Ever since I was a child I was fascinated by the civil war and in particular the Battle of Gettysburg. For three days in July 1863 this small town became a scene of armageddon as over 150,000 soldiers gathered on these fields engaging in hellish slaughter. In the intense summer heat the battle escalated into a deadly escapade not yet witnessed on the continent. On the third day of battle the invading Army of Northern Virginia commanded by Robert E. Lee undertook a desperate attempt to severe the Union Army of the Potomac in half. The resulting attack known today as Pickett’s Charge would forever live in history as one of the most valorous and horrible events in American history.
At this point I am going to invite you to head over youtube to watch the excellent 5 part representation of this event in the 1993 movie “Gettysburg.” When you are done come back and I will talk you through the battlefield as it exists in its preserved state today.
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZWAmsdGBiE
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GupEJXlNKCE&feature=related
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iT0Hmu5bXY&feature=related
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiDumCX_Pr8&feature=related
Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUPONW7gdw8&feature=related
When visiting the battlefield, especially this sacred ground, you are immediately touched by the overwhelming emotion of the place. Recently I visited Gettysburg on a summer afternoon and took this panoramic picture standing from the Confederate position and looking across to the union lines. The battlefield is amazingly preserved! This is almost identical to what it would have looked like the afternoon of July 3rd.
1) The Positions
Where I was standing was near the left flank of the confederate lines. When fully assembled the assaulting line would extend to the right nearly a mile in length and consisting of nearly 13,000 men. During the cannonade the confederate infantry would be hiding in the woods directly behind me (Trimble,Pettigrew) and Pickett’s Division would be hiding in the woods to the right.
The union defensive position was nearly a mile in the distance, this portion was anchored on the left by two white barns and running straight across the row of trees and monuments and curving slightly back to the two large hills far to the right.
2) The Cannonade
The confederates organized nearly all their artillery (200 pieces) onto the field nearly directly where I was standing and extending to the right in a cresent moon shape in front of the woods. Their target was the “copse of trees” in the center of the union line. From here they heavily bombarded the union position located. However after a few minutes the fields were covered in such a dark smoke that they were unable to see that their shells were passing overhead of the Union breastworks, landing in the hospitals and staging areas behind.
After a few minutes the union was able to courageously muster a counter fire. You may have witnessed the factual representation of General Hancock mounting his horse and ride along the line encouraging his troops. He was considered by many to be the finest commander wearing blue.
For nearly an hour they engaged in the most horrifying and largest artillery duel ever witnessed on the continent. Unfortunately for General Lee neither side gained a clear advantage in the fight. Around 2 PM the union began to deceptively silence their cannons in an attempt to show weakness and invite the oncoming assault.
3) The March
At this time the confederate troops formed lines directly where I was standing and extending to the right. No man was unaware of the peril facing them yet they courageously and silently formed ranks in perfect fashion. Meanwhile the Union took this opportunity of this lull to reenforce their position and move new troops and cannon along their defensive stonewall.
Within a matter of minutes the confederates began advancing on the union line. From where I was standing they would be marching in straight line engaging the enemy directly in front. From the trees to the right they would they would march at first straight then suddenly turning left concentrating all forces onto the copse of trees.
After allowing the confederates to advance for a few hundred yards the union suddenly opened up their artillery. Not only were the cannons directly in front firing but they were also receiving a terrible flanking fire from the hill known as little round top far to the right (bald hill with monuments). The solid cannons balls created a terrible havoc upon the troops bouncing and toppling rows of men at at time before lodging in the ground.
The confederates who were traveling at this point around 100 yards per minute were slowed down by the fences in the fields before you, yet they continued forward.
4) The Emmitsburg Road and the Bloody Angle
You may remember in the video clips a road placed in the middle of the march, the Emmitsburg road. To this day the road exists as it did in 1863. Although it is somewhat hard to see the road in this frame you can trace it’s route by following the red farm house (which sat during the battle directly in front of the road) to the left, past the white truck and extending off frame to the left past the modern telephone poles.
At this point while the confederates struggled to remove the planks of the fence they were engaged by the first concentrated rifle fire of the Union troops who where dug in around 400 yards to their front. At this point the Union cannon switched to canister fire, a devastating array of golf ball sized metal spheres capable of striking dozens of men at a time.
Still on they went – bloodied, men falling at every step. Here the right portion of the line turned, concentrating at the copse of trees. At this point General Hancock noticed the confederates abandoning their right flank and rode forward to notify his men to march forward and fire perpendicularly upon the confederates. As he did so he was shot in the groin around this point ( where a marker remains to show where he fell).
Now the rebel assault (facing fire from nearly every direction) began to fall apart. At this point general Armistead (Hancock’s Best Friend) , hat pierced trough hat, led a small group of men past the union lines before every single one of them was killed or wounded. They penetrated just to the left of the copse of trees which has since been renamed the “High water mark of the confederacy” . You can see the large tree to the left which marks the “bloody angle” – perhaps the most bloodied ground in the entire United States. The fighting was fiercest here in the entire war, too fierce to imagine.
You may have witnessed a disturbing shot of a group of men being obliterated at close range by a single cannon burst. This is based on fact, the men represented are the 26th North Carolina.
The march across took a surprisingly short amount of time, 15 minutes. Yet the dice had been cast and the confederates had by most historians’ opinions lost the war in this time.
When the smoke cleared the confederate casualties exceeded 50 percent, around 7,000 men had fallen or were captured. Casualties on the Union were also great but not nearly as severe.
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