| Gettysburg Battlefield | |
|---|---|
 TheBattle of Gettysburg, which took place in and aroundGettysburg, Pennsylvania between July 1 and July 3, 1863 | |
| Type | Battlefield |
| Location | Adams County, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 39°48′41″N77°13′33″W / 39.81139°N 77.22583°W /39.81139; -77.22583 |
| Owner | private,federal |
| Website | Park Home (NPS.gov) |
  Location of Gettysburg Battlefield in Pennsylvania | |
TheGettysburg Battlefield is the area of the July 1–3, 1863,military engagements of theBattle of Gettysburg in and aroundGettysburg, Pennsylvania. Locations of military engagements extend from the 4-acre (1.6 ha) site of the first shot[G 1] at Knoxlyn Ridge[1] on the west of the borough, toEast Cavalry Field on the east. A military engagement prior to the battle was conducted at theGettysburg Railroad trestle overRock Creek, which was burned on June 27.[2]
Within 10 miles (16 km) of theMaryland/Pennsylvania state line, the Gettysburg battlefield is situated in theGettysburg-Newark Basin of thePennsylvania Piedmont entirely within thePotomac River Watershed near the Marsh and Rock creeks' triple point, with theSusquehanna River Watershed (near Oak Hill) occupying an area 3.33 by 5.33 miles (5.4 km × 8.6 km). Military engagements occurred within and around the borough of Gettysburg (1863 pop. 2,400), which remains the population center for the battlefield area at the intersections of roads that connect the borough with 10 nearbyPennsylvania andMaryland towns (e.g., antebellumturnpikes toChambersburg,York, andBaltimore.)
The battle began on the west at Lohr's, Whistler's, School-House,[3] and Knoxlyn ridges betweenCashtown and Gettysburg. Nearer to Gettysburg, dismounted Union cavalry defendedMcPherson's Ridge and Herr's Ridge, and eventually infantry support arrived to defendSeminary Ridge at the borough's west side.Oak Ridge, a northward extension of bothMcPherson Ridge and Seminary Ridge, is capped by Oak Hill, a site for artillery that commanded a good area north of the town. Prior toPickett's Charge, "159 guns stretching in a long line from the Peach Orchard to Oak Hill were to open simultaneously".[4]
Directly south of the town is the gently-slopedCemetery Hill named for the 1854 Evergreen Cemetery on its crest and where the 1863Gettysburg Address dedicated theGettysburg National Cemetery. Eastward areCulp's Hill andSteven's Knoll. Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill were subjected to assaults throughout the battle byRichard S. Ewell's Second Corps. Cemetery Ridge extends about 1-mile (1.6 km) south from Cemetery Hill.[5]
Southward from Cemetery Hill isCemetery Ridge of only about 40 feet (12 m) above the surrounding terrain. The ridge includesThe Angle's stone wall and the copse of trees at theHigh-water mark of the Confederacy duringPickett's Charge. The southern end of Cemetery Ridge isWeikert Hill, north ofLittle Round Top.[6]
The two highest battlefield points are at Round Top to the south with the higher round summit ofBig Round Top, the lower oval summit ofLittle Round Top, and a saddle between. The Round Tops are rugged and strewn with large boulders; as isDevil's Den to the west.[Big] Round Top, known also to locals of the time as Sugar Loaf, is 116 feet (35 m) higher than its Little companion. Its steep slopes are heavily wooded, which made it unsuitable for siting artillery without a large effort to climb the heights with horse-drawn guns and clear lines of fire; Little Round Top was unwooded, but its steep and rocky form made it difficult to deploy artillery in mass. However, Cemetery Hill was an excellent site for artillery, commanding all of theUnion lines on Cemetery Ridge and the approaches to them. Little Round Top and Devil's Den were key locations for GeneralJohn Bell Hood's division inLongstreet's assault during the second day of battle, July 2, 1863. ThePlum Run Valley betweenHouck's Ridge and the Round Tops earned the nameValley of Death on that day.
The area of the military engagements during the battle included the majority of the 1863 town area[7] and the current borough area. The broadest regions of borough military engagements are the combat area of the Union retreat while being pursued on July 1, as well as the burg's area over which artillery rounds were fired. Confederate artillery fired fromOak Hill southeastward onto the retreated Union line extending east-to-west fromCulp's Hill to the west side ofCemetery Hill,[when?] and Union artillery on Cemetery Hill fired on therailway cut (including Wiedrich's battery ~5 pm).[8] Smaller engagements in the town included those with some federals remaining in/near structures after the retreat (e.g., wounded soldiers not willing to surrender). The largest engagement within the current borough was at Coster Avenue (north of the 1863 town) in whichEarly's division defeatedCoster's brigade. The town was generally held by the Confederate provost and used by snipers after the dawn of July 2 (e.g., a brickyard behind the McCreary House,[7]: 282 the John Rupp Tannery on Baltimore St,[9][10] and a church belfry).[11] A Confederateskirmish line at Breckenridge Street faced Federals onCemetery Hill,[G 2] and ~7 pm July 1, "the Confederate line of battle had been formed on East and West Middle Streets".[12]
At the close of the battle, some of the ~22,000 wounded remained on the battlefield and were subsequently treated at the outlyingCamp Letterman hospital or nearby field hospitals, houses, churches, and other buildings.[N 1] Dead soldiers on the battlefield totaled 8,900; and contractors such as David Warren[G 3]: 8 were hired to bury men and animals (the majority near where they fell). Samuel Weaver oversaw all of these reburials. The first excursion train arrived with battlefield visitors on July 5.[13]
On July 10, Pennsylvania GovernorAndrew Curtin visited Gettysburg and expressed the state's interest in finding the fallen veterans a resting place. AttorneyDavid Wills arranged for the purchase of 17 acres (6.9 ha) ofCemetery Hill battlefield land for a cemetery. On August 14, 1863, attorneyDavid McConaughy recommended a preservation association to sell membership stock for battlefield fundraising.[14] By September 16, 1863, battlefield protection had begun with McConaughy's purchase of "the heights ofCemetery Hill and"Little Round Top,[15] and his total purchased area of 600 acres (240 ha) includedCulp's Hill land.
On November 19, 1863,Abraham Lincoln delivered hisGettysburg Address at the dedication of theSoldiers' National Cemetery, which was completed in March 1864 with the last of 3,512 Union reburied. From 1870 to 1873, upon the initiative of theLadies Memorial Associations ofRichmond,Raleigh,Savannah, andCharleston, 3,320 bodies were disinterred and sent to cemeteries in those cities for reburial, 2,935 being interred inHollywood Cemetery, Richmond. Seventy-three bodies were reburied in home cemeteries. The cemetery was transferred to the United States government May 1872,[16] and the lastBattle of Gettysburg body was reburied in the national cemetery after being discovered in 1997.[17]
Union Gettysburg veteranEmmor Cope was detailed to annotate the battlefield's troop positions[18] and his "Map of the Battlefield of Gettysburg from the original survey made August to October, 1863" was displayed at the 1904Louisiana Purchase Exposition.[19] Also in 1863,John B. Bachelder escorted convalescing officers at Gettysburg to identify battlefield locations[20] (during the next winter he interviewed Union officers about Gettysburg).
Gettysburg Battlefield events | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1860 — – 1870 — – 1880 — – 1890 — – 1900 — – 1910 — – 1920 — – 1930 — – 1940 — – 1950 — – 1960 — – 1970 — – 1980 — – 1990 — – 2000 — – 2010 — – |
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Antebellum events: 1835Penn RR cut 1832 Lutheran Old Dorm 1812 Chambersburg Pike 1780 Gettysburg settled 1761 Gettys Tavern -----Color Key----- administration: 1933: NPS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 1864Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association (GBMA) added to McConaughy's land holdings and operated a woodenobservation tower on East Cemetery Hill from 1878 to 1895.[21][G 4] Post-war, John Bachelder invited over 1,000 officers, including 49 generals, to revisit the field with him.[20] Bachelder also produced a battlefield survey with 1880 federal funds (initiated by SenatorWade Hampton III, a Confederate general). The GBMA approved and disapproved various monuments and in 1888 planted trees atZeigler's Grove. The 1st battlefield monument was an 1867 marble urn in the National Cemetery dedicated to the1st Minnesota Infantry, and the 1st memorial outside of the cemetery was the1878 Strong Vincent tabletArchived 2011-07-21 at theWayback Machine on Little Round Top.[3]: 210 By May 1887 there were 90 regimental and battery monuments on the battlefield,[22] and the first bronze monument on the battlefield was Reynolds' 1872 statue in the cemetery.[23] The only two Confederate monuments inside the Union areas of battle held are an 1887 plaque nearThe Angle commemoratingGen Armistead's farthest advance on July 3 and the 1884 2nd Maryland Infantry monument on Culp's Hill.
The battlefield was used by the1884 Camp Gettysburg and other summer encampments of the PA National Guard. Commercial development in the 19th century included the 1884Round Top Branch of railroad toRound Top, Pennsylvania, and after March 1892,Tipton Park operated in theSlaughter Pen[24]—which was at a trolley station of theGettysburg Electric Railway that operated from 1894 to 1916.
The federal Gettysburg National Park Commission was established on March 3, 1893;[25] after which CongressmanDaniel Sickles initiated a May 31, 1894, resolution “to acquire by purchase (or by condemnation) … such lands, or interests in lands, upon or in the vicinity of said battle field.[26] The memorial association era[N 2] ended in 1895 when the[N 3] "Sickles Gettysburg Park Bill" (28 Stat. 651) designated the Gettysburg National Military Park (GNMP) under the War Department.[G 5] Subsequent battlefield improvements included the October 1895 construction of the War Department's observation towers to replace the 1878 Cemetery Hill tower and an 1881 Big Round Top tower.[27]
For payment of the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association's debts of $1960.46, on February 4, 1896, theWar Department acquired 124 GBMA tracts totaling 522 acres (211 ha),[28] including 320 monuments and about 17 miles (27 km) of roads.[29] Commercial development after Tipton Park was abolished in the fall of 1901 included the July 1902 Hudson Park picnic grove north of Little Round Top[30] (including a boxing arena).[31] A dancing pavilion was erected at the Round Top Museum in 1902,[G 6] and in the saddle area between the Round Tops, David Weikert operated an eating house moved from Tipton Park after it was seized in 1901 byeminent domain.[G 7] Landscape preservation began in 1883 when peach trees were planted in thePeach Orchard,[32] and 20,000 battlefield trees were planted in 1906[33]: '06 (trees are periodically removed from battlefield areas that had been logged prior to the battle.)
Battlefield visitors through the early 20th century typically arrived by train at the borough's 1884Gettysburg & Harrisburg RR Station[G 8] or the 1859Gettysburg Railroad Station and used horse-drawn jitneys to tour the battlefield. The borough licensed automobile taxis first in 1913,[34] and the War Department expanded the battlefield roads throughout the commemorative era. Early 20th century battlefield excursions included those by "The Hod Carriers Consolidated Union of Baltimore"[35] and the annual "Topton Day" autumn foliage tours from nearBerks County, Pennsylvania.[36]
Veterans reunions included the1888 25th battle anniversary, a 1906 ceremony to return Gen Armistead's sword to the South.[37] and 53,407 civil war veterans attending the1913 Gettysburg reunion for the 50th anniversary.[38] The battlefield had a1912 airfield at Camp Stuart and aWWI Tank Corps center atBrevet Lt. Col.Dwight D. Eisenhower's 1918Camp Colt, and excursions to theRound Top Park broughtalcohol andprostitution.[39] The1922 Camp Harding included aMarine Corps reenactment ofPickett's Charge observed by PresidentWarren Harding and a next-day simulation of the same attack with modern weapons and tactics.[G 9]
The battlefield's commemorative era[N 2] ended in 1927,[N 3] anduse of the national park for military camps continued under an 1896 federal law (29 Stat. 120), e.g., a 1928 artillery and cavalry camp was held atCulp's Hill in conjunction with PresidentCalvin Coolidge's Memorial Day address in thecemetery's rostrum.
In 1933, administration of the GNMP transferred to the 1916National Park Service (NPS), which initiatedGreat Depression projects including 1933Civil Works Administration improvements,[40] and twoCivilian Conservation Corpscamps were subsequently built for battlefield maintenance and construction projects. After a 1933 comfort station had been built atThe Pennsylvania State Memorial,[33]: '33 similar stoneParkitecture structures were built (the west ranger station was completed May 21, 1937),[G 10] and in April 1938, theWorks Progress Administration added battlefield parking areas.[41] Numerous commercial facilities were also developed on private battlefield land, particularly duringthe 1950s "Golden Age ofCapitalism" in the United States (e.g., motels, eateries, & visitor attractions).
The battlefield's 2nd largest monument, theEternal Light Peace Memorial, was accepted by PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt and unveiled at the1938 Gettysburg reunion that attracted over 300,000 battlefield visitors. In 1939, the 1st of the Gettysburg National Museum's 14 expansions was completed (the electric map auditorium was added in 1963 and closed April 13, 2008).[42]Pitzer Woods was the site of the World War IICamp Sharpe, andMcMillan Woods hada German POW camp (the latter was used for post-war housing of migrant workers for local production). Heads-of-state at the battlefield included a 1943Winston Churchill auto tour with President Roosevelt,[43] President Eisenhower escorting PresidentCharles De Gaulle (1960), and PresidentJimmy Carter hosting PresidentAnwar Sadat and Prime MinisterMenachem Begin (1978).[44]
The 1956Mission 66 plan for the 1966 NPS 50th anniversary included restoring battlefield houses, resurfacing 31 miles (50 km) of avenues, replacing therailway cut bridge,[45] and restoring the 1884Gettysburg Cyclorama.
As theMission 66Cyclorama Building at Gettysburg with a new battlefield observation deck was being completed in 1962, the nearby 1896 Zeigler's Grove observation tower was removed (the 1895Big Round Top observation tower was removed in 1968). In 1967, the NPS purchased the 1921 Gettysburg National Museum,[G 11] which the NPS operated from 1971[46]-2008.[42] Also in 1971, the NPS acquiredRound Top Station and the Round Top Museum, using the latter as an environmental resource center[G 12] until demolishedc. July 1982.[G 13] The privateGettysburg National Tower of 393 ft (120 m) was completed in 1974 to provide severalobservation levels for viewing the battlefield, but was purchased under eminent domain and demolished in 2000. In the Devil's Den area, trees were removed in 2007,[47] and the comfort station was razed April 8, 2010.[48] Similarly, the Gettysburg National Museum was demolished in 2008.
In 2008, theGettysburg National Military Park had 1,320 monuments, 410 cannon, 148 historic buildings, 2½ observation towers, and 41 miles (66 km) of avenues, roads, and lanes;[G 14] (8 unpaved).[49] "one of the largest collections of outdoor sculpture in the world."[50]
In February 2013 the landmarkmodernistCyclorama Building and Visitor Center, designed by renowned architectRichard Neutra, was destroyed. The 19th centuryGettysburg Cyclorama depicting the battlefield had previously been removed for restoration, and was reinstalled in the newrustic styleGettysburg Museum and Visitor Center.
The Gettysburg National Military Park receives an annual 3 million visitors per year.[51]
TheAmerican Battlefield Trust and its partners have acquired and preserved 1,231 acres (4.98 km2) of the overall battlefield in more than 35 separate transactions since 1997.[52] Some of the land has been sold or conveyed to the National Park Service to be incorporated into the national park, but other land acquisitions are outside the official, federally established, current park boundary and thus cannot become part of the park. This includes the headquarters of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, one of the Trust's most significant and expensive acquisitions.[53] In 2015, the Trust paid $6 million for a four-acre parcel that included the stone house that Lee used as his headquarters during the battle. The Trust razed a motel, restaurant and other buildings within the parcel to restore the site to its wartime appearance, added interpretive signs and opened the site to the public in October, 2016.[54]
About 6 a. m. July 1st, … as the leading regiment … started to cross[Marsh Creek bridge] Lieutenant[M. E.] Jones said "Hold on, I want the honor of firing the gun. … Capt. Callahan, of Pegram's Texas battery, which fired the first[artillery] shot in the battle fromLohr's hill, west of Marsh Creek
Marye's Virginia artillery, posted on Lohr's Hill, opened fire ... artillery had kep up a fire successively from Lohr's, Whistler's, and School-House Ridges. …Devin's brigade had its hands full. The enemy advanced upon it by four roads, and on each was checked until the infantry arrived to relieve it.
159 guns stretching in a long line from the Peach Orchard to Oak Hill were to open simultaneously
The first battlefield excursion train from Harrisburg arrived promptly on Sunday, July 5.
Cemetery Hill and thegranite spur of Round Top … purchased by Mr. D. McConaughy
approximately, 7"x7"x1'. Inscribed "T" on top of marker. … rough granite with a "T" inscribed on the top. … at a corner of Tipton land purchased in March 1892 as part of the Tipton Park and photographic studio.NOTE:The federal survey to determine the extent of the railway was initiated in 1893.Archived 2012-09-15 at theWayback Machine
incorporated theGettysburg Electric Railway Company in 1892
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)TheElectric Railway Company, under the superintendency of H. J. Gintling, is busily engaged preparing forencampment week, and the work of putting in new machinery is progressing rapidly.(p. 3. col. 1)
ThisRound Top Park area is frequented by prostitutes … from Gettysburg[and via] excursions from the neighboring towns… These excursions bring in … beer and whiskey which they give or sell to the soldiers. … On a single evening over 50 couples were detected and driven from hiding places behind the tablets, monuments, rocks and trees of the reservation.
…a $25,000 "face-lifting" for thereunion of the Blue and the Gray. A corps ofWPA workers will start possibly this week to obliterate abandoned roadways, reconstruct those now in use, develop parking areas and repaint signs and fences.—"$52,200 Civil Works Project Approved Here". December 1, 1933.Archived from the original on June 29, 2023. RetrievedMarch 15, 2011.
four acres, the site of the first shot of the opening battle at Gettysburg, which stands next toU.S. Route 30 and the Whistler house&
14. … Confederate … skirmish line along Breckenridge Street facing … Federal[s] … on Cemetery Hill.
Union dead in thecamp[Letterman] graveyard were removed to the Soldiers National Cemetery in[from which] southern remains were exhumed between 1872 and 1873 for relocation to southern cemeteries.
1927 - The end of the era of battlefield administration by veterans. 1927 marks the death of Supt.Emmor B. Cope.
| External images | |
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 GettysburgPhotographs.com | |
| Battlefield and 145th Reenactment | |
| Tipton stereoviews | |
| Library of Congress maps | |
| GDG.org map room |
| Engagements |
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| Confederate commanders | |||||||||
| Union commanders | |||||||||
| Army of the Potomac (order of battle) | |||||||||
| Army of Northern Virginia (order of battle) | |||||||||
| Campaign geography | |||||||||
| Campaigns and battles | |
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| Fights and skirmishes | |
| Cities and counties | |
| Units andpeople | |
| Posts and hospitals | |
| Manufacturers | |
Civil War museums and historic sites | |
| Monuments and memorials | |
