the high water mark are very historically significant. If you have a chance walk Picketts charge. While doing so imagine it being July with the sun beating down on you in all that wool. Then once you've reached the other side check yourself for ticks. Go to the PA monument. It has the names of every PA resident that fought there in a PA regiment.

The national cemetery is very solemn and is also the site where Lincoln gave the Gettysburg address.

Visit the first day battle field, Culps Hill, and seminary ridge. The Jenny Wade house, Sacchs Covered Bridge, and a few other places are great tours.
Every battlefield guide has their own specialty. Some focus on the round tops and devils den. Others on Picketts charge. The all know about the whole battle, but tend to focus a little more on their stronger suits.

You could really spend a week or more there and not see everything it has to offer.

As with most touristy places everything costs money. The military museum, and the cyclorama while in the same building all have their own fees. Jenny Wade house has a fee.
My advice is take a bus tour, then go back and hit some of the places on your own.

If you have more time to kill, the Army Heritage and Education Center (AHEC) is 30 minutes north in Carlisle. Not a big deal but interesting if you need to fill a couple hours. https://ahec.armywarcollege.edu/

Thanks, most of the places that where listed in the Gettysburg battlefield I just went to. But wow, there was so much area that was being fought over that I am tuckered out just by only walking some and driving the rest. It is just so much to take in. But I still can't get over on how much bad attacking terrain the confederates had to fight over with coming very close to actually succeeding.
And I still have one more full day here.

Culp's hill is an often overlooked part of the battlefield. Sounds like you had a good.

John Wesley Culp was a confederate soldier who was killed in the fields near or actually on Culp’s hill. He was born in Gettysburg and move to Virginia in 1858. Culp joined the confederates when the Civil War started. Legend has it but not proven that John Wesley played on Culp’s hill owned by one of his relatives when he was a child. His brother William joined the 87 Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment during the war. I don’t think William was involved with the Gettysburg battle. However, truly a war where brother fought against brother.

I was there a couple years ago, alot bigger than expected. Next time I go, I want to take an aerial map to eliminate alot of deciphering on exactly where I'm at, lol.

It has been many years since I went and I recall it was raining cats and dogs. I was in high school (1973'ish) and my folks and siblings stayed in the car because it was raining but dad drove to a spot I don't exactly remember.... I got out..... pouring rain..... and I walked up a hill and........

the crosses. My goodness all the crosses.
My goodness all those crosses.
It was an emotional moment I still remember well.
What that battle must have "really" been like.

Blessings,
Mark

If anyone else is planning a trip and wants to read about the battle beforehand, Killer Angels is a good book that keeps the information fairly basic so you can follow along.

I was there and Antietam in the summer of 2001. A couple larger scale observations from the two NB parks.

Driving into Gettysburg NB it's obvious that that the two Round Tops hold great tactical advantage to the landscape but it wasn't until late on the 2nd day when both sides figured that out. Yeah, I've read about Gettysburg for almost 50 years so maybe that influences my view compared to men playing things out in real time, but almost all the leading officers involved had gone to military academies yet couldn't have seen that by no later than early on day 2...?

As for Antietam, what blew me away there was the small size of the main field of battle-- we didn't go down to the lower part of the battlefield. The main part is only about a mile square. And yet, both McClellan and Lee chose that location to fight after their maneuvers of the day before. Not a landscape where I'd have nearly 200,000 men fighting.

As for Marty's comment on that Lee shouldn't have kept fighting after Day 1 at Gettysburg, I generally agree but Meade had interior lines and a number of places south in Maryland to fall back on and block the Confederates retreat. Same thing if the Confederates would have taken Cemetery Ridge the end of the 1st day. Meade could have broken off and somewhere in MD blocked Lee's retreat. The whole Gettysburg campaign was a desperate strategic and tactical gamble. Most people who know about the Civil War battles seem to dismiss how close the Army of Northern Virginia came to getting totally whacked with their situation at Antietam at the close of the battle. They were still on the north side of the river in a small area and every corps had been engaged, two of them beat up pretty bad. McClellan still had at least 1 (or was it two) corps that had not been engaged. Grant would have engaged Lee on the morning of a second day and it is unknown if Lee's force could have survived. That wouldn't have meant that the war was over, only that the major Confederate army would have been defeated. Leadership and timing are extremely important to such things...

NonPC, One thing you have to remember is that the first day battle was on the other side of town and they had to fight their way through it to get to the main battlefield. The union was still amassing troops coming in from Harrisburg PA. The confederates were still trying to get north out of Maryland.

There was also that one cavalry general who got to the battle site really late because he chose to ignore the call to come north and wanted to play cat and mouse further south. Alot of historians feel if he would've had his troops there on the first day it would've been a whole different battle.

The round tops were basically ignored by the confederates and stumbled upon by the union. If not for a tactical chance taken by an observant union general the outcome of the battle and probably the war would've been totally different.

There's a little known place at the base of BRT at the parking area. Instead of going up BRT you go to the left. It's a rock outcropping called Devil's Kitchen. It's really neat.

Make sure you go to the fudge shop downtown. That was one my buddy owned.

Went on our Senior class trip there back in 1990. I love to watch anything civil war related on tv, any documentaries. It helped having a cool history teacher as an advisor. Went to the White House and the rest of DC and then the Naval academy. Everything Gettysburg and all the spots mentioned was the highlight for me.

It has been a great experience to say the least, but it was time(both emotionally and physically) to leave. Thank you for all of the comments and suggestions and I hope to go back some day in the future.

I hope ya'll have a wonderful day with your endeavors.

Sincerely,

Samuel

sitting on the patch of boulders below little round top with a cigar. surreal.

The wild landscape in front of the Round Tops was pretty surreal in thinking of men having to fight in linear formations in such areas. But I was more spooked out by standing in Bloody Angle at Antietam and knowing how deep the bodies were at that spot. So quiet now.

elkaholic- Thanks for reminding me about the Devil's Kitchen. My brother was especially interested in the fighting at the base of LRT on the evening of the 2nd day so we spent more time in the Round Tops area than say the First Day fighting. I had forgotten that particular place's name...

https://pcntv.com/gettysburg/

Several videos on this site. Every year on the days of the battle, they do one of these in the order that it happened. The wife knows to not change the channel on the tv those days, lol.

(click on the picture to get the video)

Little Round Top would interest me as I had a ggggrandfather that went up that hill. Same reason I can't drive through Chattanooga without thinking of Missionary Ridge, two ggggrandfathers there, one who would die a few days later from his wounds.

Some might find this a little morbid, but I looked up some actual photographs taken a day or two after the battle that showed some of the dead that hadn’t been removed yet at Devils Den. I then found some of the exact same locations where the soldiers had died. As you walk around and look at everything you have to use your imagination but this made it seem so real.

Be sure to check out the Cyclorama