[stephen]

As Shaggy would say on Scooby-Doo... "Like WOW, man!" You're related to Captain John Parker? WAY cool.

"...but if they want to have a war, let it begin here!" That one took some major big cajones, considering it was a bunch of armed citizens taking on the best infantry on the planet. Anti-gun censors hate this one, but it's still true... an armed, motivated populace will defeat the mightiest army every time. Ask the Viet Namese, Afghanistan, American Patriots of the Revolution, etc., etc., the list goes on.

Rich, the Gettysburg battlefield was amazing as well preserved, but without tons of study in advance it was hard to take it all in. So much happened over such a large area. Compare that to Cowpens, where a visitor can stand almost anywhere and see the entire field from one end to the other. For a one day visit, it was perfect. From the standpoint of an amateur historian, it was mentally manageable. Besides, I'm a patriotic sorta dude... in the historically accurate sense.

Hey... a nagging problem about the Civil War. Although the north was certainly correct in its purpose and position, did it have the constitutional right to force any state to stay within the union against its will? From the beginning, the colonies were a voluntary union... forcing me to say to myself... "hmmmmm."