I have just returned from a trip to central Virginia to visit battlegrounds where my characters fought. These sites where so many were wounded and died; and where history was made are just places. I'm not sure what I expected, but normal places was not it! Spotsylvania is just a valley where it would be easy to move a lot of men and equipment through; Bennet's Place at Appomatox was just a house in a small town; and Rappahanock Bridge is just a river where a pontoon bridge once stood.
Don't get me wrong, to visit these places where my characters faced death was rewarding. I can now picture what they were seeing and was able to stand right where they stood. My descriptions of place and situation will be much easier.
But somehow I thought there would be more to a place that is so important to the history of our nation; a perment glow to the place, patriotic music in the background, voices of those long gone wafting in the air. But these were real places, real men, real circumstances; and real death and destruction.
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