Civil War Witness Trees

[togor]

Nice story.

[Merc]

Great story. Thanks for sharing.

[JB White]

Thanks for the story.

I wonder how many Minie balls are in that tree alongside the stone bridge?

[barretcreek]

Thank you. Forwarded to some friends.

[tmark]

Thanks for sharing; I much enjoyed the video.

[Merc]

The Gettysburg Battlefield is a national treasure and should be near the top of your “To Do” list. My first visit was in 1999 and I’ve been hooked on the Civil War ever since. The Battlefioeld is a massive cemetery where the soldiers from both sides were buried where the fell. Some were later moved to the National Cemetery and to cemeteries in the South, but many remain in their original graves. It’s beautifully preserved by the National Park Service and the various state and unit memorials is the largest collection of outdoor artistic sculptures in the world. You could spend hours just studying the very elaborate Pennsylvania Memorial. Most of the town is preserved with early 1800s architecture. I visit the Battlefield every year to search the many antique shops and to march in the Remembrance Day Parade in November.

[Former Cav]

if those trees could talk !!!

[JB White]

Gettysburg. My first visit there as a lad I got separated from the family. They kept walking while I stopped to watch a reenactor giving a musket demonstration.
When Johnny Reb asked if anyone cared to take a try loading and firing a blank round, I raised my hand and jumped up and down along the rope. He asked the couple next to me if it was OK. The man simply shrugged and said he didn't care. So, I ducked under the rope.
Meanwhile my family was looking for me when my siblings spotted me away from the crowd. "THERE HE IS!"---------KABOOMMM. And there I was with a big s***-eating grin on my face.
Johnny Reb was a little embarrassed and apologetic when his discovered his mistake, but I have been a fan of front stuffers ever since.

[Merc]

The Battlefield trees sucked up lots of minie balls, canister balls and cannon balls, but so did the fence rails. The Picket’s Charge rebs had to cross the Emmitsburg Road on their way to Cemetery Ridge and it was well within musket range. The .58 caliber rifled Springfields were surprisingly accurate. Each fence post and rail that lined the road was imbedded with hundreds of minie balls. Those guys walked into a wall of lead from the Yanks behind the stone wall and flanking fire from both sides. It’s surprising that any survived.

[kj47]

Amazing history, thanks for posting.

[m1ashooter]

Very good story.

[Merc]

There’s a lot more to the story of Picket’s Charge. The Rebs who were fortunate enough to get past the Emmitsburg Road to within a few hundred yards of the stone wall came face to face with the Union’s 12 pounder smooth bore bronze Napoleon cannons that were loaded with single and double canister shot. These horrible weapons resembled giant shotguns and the cans were loaded with steel balls that would fan out when fired. One shot could kill dozens of Reb soldiers. Their bodies would be obliterated if they were close enough when the shot was fired.

Some Gettysburg visitors are clueless to what really happened during the battle and only see the monuments.

[free1954]

have you ever walked the ground of pickett's charge? it is enlightening to say the least. i think the best book about that battle is GETTYSBURG A TESTING OF COURAGE by noah trudeau

[Merc]

have you ever walked the ground of pickett's charge? it is enlightening to say the least. i think the best book about that battle is GETTYSBURG A TESTING OF COURAGE by noah trudeau

I have walked nearly every part of the Battlefield, especially the grounds of Picketts Charge and often wondered how Lee thought he could take Cemetery Ridge. Over a mile of wide open space, his men marching shoulder to shoulder. They were perfect targets for artillary, musket and canister fire. There is a reprint of an 1864 map of the Battlefield by Elliott that’s available on Amazon that shows where all of the original graves were located. I’ll have to see if the book you mentioned is still in print.

[togor]

How technology changes the way orders are supposed to be carried out. In a modern era with radios and airpower, those soldiers would be instructed to seek cover and request a fire mission before resuming the advance. In the lack of such technologies, wars needed to be fought very differently, with the expectation that an order received is executed until completion or until the utmost of human endurance is reached, because there is no practical way to get new orders out there in the middle of a firefight. Wars aside, much of 19th century industrial society was organized around a similar principle of discipline towards executing the plan.