A Moiety Mystery History Series

The SITC caches are intended to familiarize interested cachers in the most pivotal battle of the American Civil War, the Gettysburg clash that took place in Pennsylvania on the days spanning July 1 through 4 1863.

A fascinating confluence of opportunities, mishaps, the presence and absences of pivotal players and above it all the courage and passion of thousands resulted in a defining moment, after which a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal, endured.

Finders of the the SITC series will notice the shape of the container or perhaps a specific object or image placed in or on each. Please take note, as a characteristic of each is required to locate the final "Triumph and Retreat".

We hope you enjoy this 4 part diversion and if inclined, learn a little more about those 4 tumultuous, nation-defining days. For those who want to delve more deeply Shelbey Foote's seminal work The Civil War: A Narrative: Volume 1: Fort Sumter to Perryville, Volume 2: Fredericksburg to Meridian, and Volume 3: Red River to Appomattox are essential to an understanding of how, as the author put it "facts are the bare bones out which truth is made". His abbreviated work "Stars In Their Courses" excerpts for the reader the key events of those 4 days.

Lee laid his hand on the dead Jackson's map, touching the region just east of the mountains that caught on their western flanks the rays of the setting sun. "Hereabouts we shall probably meet the enemy and fight a great battle," he said, "and if God gives us the victory, the war will be over and we shall achieve the recognition of our independence."


One of the place names under his hand as he spoke was the college town of Gettysburg, just over 20 miles away, from which no less than 10 roads ran to as many disparate points of the compass, as if it were probing for trouble in all directions.

In the past 10 months, the Army of the Potomac has fought four major battles under as many different commanders — Bull Run under Pope, Antietam under McClellan, Fredericksburg under Burnside, and Chancellorsville under Hooker — all against a single adversary, Robert Lee, who could claim unquestionable victory in three out of the four; especially the first and the last, of which about the best that could be said was that the Federal army had survived them. Now it is about to fight its fifth great battle... and it will fight it under still a fifth commander...