HISTORY: The annual Gettysburg Battlewalks are underway.

Each year in July, historians and Civil War enthusiasts visit Gettysburg and take a walk in the footsteps of soldiers who fought there. Gettysburg National Military Park Rangers and licensed battlefield guides lead the groups, discussing the various battle locations.

A taped program showing the battles discussed each day will show on PCN TV. Each evening, the program begins at 7 p.m. The first airing was July 1. For those who missed some, there will be a marathon on July 4 that will last all day and show all the battles.

Today’s program will outline the following: Eyewitness stories from The Rose Farm, Sickles Takes the High Ground, Beginning’s Brigade, Little Round Top and Cemetery Bridge.

On July 3, the program will discuss: Spangler Meadow, Early and Johnson Bend the Union Fishhook, McGilvery’s Artillery and Hall’s and Harrows Brigades.

The program can be watched on cable or streamed with PCN Select.

Gettysburg was the site of the battle because 10 roads lead into the battleground. Also, the Confederates were sure they would win because Robert E. Lee had just claimed a victory at the Battle of Chancellorsville in West Virginia.

Gettysburg is considered the bloodiest battle ever fought on American soil. During the course of the battle, 10,000 Union and Confederate troops were killed and 30,000 more were injured.

The victory boosted Union morale and also interfered with efforts by the Confederates to negotiate. Vice President Alexander Hamilton Stevens, who was aboard a boat in Chesapeake Bay on July 4, received word that President Abraham Lincoln denied his request to pass the Union lines and travel to Washington, DC, in order to discuss the war.