Holding The High Ground

One of the basic tenets of military strategy is to secure and hold terrain that is favorable for fighting from a strongly fortified defensive posture. Perhaps the finest example of the value of adhering to this axiom is found when one studies the battle fought in and around the picturesque town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania for three sweltering summer days in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred sixty three.
As soon as the fighting ended and the smoke cleared, journalists, historians, soldiers, presidents, and common citizens came to this field to learn the scope and significance of what occurred - that stream of truth seekers has continued unabated for one hundred forty six years and, despite all that has been learned, seekers still come.
It is as if they are inexorably drawn, by some unseen yet powerful force, to "ponder and dream," to understand what "great things were suffered and done for them." It is an honor to walk the ground where heroes trod, to see with one's own eyes the place where freedom was born again to newness of life. It is a visceral, even spiritual experience, to bend the knee in thanksgiving, to extend one's hand to rest upon the ground, knowing that the very life blood of American youth is still mingled therein, giving the very soil itself a richness and splendor unparalleled.
When one walks the parameters of such a solemn, beautiful place, one's thoughts and view always rises, to the heights. The high ground that was first valued by Gen. John Buford and held by his resolute troopers still beckons the visitor from it's place of commanding importance. It is often taught that the first day's battle was another victory for the Army of Northern Virginia. While true to a point, it is also true that Buford's successful defense of and Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock's recognition of the value of such terrain regarding the placement of the Army of the Potomac were victories that dwarfed that of the audacious Gen. Robert E. Lee on that day.
As Gen. George G. Meade sped toward Gettysburg on the evening of July 1, his mind must have been racing ever quicker with thoughts replete with worry and concern - committing his forces to a place he had not seen himself was truly a leap of faith - one that was ultimately completely vindicated. Hancock the Superb had indeed been wondrous again in his judgment and military acumen.
Today, looking from the vantage point of the opposing ridges, one knows that when dawn illumined the eastern sky on the morning of July 2, the sun peeked over the shoulder of Gen. Meade and revealed a position of great strength for himself and one of great challenge for his honored foe. Similarly, as that brilliant adversary rose from his fitful rest and threw open the flap of his headquarters tent, he must have raised his glasses with some trepidation, upward at the crowning hills which dominated his thoughts and imperiled his plans.
Much has been written concerning the subsequent Union victory and Confederate defeat - blame has been laid and credit given, but, after all has been considered, the heights remain as silent sentinels to the truth of the matter. If the positions of the armies had been reversed, the outcome that altered the destiny of nations and the freedom of peoples would have been reversed as well. Historians who agree on virtually nothing monolithically concerning Gettysburg concur regarding that stubborn truth.
Gen. Meade's officers agreed to not abdicate the high ground on the evening of July 2, but to stay and fight it out. One spoke of the ground upon which they staked their claim as the best they had ever seen and defended during the course of the war. The ground was held and the forces which valiantly assailed the blue clad defenders were dashed to pieces upon the stalwart heights of iron.
The lesson of Gettysburg and many height crowned fields of blood and war redounds through the corridors of history and is wisely heeded and foolishly ignored by earthly warriors still. Victory is achieved when well trained, battle tested fighters discern, dig in, and defend the high ground - it seems as if they fight with increased skill and devotion when they fight upon the heights, as if they draw that courage and bravery from the strength of their position. It seems as if that strength is infused within them as they stand upon such powerful elements.
If, however, one is to appreciate the spiritual lesson of the high ground, one must lift his mind's eye ever higher, beyond the earthly heights, to the environs of greater grandeur. There is an eternal high ground of absolute truth that must be discerned, dug into, and defended if victory is to be won by heavenly warriors who fight not with the weapons of this world, but with the invisible weapons of God.
The conflict between good and evil, right and wrong, has endured, by the will of God and will continue until the lion lies down with the lamb, and beyond. The war's outcome is certain, but the intervening battles are won and lost based upon one's knowledge of where the moral heights ascend and one's ability to stand upon them prepared to engage a foe of great strength and determination. The foes of God fight on determinedly and savagely, despite the fact they know that the ultimate victory can never be their own. How much more than, should the warriors of God fight to the uttermost, knowing that victory is assured and the heights are God's to defend?
It is a perplexing truth, a paradox for a fool to decipher, that often the forces of God fight so poorly, or worse, do not even choose to engage the enemy. Moral high ground is abdicated, turned over, and leveled so that there is no discernable difference between valley and mountain, between falsehood and truth, on the battlefields of our generation. The removal of such cowardly ignorance will only be achieved when God's divisions again look in obedience to their commander, rally to the banner of His truth, and stand steadfast upon the eternal heights of glory, upon the rocks that cut to ribbons the very legions of hell itself. If each Christian soldier, imbued with power from God and His ground, fulfills his responsibility and does his duty, the grateful, time honored words of Gen. Buford will be upon their lips as well: "Thank God. I held the high ground."