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| Gettysburg (continued) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| For a closer look at each picture, simply click on it. Then click the "Back" button at the top left of your browser screen to return to this page. Enjoy! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Looking east: Lutheran Seminary in the background; McPherson farm in the foreground; Herbst Woods to the right. Brockenbrough and Pettigrew's Confederates fought the Iron Brigade at a range of 50 yards or less in some instances. Slowly, the Confederates moved forward from the right. | This is a small pond on the McPherson farm. It was made famous by photographer Matthew Brady when he posed near the fence behind the pond for one of the few pictures ever taken of him on a battlefield. You are looking west. Archer approached from this direction in the morning of the first day. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| The McPherson farm stood directly in the line of the opening encounter of the first day. "Upon receiving a government appointment in 1860, McPherson moved to D.C. and rented the property to the John Slentz family. Within minutes of encountering the Confederates, Union Maj. General John Reynolds was killed nearby and the farmstead became a field hospital for the Union 1st Corps wounded and dying. Also in this area fought Colonel Roy Stone's Bucktail Brigade of three Pennsylvania regiments, including the 150th. In the morning, seventy-two year old John Burns left home and headed out to the scene of fighting on McPherson's farm. Incensed by this invasion of his town, he picked up a musket from a wounded soldier of the 150th and fought part of the day with that regiment and later with the Iron Brigade. Burns sustained three wounds and became a local legend in Gettysburg the remaining nine years of his life." (James M. McPherson, no relation) |
This picture is from the heart of the Herbst Woods, looking west towards the advancing Confederates. It shows the dramatic drop off down to Willoughby Run which flows at the base of the hill. Archer's brigade attacked down Herr Ridge, across Willoughby Run, and up McPherson's Ridge. After some heavy fighting in which both sides advanced and retreated, Archer marched straight into Meredith's fresh brigade, which forced him to retreat back across Willoughby Run. However, not before the capture of Archer and much of his brigade. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Looking up the hill towards Herbst Woods and McPherson Ridge where the Iron Brigade awaited Archer's Confederates. These woods were open and parklike at the time of the battle. But it still would have been a hectic climb up a steep hill after a long march while under heavy fire...in the heat. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Willoughby Run, looking south. Standing there, it is hard to imagine the terrible noise of battle, including the cries of the wounded and dying. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| "Late on June 30, Buford sent a report to I Corps commander Maj. Gen. John Reynolds informing him that he expected to be attacked in the morning. Reynolds therefore made sure to get his troops on the road early. After breaking camp at Greenmount, Pa. (about 5 miles south of Gettysburg) at 7 a.m., by 10 a.m. the lead division of the 1st Corps was nearing Gettysburg via the Emmitsburg Road. The crash of gunfire was clearly audible, and Reynolds rode forward to examine the situation and consult with Buford. He found the cavalry general in the cupola of the Lutheran Seminary. "What's the matter, John?" Reynolds called up. "The devil's to pay," Buford replied. Clambering down from the cupola, he took Reynolds to a vantage point on McPherson's Ridge. Reynolds approved Buford's dispositions and rode back to hurry his infantry forward." (Gettysburg: A Battlefield Guide) Soon after Reynolds came back onto the battlefield, the Iron Brigade entered Herbst Woods (in the picture) and a bullet struck General Reynolds in the head, killing him instantly. The monument marks the spot. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Union Major General Abner Doubleday (the man who did NOT invent baseball). Seminary Ridge is in the background. Doubleday took over the 1st Corps command when Reynolds was killed just yards from this spot. When Archer was captured--the first general in Lee's army to suffer this fate--he was seized by a private and taken to the rear. There he encountered Doubleday, who recognized Archer from their days together at West Point. Doubleday extended his hand and said, "Good morning, Archer. How are you? I am glad to see you!" Archer refused the handshake and said, "Well, I am not glad to see you, by a damned sight, Doubleday." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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