“To mark the anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, here are images of the battlefield’s most famous landmarks as they appear today.”
By Sylvain Batut
FOLLOWING HIS MAJOR victories at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, Confederate general Robert E. Lee went on the offensive in June of 1863 and invaded the North.
By doing so, the famed commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, hoped to draw the Union’s Army of the Potomac away from the Confederate capital of Richmond and lure it into a decisive showdown somewhere north of Washington D.C.
If he could defeat the Federal forces there, Lee would be free to descend onto Washington itself and force an end to the war.
On the morning of July 1, 1863, advance elements of the opposing armies met in southern Pennsylvania at the town of Gettysburg. Over the next three days, the deadliest battle of the Civil War would be fought there.
In the opening hours of the encounter, Union cavalry under the command of General John Buford held the Confederates north of the city to buy time for General John Reynolds’ I Corps to arrive. Reynolds, who died later that day, held against A.P. Hill’s corps long enough for the Federal troops to take positions on the high ground south of the village. In the meantime, the Union XI Corps of General Oliver Howard held back Rebel General Richard Ewell’s corps and staked out a defensive line on Cemetery Hill.
On the second day of fighting, Confederate General James Longstreet committed two of his three divisions to the widening battle. Lafayette McLaws’ division attacked Union positions at the Peach Orchard and Rose Woods, while Hood’s division tried to outflank the Northern army on Little Round Top, after having pushed through Devil’s Den.
General Winfield Scott Hancock of the Union army’s II Corps held strong in the face of Hill’s corps, while Ewell failed to drive Federal troops off Culp’s Hill.
General George Sykes’ V Corps put up a heroic defence at Little Round Top on the Union left flank, while General Daniel Sickles blocked the attack of McLaws’ men at the Peach Orchard.
By the end of the second day, the Confederates had failed to capture the high ground on the Union left and right flanks.
By day three, Lee hoped to force an end to the fighting by driving through the centre of the Federal line at Cemetery Ridge. He guessed that the furious attacks on the Union flanks on days one and two had left the enemy centre vulnerable. But George Meade, commander of the Army of the Potomac, anticipated Lee’s strategy and reinforced his centre ahead of the assault.
The Confederate attack was led by George Pickett‘s division of Virginia, which was part of Longstreet’s corps. Joining the assault were J. Johnston Pettigrew‘s and Isaac Trimble‘s divisions, which were originally part of Hill’s corps. Ewell would launch another attack on Culp’s Hill as a diversion.
Pickett’s Charge, as it would be remembered, was a disaster for the Confederacy. Of the more than 12,500 soldiers to take part in the attack, more than half were killed, wounded or captured. With his army in tatters the battle was over and Lee retreated South in defeat.
After Gettysburg, the Army of Northern Virginia was largely unable to regain the initiative. The losses it had endured in the face of the Army of the Potomac would prove impossible to fully replace, which is why the battle is today considered one of the turning points of the Civil War.
To mark the anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, here are images of the battlefield’s most famous landmarks as they appear today
1: Chambersburg Road – Day 1
General John Buford’s cavalry division held the Confederates along this fence until General John Reynolds’ I Corps arrived in the afternoon on July 1, 1863. Union scouts discovered the Army of Northern Virginia moving towards Gettysburg from the north, and Buford fought them northwest of the town to let the main force of the Army of the Potomac take positions on the high ground to the south.
2: Reynolds’ death site– Day 1
General Reynolds is believed to have been shot and killed at this spot in the woods northwest of Gettysburg. After he brought his I Corps up to support Buford’s division, his men fought against A.P. Hill’s III Corps. They later fell back to the hills south of the town, gathering with the rest of the Army of the Potomac to hold the hills in the coming days.
3: V Corps artillery at Little Round Top – Day 2
This cannon was placed here by V Corps, commanded by General Sykes. It was part of a battery that poured fire onto the Confederates charging Union positions at Little Round Top. The rocks in the distance are in Devil’s Den, which the Rebels fought through to assault the hills. General Hood of Longstreet’s corps pushed through the rocks with his troops, but the fighting left the Confederates disorganized, and blunted their attack on the heavily defended high ground held by Federal troops.
4: 20th Maine at Little Round Top – Day 2
The 20th Maine Volunteer Regiment of Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain put up an epic resistance in these woods, using the stonewall on the right as cover from Confederate fire. After fending off repeated assaults and with his men running low on ammunition, Chamberlain ordered the 20th Maine to fix bayonets and charge down the hill, thereby scattering the Rebels and breaking up their attack.
5: Colonel Strong Vincent’s defence of Little Round Top – Day 2
The defence of the left side of Little Round Top was assured by Colonel Strong Vincent of the 83rd New York Regiment, who placed the 20th Maine at the end of the line. This statue was erected in memory of Vincent who died from a wound to the head sustained during his defence of Little Round Top. Vincent and Chamberlin are credited with successfully defending the left flank of the Union lines in the face of determined attacks.
6: II Corps at Cemetery Ridge – Day 2 & 3
General Hancock defended Cemetery Ridge with his II Corps in the face of A.P. Hill’s Anderson division. Hancock’s corps was placed along this road, with the Confederates coming from the tree ridge on the left. Further in the distance lays the northern part of Cemetery Ridge, which was the objective of Picket’s Charge on the third day.
7: 1st Minnesota Volunteers Monument – Day 2
During the II Corps’ defence of Cemetery Ridge on the second day, Hancock ordered the 1st Minnesota regiment to charge while outnumbered in order to buy some time for his reinforcements. They fought bravely, but suffered a disastrous 82 per cent casualties. This monument was erected by the state of Minnesota to commemorate their courage and sacrifice.
8: Cemetery Hill – Day 2
Cemetery Hill was defended by Major General Oliver Howard’s XI Corps. The Confederate attack was led by Jubal Early, as part of Ewell’s corps. Ewell did not effectively prepare his divisions for the attack however, which resulted in poor coordination among his troops. Howard placed his artillery around the hill, such as the Battery B of the 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery, the location of which is indicated by this monument.
9: The Gettysburg Cemetery
A portion of the Gettysburg Cemetery has been dedicated to the Union soldiers who died in the battle. No Confederate soldier is buried there, as all the Rebel corpses found were later shipped to their states of origin.
10: Culps Hill – Days 2 & 3
General Henry Warner Slocum commanded the XII Corps, which was key in the Union victory with its brave defence of Culp’s Hill. They resisted attacks from Ewell’s Confederate corps for two consecutive days.
11: Army of Northern Virginia at Seminary Ridge, Pickett’s Division – Day 3
George Pickett’s division, which was part of Longstreet’s corps, took shelter under these trees ahead of its attack up Cemetery Ridge. The road is now named Confederate Avenue, and is bordered by monuments raised by every Rebel state in memory of the troops that fought for the South at Gettysburg.
12: Colonel Alexander’s Confederate Artillery at Seminary Ridge – Day 3
These guns were under the command of Colonel Edward Porter Alexander, who led the artillery for Longstreet’s corps. Alexander was tasked with destroying the Union artillery in advance of Pickett’s Charge. With limited ammunition, he could not keep up a consistent fire both prior to and during the attack. For their part, Union artillery was free to hammer the Confederate divisions as they advanced across the open ground towards the Federal lines.
13: Pickett’s charge from Seminary Ridge – Day 3
This picture shows the mile-wide field between Seminary Ridge and Cemetery Ridge across which Pickett’s division crossed during its charge. The cluster of trees in the centre of the frame was the objective where the division’s three brigades were meant to converge.
14: Pickett’s charge from the Cemetery Ridge – Day 3
Pickett’s Charge would end in disaster for the Confederates. The advancing soldiers were under long-range artillery fire, and then faced a combined torrent of short-range artillery and musket fire, while the Union troops were entrenched behind a stonewall.
15: II Corps at Cemetery Ridge – Day 3
These cannons fired directly into Pickett’s division during the Confederate charge across the field. Pickett’s attack was supported on its left by divisions led by the generals Johnson Pettigrew and Isaac Trimble. Some of the Confederate soldiers eventually reached the Federal lines, but were outnumbered and outfought by the well-entrenched men of Hancock’s II Corps. The tree line in the far distance board Seminary Ridge, from where the Confederates launched their infamous attack.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Sylvain Batut is a military history writer with a master’s degree in journalism from Temple University in Philadelphia. You can follow him at @sylvain31000
