Air and Space Museum
http://www.nasm.si.edu/

The Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum (NASM) maintains the largest collection of historic air and spacecraft in the world. It is also a vital center for research into the history, science, and technology of aviation and space flight.

The Museum has two display facilities. The flagship building on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. has hundreds of artifacts on display including the original Wright 1903 Flyer, the "Spirit of St. Louis," Apollo 11 command module, and a Lunar rock sample that visitors can touch. The new Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center displays many more artifacts including the Lockheed SR-71 "Blackbird", Boeing B-29 Superfortress "Enola Gay" and Space Shuttle "Enterprise". The museum continues to develop new exhibits to examine the impact of air and space technology on science and society.

Museum of Natural History
http://www.mnh.si.edu/

June 25, 1950 the 38th Parallel marked the beginning of a war that was to be like no other. Many years have passed since the end of the Chosin Reservoir Campaign in North Korea. The American public has all but forgotten the violence and valor that took place there at the fighting man's level. The fiftieth anniversary of the Korean War gives both the armed forces and the nation an opportunity to honor those veterans who served in that bitter war. The battle continues along the present demilitarized zone. The location of this line largely above the 38th Parallel is historic evidence that in Korea, aggression did not pay. In Korea the American soldier with his Korean and United Nations allies fought with bravery and skill against his communist foes

National Museum of American History
http://americanhistory.si.edu/

THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY opened to the public in January 1964 as the Museum of History and Technology. It was the sixth Smithsonian building on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

ON JUNE 28, 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the bill authorizing $36 million for a National Museum of History and Technology. Groundbreaking took place on August 22, 1958. The architects were McKim, Mead, and White (succeeded in 1961 by Steinman, Cain, and White). Mills, Petticord, and Mills were associate and supervising architects and engineers.

National Museum of the American Indian
http://www.nmai.si.edu/

The museum’s galleries and display spaces house both permanent and temporary exhibitions. The museum’s permanent exhibitions, Our Universes, Our Peoples, and Our Lives, represent important ideas and experiences in Native life and history. Temporary exhibitions will present individual artists’ works, explore specific themes in Indian culture, or bring objects from other institutions to the museum. The museum’s galleries also include cases containing study collections and outstanding objects from the museum's collections.

Gettysburg
Visit Gettysburg National Military Park
Virtual Tour of the Battle of Gettysburg

The Battle of Gettysburg was a critical event in a war that determined the preservation of our nation. Known as a turning point in our great Civil War, the battlefield is preserved by the National Park Service as a symbol of America's struggle to survive as a nation, and as a lasting memorial to the armies and the soldiers who served in that great conflict. Our job is to preserve the park and to provide you, the park visitor, with a fulfilling experience.

Fought during the first days of July 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg was one of the most critical battles of the war and began early on the morning of July 1 when Union pickets three miles west of Gettysburg spotted a Confederate column heading toward them from the direction of Cashtown. The southerners were coming to Gettysburg to find the strength of the Union cavalry spotted there the evening before. The first shot, fired by a Union cavalry officer, opened the battle. Opponents sparred over the gently rolling farmland west of Gettysburg, and adjacent to the Chambersburg Pike. The Union troopers finally fell back to the McPherson Farm where Union infantry arrived just in time to throw back the Confederates. One of the first to fall was Major General John Fulton Reynolds, instantly killed while leading his troops into the fray.
Most of the fighting on July 1 was west and north of Gettysburg. The Union troops fought valiantly against overwhelming numbers of Confederates, directed toward Gettysburg by General Lee. Lee arrived on the battlefield at the height of the fighting and watched his victorious soldiers drive the Union troops through Gettysburg to the hills south of town. It was a great victory for Lee, but not a decisive one as the Union Army did not retreat from the hills but concentrated there. General Meade arrived that night and decided to fight the battle by defending the hills and letting Lee make the next move.