"Nice day for a White Wedding", part one.

Weddings are one of life's most happy occasions.
The Queen and I were privileged to attend our lovely niece Jessica's big day this weekend past.
This is just the first of many pictures that I will post of the wedding and the family reunion.
It was the first time in seven years that all five siblings and their father were together.



The Queen all dolled up and looking 'Mahvelous'




















The Queen and her niece Mistress Wazoo.












Young 'Laura' and her daddy the Perfesser.















Three fourths of the lovely Wazoo family, the youngest was busy as always looking for new adventures.


















The two young sisters loving on each other.























The partiarch of the clan being fussed over by his lovely ladies.







The Queen sharing a tender moment with her Daddy.
















Remember your own wedding in this same church, Bro?








The Don and his favorite two Capos. You want we should Whack someone, Boss?






Ken Senior and Junior.
And nephew Don Jr.
Ken Junior is now fifty. Welcome to the club, Bro!










Proud Papa (My nephew!) and his darling little girl.

Time flies, it won't be long until you guide her down the aisle to meet her young man.











Are we bored now, or just worn out?













Ladies and gentlemen, the happy couple!

















Little sister helps 'decorate' the car.





We are soooo out of here folks!














Mom and Dad shrare a tender moment of their own, "Remember?"

Summer reading list for the young.

For the pre-teens and teenagers who are today mourning the last installment of the series about the young English lad with the lightning bolt on his head (No, I'm not speaking of any of the Punk Rockers from the eighties) here are some suggestions.

I feel they are needed, because I read a quote in our local daily rag from a youngster that wailed "What are we going to read now?"

In the fantasy genre', George MacDonald if you can find any of his works still in print.
He was an inspiration for C.S. Lewis, and others.
Mr. Lewis himself, for everything from fantasy to Sci-Fi to theology and biblical criticism and commentary.
His contemporary and friend J.R.R. Tolkien is suitable for older more advanced readers.

Edgar Rice Burroughs, better known for creating Tarzan of the Apes also wrote a wonderful Sci-Fi series about Mars.

Both the Star Trek and Star Wars concepts have literally hundreds of different easy read books by a variety of authors.
A lot of them are thrown together trash, but many of them by well known Sci-Fi writers like Ursula LeGuin are quite good. The earlier books from the seventies and eighties are more likely to be good reads.

Isaac Asimov is my favorite in the genre', Arthur C. Clarke and Ray Bradbury are also very good.

H.G. Wells penned the "War of the Worlds" and other great Sci-Fi.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyles many stories of the most famous detective of them all, Sherlock Holmes will fill many a summers day in a wonderful fashion.

Mr. Charles Dickens is in my opinion the most fabulous English writer of them all.
His stories are timeless, and are especially suited for the young as most of his heros and heroines are youngsters at the start of his novels.

Jane Austin, the Brontes', and many many other fine English authors will keep you busy for years.
Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women" and her other works should be required reading.

And don't forget the Bard of Avon, old Wil Shakespeare himself!

Great American authors and series abound as well.
The Nancy Drew mysteries, and the Hardy Boys are still wonderul reads for kids.
Young children should read all of Theodore Giesel's Dr. Suess stories, but they are not challenging enough for those over six or seven years old.

Mark Twain aka Samuel Clemmons should still be read by every American School boy and girl.
"Tom Sawyer" and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" are his most famous, but my favorites are "An American Yankee in King Arthurs Court" and "Innocents Abroad"

For that matter don't forget the legends like King Arthur.

English author Jack Whyte has just finished a fantastic revisitation of the Arthurian legends, beginning with "The Sky Stone". I believe there are 10 books or so in the series.

Older kids can't miss with P.G. Wodehouse's stories, particularly the Jeeves and Wooster series. I consider him an American, since he moved to New York as a young man and chose to live here for the rest of his days.

Another great American humorist that can't be missed is James Thurber.

Older and more sophisticated teens should read Ernest Hemingway, and possibly Ian Fleming's James Bond Stories. They should be fine for teens over the age of 15 or so.
Even with over forty years of Bond films, most people have never read the original thirteen novels and short story collections.
He was a very talented highly crafted writer, and his stories bear little resemblance to the movie scripts after "Dr. No" and "From Russia with Love".

Also in the detective/spy genre for very advanced readers, Dashiel Hammet's "Thin Man" and other famous works like the "Maltese Falcon" and all of John LeCarres's gritty Cold War stories like "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold" not only give you a good read, but they can also paint a picture of the cold war years.

Two of my long time favorites are Robert Ludlum's Bourne Series (Matt Damon has the third installment out in movie form next month, but the novels are far superior) and his other novels.
Jack Higgins is another prolific thriller/mystery writer with dozens of titles to his credit.

My dad always liked Westerns, and his favorites were Max Brand, Zane Gray and Louie Lamour.

I didn't care much for either Brand or Gray, but Lamour was a very talented writer who had many of his novels made into movies.
"Hondo" with John Wayne was the most famous.

So you see, dear young'uns you will never, ever run out of "Something to read".

Indeed, if you are like old App Daddy there will be stacks of unread books just waiting to be picked up!

At least Dame Rowling got the kids to start reading again, I'll give her that!

Mayberry revisited, and other summer stuff.

Most of us from the sixties Geezer generation grew up watching "The Andy Griffith Show"


Ron Howard (Opie) and I are only a few months apart in age.

True diehard Mayberry denizons know that Mayberry in reality is Mt Airy NC, the small town where Andy grew up.

The fictional town of Mount Pilot, where Barney took Thelma Lou for Chinese food is actually Pilot Mountain, another small town 20 miles further on NC Hwy 52.
The town is named after the unusual looking peak, which as also a State Park.

The Queen and I needed to 'get out of town' last weekend, our soldier had Reserve Duty and was away for the weekend.

So we drove up to Mt Airy for the weekend.
I drive past Mt Airy many times on business, but since the I74 extension opened a few years ago, I had not been in the actual town for decades.

We had dinner in old downtown at the Pandowdy restaurant, named after their signature Apple dessert. It was definately a local hangout, and as it still is in most small towns in America the prices were amazingly affordable.
We paid just over $30.00 for dinner, a comparable meal here in Raleigh would run over $45.00 for the two of us.

After we ate we strolled the streets of 'Mayberry'.
The town merchants fully capitalize on it's ties to the T.V. show.
There is a Floyd's barbershop, an Opie's Candy Store, BlueBird diner, etc.
The 'Snappy Lunch' diner made famous by Andy's mention on the show is still in operation.
Ironically it was mentioned in our local paper last Friday.
The joint is well known for it's Pork Chop sandwich, (real healthy, I know!) cooked on a streetside grill behind a plate glass window.
The elderly fellow that had been doing the cooking for several decades finally had to retire last week.

We listened to an open air concert for awhile, the group played top forty hits from the sixties, right up our alley.
As we strolled back to our car, we witnessed what appeared to be an extremely drunk (he had a snootful, as Barney would have said) man literally hanging on the lamp post, with a Mason Jar of 'shine' in his hand.
He was yelling at the top of his lungs "Yeehaah", and waving at what little traffic passed by.
The fact that he was dressed in a manner very similar to Otis Howard, the lovable drunk on the show who locked himself up every Saturday night should have aroused my suspicions.
"We town drunks have our standards, Andy!"
The next morning Queen Felicia asked a local merchant about him.
"Oh, that undoubtedly was Hillbilly Jim, he owns the gift store across the street. Sometimes he also dresses up like the Hillbilly from the old Mountain Dew commercials"
She could tell that the woman was less than amused by Jim's antics, but we thought it was a hoot.

Soon after an exact replica of the Black and White squad car from the series drove by, driven by a close facsimile of Goober. Tour rides in the car can be purchased for a modest price.


There is a replica of the Jail and sheriffs office in a gift store where photo's can be taken, and other memorabilia scattered throughout the town.

Did Mayberry ever really exist? The small towns where my parents grew up were not that far removed from the atmosphere depicted in the show. My dad was raised in a similar community less than 150 miles away, as was my mother.
It was truly a simpler time in which to grow up.
That is why the show is still popular in syndication over forty years later.


Queen Felicia points at the famous "Black and White" from the show.





Notice that she is also wearing black and white, always fashion conscious and dressed for the occasion!

Saturday we drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway to our favorite Winery, where we dined outside on the patio overlooking the Mountains Al Fresco. (Just exactly who is this Al Fresco, and why should we care?)

Afterwards we went outside for a Jazz and Zydeco concert with the gorgeous mountains for a back drop.



The weather was uncommonly mild for July, and we had a wonderful time.

We drove into Pilot Mountain on Sunday morning, hoping to find a cafe or coffee shop open where we could get a good coffee and a pastry for breakfast.
The town is much smaller and less developed than Mt Airy, but we found one shop just opening up, "LivinLattes"

The owner, who looked like one of the surfer dudes that I knew growing up in S Florida sat down and talked to us for a spell.
We discovered that he is a pastor, who uses both of his businesses for outreach, and he and his wife were expecting their seventh child any day now.
He was a very interesting guy, with unusual ideas for reaching and influencing his town and raising his children.
Needless to say he did not have a lot of support from the local church.
The same timeless message, but with new (actually very old) methods sometimes threaten and alienate folks.

Western North Carolina, due to it's natural beauty attracts a lot of artistic people.
That we knew.
We were not fully aware though that it also attacts a lot of occultists and Druidic sorts as well, for many of the same reasons.
He mentioned the resistance he was feeling from many that follow that lifestyle in the area.

They walk into his cafe expecting a typical Bohemian somewhat left wing coffee shop, and are very surprised and then put off by the actual atmosphere and messege that is made obvious.
The shop right across the street from his was a so called 'New Age' shop.
The area also is polluted with drug traffic, due to the fact that it is still mostly rural and undeveloped, hence hard to patrol.

We were all three amazed at yet another 'chance encounter' on the road less travelled that sometimes brings people of like mind together for much needed personal renewal and refreshment.
Jonathan changed his sermon topic for that mornings service in the cafe to reflect that very point.
livinlattes.com is their web site, if you care to visit.

Last of all, we actually drove up to the Pilot Mt park, something that I had never done in the literally dozens of times that I had driven past it.

It is a beautiful place, as you can see from the pictures.

There is always a remnant of God's people out there, and you don't always meet them in Church.
Rock on and continue to keep the Faith, fellow Pilgrims!





The Queen drinking her Livin Latte, and taking in the wonderful vistas.

Summer in the South.

We who are native Southerners, which is state of mind as much as it is a place of birth, are well familiar with the concept of global warming.

In South Florida where I grew up it typically started by mid-April, and in most years would extend well into October.

The technical term we used then was "Summertime" however.


I well remember one occasion where my mother took a thermometer out into our back yard in direct sunlight in August to see whether the temperature that the Chamber of Commerce proclaimed was indeed 89. Shortly thereafter the thermometer shattered from the heat!
So much for that particular misinformation!

We didn't have air conditioning until I was a Senior in High School, and then it was only a couple of rather ineffective window units placed in the louvered glass windows that were common in our Cinder Block homes of that era.

But they were a far sight better than the old metal fans we had for 'cooling' prior to that.
All they were good for was that we kids could yell into them from behind and listen to the bizarre things they would do to our squeeky little voices.
Hey, Nintendo hadn't been invented yet, we had to amuse ourselves!

No one could really get a good nights sleep then, you were soaked all night long.
It never really cools off in Florida in the summer like it does here in the Carolinas.
Your sweat when you sleep, when you arise, and soon after you towel off from your morning shower your start the entire process over.

Lovely memories, those!
No wonder our mothers, most of whom were stay at home back then, were short tempered and lacking in patience with we heathen kids.
I don't remember a June Cleaver among them.
At least my mom never wore a cocktail dress and pearls when she did her daily chores.

But we had many ways to entertain ourselves and beat the summer doldrums.

The corner drug store was only a couple of blocks away, and was owned and operated by a wonderful French Canadian man by the name of Rene'. He even delivered prescriptions to those in the neighborhood who could not get out to pick them up.

It was a wonderful place to hang out, and Rene seemed to enjoy having us around.
He knew all of us by name, and he knew our parents if we did get out of line.
Candies galore, Mary Janes, Sweet Tarts (the giant ones that one could make last an entire day), Sugar Daddies, and a host of other wonderful tooth rotting specials were available for a nickle or a dime.

We all knew when our favorite comics were due each month.
When I was in grade school they were only a dime, and when they increased the price to 12 cents we all screamed. But we still bought them by the skein.
The Batman, Superman, the Archie Series, and later on Spiderman and the Fantastic Four were favorities.
It's hard to imagine now, but WWII was only 15 to 20 years removed during our childhood.
Desert Storm is 16 years in the past from us now!
My male buddies and I liked the War comics of the era.
Sargeant Rock and Easy Company was our favorite.
I just recently realized that series was based on the Easy Company of the 506th P.I.R./101st Airborne that is depicted in "Band of Brothers"
We didn't know we were getting some history thrown in with our cheap amusement!

The Coke machine kept the drinks ice cold, unlike today, and in bottles.
In my opinion they never taste as good in either cans or the plastic bottles of today.
We saved the bottles until we could redeem them to buy, surprise!
More Coke and candy! What a country!
Diet Coke? You've got to be joking! The way we all sweat (OK, perspired for you faint at heart) we never worried about too much weight.
And we had a diversion for amusement that is totally unfamiliar to most kids today.
It was called "Playing Outside".
A mysterious concept to be sure.
First one opened the break in the wall most houses still have.
It's called a "Door".
Then one went through the door into "The Outdoor World".
And we actually played baseball, football and basketball, on real fields, and on real asphalt courts. I would leave home right after breakfast for the local elementary school field, come home for lunch, and then stay out playing ball until supper time.
And quite often after supper we were out in the street playing touch football until it was too dark to see the ball.
Our thumbs may have not been particularly well developed, but we for the most part had no problem in keeping ourselves from porking out.
Sometimes we just ran, for the sake of running, and when not running we rode "bikes"
Not the ones most folks have in their homes now, when they don't have clothes hanging on them they are "ridden", but the rider never gets out of their room.

No, these bikes actually moved from place to place, and we had to deal with flat tires, scraped knees, dogs nipping at our heels, etc.
And also the occasional bully, when we strayed into the wrong block.
Speaking of bullies, and looking back now I realize some of them were actually thugs.
Our parents didn't always bail us out when we encountered them.
And I don't ever remember anyone being led out of elementary or Junior High in handcuffs for fighting, either.
We were expected to learn to take care of ourselves in normal circumstances.
And our teachers, including the principal and coaching staff had a unique solution of their own for dealing with bullies and those that started fights.
It was called a "paddle", and they administered it effectively.
The reaction to a paddling when your little darling received one from the parent of that day was to determine whether it was warranted and fairly delivered.
If so, the next event in the sequence was commonly another paddling (or 'beatin, as Bill Cosby calls it) at home!

The fear of one kept most of us out of trouble.
I never got one in school, and neither did any of my chums.
And none of us have ever spent a night in jail, either.

All of the parents in our world conspired against us.
If they saw one of us doing something we shouldn't, our mom's knew about it before we even got home.
They dealt with it themselves normally.
The most serious offenses got you the dreaded "Wait until your dad gets home!"
That was akin to being told that Christmas had been cancelled, at least for you.


Mr Lizard, one of the many sneaky reptiles and other creatures that allow us to live here on their lot.














But, I digress. It was hot! And it's hot here today, the air temp will reach 99 or so.
And I have my A/C going as I write this.

But we played outside anyhow.
My own dear mother, when she had enough of us on any given summers day
(normally by 9:00am she had reached that point)
would shoo us outside, and then lock the door on us!
"Find something to do! If you are bleeding or need to use the bathroom let me know.
Otherwise stay outside and play!"
When we got older and complained about boredom she would put us to work.

Queen Felicia tells me that her punishment from Nana for admitting boredom on a summer's day was to be put to task ironing.
She hates ironing to this day, and avoids it like a tax audit.
"I'm doing it, but I ain't liking it!"

Me, there was always something to do around the yard in Florida.
By the time I finished mowing the front and started on the back, the front had already grown back.
And now I do the yard work for exercise and to maintain my sanity (What is left of it)
Go figure!

Simply put, it is supposed to get hot this time of year, especially south of the Mason Dixon line.
Go out and enjoy The Creators world anyway, and then come back into the cool and have a cold drink.
Watch less T.V. (unless it's baseball of course), listen to your favorite music, walk, sit on your deck and porch, and get yourselves a grill if you don't have one.
There is something primal and grounding about cooking over charcoal (my apologies to Hank Hill, but propane does not give food the proper flavor).
If you're lucky enough to have friends and family in the area, hang out together and enjoy life.

Teach your kids to play ball, and take those confounded computers and video games away from them!
They do retard their social skills, their imagination, and they also make them fat little couch piggies!

If you have musuems in your area, take them!
They are air conditioned, and they might even learn something accidentally.


The Queen during a recent visit to the Mariner's museam in Newport News VA., talking to her sister K on the phone.
She didn't know I was lurking underneath the exact replica of the U.S.S. Monitor playing Candid Camera.


Give them a book to read.
(please, no more Harry Potter! How about Mark Twain, C.S. Lewis, H.G Wells, Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, etc)
In short, let them play and develop their own imaginations.
I know that we can't simply let them go off on their own, as we could those forty some odd years ago.
It isn't safe, there are too many perverts and evil folks lurking about.
That is a reality, and a great sadness to me.
But there are far worse investments in your future than sitting there in your favorite lawn chair under a shade tree with a cold drink and a good book while you watch your kids play.

We could all do more of that.

Happy Summer everyone!

"We hold these truths to be self evident....."

All Americans should be familiar with these words, and those that follow.





They were written by a 33 year old Virginian by the name of Thomas Jefferson.
The son of a surveyor who was responsible for many of the earliest explorations and survey of Western Virginia, then the edge of the wilderness of the American Colonies, he was a young unknown among giants.
Benjamin Franklin, John and Sam Adams, George Washington, John Hancock et. al. were some of the most gifted and impressive people our nation has ever produced.
How was young Tom from Shadwell chosen to pen the most important document in American History?
Franklin said (and I paraphrase) "You write better than I do."
All of the founders had input into the writing of The Declaration of Independence, but on the whole it was Jefferson's words.
For a full understanding of the entire process, read the draft in "Jefferson" writings.
All of his changes and exclusions are noted, and the list of grievences that are normally left out of most modern public printings are there. (The Preamble is the familiar portion, Specific Charges Against the King is normally not printed.)
After all, it was built up frustrations with The Crown that prompted the document and the resulting war of independence.
The Declaration and the Constitution laid the framework for our "Experiment In Democracy".
Slavery, Women's Suffrage and many other issues are still being dealt with.
Four times in his career Jefferson put forth the notion to abolish slavery, while a young legislator, here during the draft of the Declaration, while Governor of Virginia and during the debates on the Constitution.
What would he have done personally if his advice had been heeded, being a slave holder himself? That is one of the great questions of history.
But our founders gave us a great gift, at great risk to themselves and their families.
As Franklin said "Gentlemen, we must hang together or most certainly we will all hang individually!"
Most of the signers of the Declaration suffered greatly, many of them exhausting their entire fortunes and their health for the cause of Liberty.
We celebrated the Fourth by attending a wonderful Concert and Fireworks display at Lake Benson park on Tuesday night in Garner, where we first lived here in NC.
The North Carolina Symphony provided wonderful music, including a medley of Big Band hits from the WWII era in addition to traditional patriotic fare. That was our community celebration.
On Weds night we as a family went to the neighborhood burger joint which rests on a hill overlooking our town of Clayton, where we were able to see the municipal display without the crowds and traffic.
Ariel provided the patriotic music with his iPod plugged into the sound system on his truck (Old Ben would have approved, I think!) and we sat on the hood in the parking lot with a few other astute families and oohed and ahhed at the distant pyrotechnical show.
We will only have him at home for perhaps one more Fourth (last year he was at basic training) depending on his Army duties, so this one was special to Mom and I.

Happy Independence to our family and fellow Citizens of the Greatest Nation on Earth!
God Bless America continually, as long as we remember Him!

Here follows the Preamble of the Declaration of Independence.

"When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its power in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence indeed will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government."

The photo and text are taken from a Rand McNally textbook printed in 1936, which was owned by my Aunt Rosalie while a student at Concord College.

July 1st-3rd, 1863, Gettsyburg, Pennsylvania

Perhaps the seminal event in American History ended today in a wheat field in the sleepy seminary town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in 1863.
General Robert E. Lee knew that a major victory was needed soon, in order to force the Federal Government to sue for peace.
His previous attempt to invade the North at Antietam/Sharpsburg Maryland ended in a tactical draw, but a strategic defeat for the South.
It was only a matter of time before Abraham Lincoln found a competent General to lead the Army of the Potomac, and their numerical and industrial superiority crushed Lee's army and ended the rebellion.
I will not rehash all of the details involved in this great battle here.
More than any other historical event, Gettysburg is known to even the most disinterested and casual American student, and it is still studied in every war college and military school in the World.
During my only visit to the National Park some six years ago, several Senior officers from our own War College were guiding a group of foreign officers around the park.
We saw National insignia from recognizable NATO allies, and also some from nations that surprised me, such as Egypt.

Many scholars will say that the battle, and the war was in fact lost when General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson was killed by an errant shot from one of his own men right after his most magnificent victory near Chancellorsville VA at the battle of the Wilderness in May of that year.
While scouting ahead with his staff to locate the exact postion of the Federal's as was his habit, a young Confederate 'Picket' let loose a minie ball from his rifle, hitting Jackson in the left shoulder. The wound itself was not that serious, but it cost Old Jack his arm, and then his life due to pneumonia.
General Lee is reputed to have said "he has lost his left arm, but I have lost my good right arm"

I agree that had he been on the scene on July 1st, he would have seized and held the high ground at Little Round Top that his successor failed to recognize as significant.
As it occurred, a young college professor from Maine with no prior military experience by the name of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain did indeed grab that ground, and heroically held it until the rest of the Corps came up to support him. At one point, out of ammunition he ordered a bayonet charge downhill, which was considered suicidal by the standards of the day.
It so startled the Confederates that they broke and ran.

The second factor that doomed the Southern invasion and insured they would lose the war was the absence of General J.E.B. Stuart, the dashing but impetuous commander of the Confederate Calvary.
Some are now saying that the gallant but suicidal charge on July 3rd of General George Pickett and his Virginia troops was meant to commence simulaneously with an attack by Stuarts entire Calvary Corps from the rear, catching the Federal "Fish hook" defense in a classic pincers movement.
The normally reliable Stuart was supposed to have served as Lee's eyes and ears, identifying the position and strength of the enemy army. Then, according to recent viewpoint he was to swing behind and attack from the North just as Pickett launched his charge.
As it was on July 3rd he was fighting for his life with a larger Federal Calvary Corps, and provided no intelligence to his commander at all.
J.E.B. had become quite enamored in seeing his name in the Northern papers, his exploits by that time already legendary.

This new theory is interesting, but I don't know that I lend much credence to it.
I think Lee felt he had no choice but to commence his attack, as a fighting withdrawal posed too high of a risk as deep into Pennsylvania as they were
After all, his boys had never let him down now, had they?

Most southern historians and others who should have known better blamed the defeat on General James Longstreet, who in fact advised against the attack.
Old Pete was far ahead of his time, and was instead a proponent of defensive warfare and attrition.
But no one would place the blame on the commanding general, even when Lee himself took the responsibility for the decision solely on himself and offered to resign because of the defeat.

That evening it started raining, and the Confederates started their sad retreat.
Lincoln was so furious at General George Meade, the commander of the Army of the Potomac for failing to pursue and then destroy Lee's Army that he soon after sacked him.
While the North was winning at Gettysburg, General Grant was ending the siege of Vicksburg MS, a great victory that doomed the Western Confederacy, and split the fledgling nation in half. Grant was soon to be given the command of the entire Federal Army in the field.

Had Meade chased Lee as he should have, the war would have been over by the end of 1863, instead of dragging on into the summer of 1865, costing thousands more lives and injured men, and insuring the total destruction of the South.

Perhaps President Lincoln would not have been murdered, and reconstruction as he intended would have circumvented the many decades of suppression and Jim Crowe racism that our nation endured, and in some cases still endures.

If Stonewall had been at Gettysburg, and Stuart had forgone glory hunting and done his job instead?
Vicksburg would have still fallen, and the Confederacy would have still been split, outnumbered and almost totally berift of modern manufacturing.
And they still would have had no viable Navy with which to break the blockade.
I do not think the British would have interceded with their Navy on behalf of the South, although they probably would have recognized the Confederacy as a legitimate Government.

Perhaps Lee would have swung around to attack Washington from the north, as historians have argued for generations.
But to what purpose? The city was the most fortified on earth, and Lee would have been attacking a superior force with no supply or reinforcement hope.
He would have placed his victorious army in the postion to be annihilated.

Most likely he would have mopped up what was left of Meade's army and beat a hasty retreat back into Virginia. And then he would have waited for diplomatic recognition and the public outcry from the Northern press which was certain to follow.

"The Lost Cause" was indeed just that, doomed to failure from it's outset.

Slavery was an abomination that had to end, and firebrands in the deep south would never agree to any gradual abolition and ending of it.
Virginia and North Carolina most likely were willing, but when Lincoln called out the troops the issue was decided.
Northern abolitionists were also not willing to negotiate, and Northern Industrialists knew there were millions to be made from the military if war commenced.

So there you have it. The most bloody war American's have ever fought, and that against one another.

Visit the battlefield to see first hand what occured there. The self guided tour should serve nicely, especially if you either tune in the radio for commentary, or buy one of the tapes.
While standing on the road across from the Bloody Angle where Pickett's Corps formed before his charge I could see what he saw over 135 years before.
The field behind him would have hidden his men while they formed up from the Yankee's view across the field in their defensive works.
But I could also see their height advantage, and the idiocy of a full frontal attack across that open field of a mile's length. The snake fence that stretched across the middle is still represented, Pickett's troops had to stop and tear it down while under heavy canister and small arms fire before continuing.
While I stood there pondering, two people on magnificent white horses galloped across the field, reminiscent of the Southern Cavaliers of days gone by.

There are more resources available that I can list here.
My absolute favorite historical fiction of all and the one others fall short of is "The Killer Angels" by Michael Sharra. There is a movie of the same name.
Bruce Catton is considered to be the pre-eminent Cival War Historian, and Carl Sandburg's work is notable.
More recently Shelby Foote, and two professors from Virginia Tech's history department, James Robinson (seen on screen during Ken Burn's excellent documentary of late), and James Davis, who is married to my late Uncle Pat's widow Sandi are considered to be the top experts in that era.

The National Park Service site is www.nps.gov/gett/