Good afternoon, welcome to Gettysburg National
Military park; my name is Jim Flook, I'm one of the seasonal rangers here at the battlefield,
so I have the privilege of giving these programs over the summer months. This afternoon we're going to be talking about
Cemetery Hill. A young man who is surveying these fields
just after the battle and will be a part of placing the soldier's national cemetery right
here- David Wills, is going to call this the most important point on the field. He is not alone in that estimation. Commanders on both sides will identify this
as the key terrain. Cemetery Hill is going to see direct fighting
only on July 2nd, the night of July 2nd 1863, but it is a very important part of this story. July 1st, July 2nd, and July 3rd. We'll start out with the story of July 1st
if everyone will turn around for me. Take a look at this monument right here, anybody
recognize that fellow? That is Major General John Fulton Reynolds. Reynolds is the commander of the union first
corps infantry. They are going to be the first infantry soldiers
to reach this battlefield. Reynolds is going to be the second out of
four commanders to make an incredibly crucial decision for the Union army on the morning
and afternoon of July 1st 1863. That first commander is going to be the commander
of the cavalry, General John Buford. General Buford, when he reaches Gettysburg
on the night of June 30th, rides through this area, and he determines that this point we're
standing on, Cemetery Hill, is the key terrain feature. So he will take his horse soldiers and he
will push them North and West out to the ridge lines, so that he can defend this place. He wants to give the Union infantry time to
get here. It is called Cemetery Hill in 1863, because
of the town Cemetery. If you look behind you and to your right,
that is the evergreen Cemetery, established by the town of Gettysburg in 1854. Otherwise this is a bald hill. The soldiers who would fight here said that
it stuck out like a sore thumb. You ever hit your thumb with a hammer? No? You're careful in your hammering work. What happens? It hurts, and it swells up. That's the analogy that the soldiers here
used to describe this area of the battlefield. As we visit today and as we look around this
we see a lot of trees. In 1863 almost all of these trees are not
yet planted. This is what makes it a commanding position. There are 2 other things that are going to
be very important that are right next to this hill. One of them is right here; it's called the
Baltimore Pike. Does anybody know where the Baltimore Pike
leads? Hint: it's a trick question. Washington DC. If you stay on this Baltimore Pike, it becomes
Georgia avenue in Washington DC. It is also called Baltimore Pike because it
could take you to Baltimore. When we think about the Union army, the important
of this road is that it leads to Washington DC, the nation's capitol. This is the communications line of the Union
army. They want to have that protected at all times. How many people walked in the cemetery from
the other gates today? Those other gates are along Tawneytown road. Does anybody know where the Tawneytown road
goes to? This one's harder. It's going to take you to a place called Westminster
Maryland. The important thing about Westminster Maryland;
this is where the supplies of the Union army are located. So this hill, in addition to being very key
terrain, controls two very important roads. Roads which lead towards the Nation's capital,
roads which lead towards the supplies of the Union army. General Buford has decided that this is a
key point, pushes North, pushes West. When General Reynolds comes onto the battlefield
at about 10AM that day, he makes the same decision, and so he puts the infantry out
West of town. As Reynolds is sending soldiers out directly
into the fight, he is going to get hit. He will get killed on this battlefield perhaps
within an hour of first arriving. He had passed from command. That command is going to go down to Major
General Oliver Otis Howard. General Howard is going to bring up the 11th
corps of the Union army. Howard now has an important decision to make. Does he want to stay here and fight, does
he want to move elsewhere? If you follow me we're going to cross over
the Baltimore Pike, we're going to talk about General Howard's decision, his leadership
here on the afternoon of July 1st, and also what the Confederate army thinks of this position. Let's start out with what this place looked
like. You've got a picture of Cemetery Hill, that
is taken just a few days after the battle, and I'm gonna pass this around for everyone,
that way you don't have to squint too hard here. Couple of things that you will notice: you
will note the rock walls, which we can see still today, and you also get a pretty good
idea that it's almost barren. We have only one tree. This photograph is taken, probably from the
vicinity of the gatehouse. As we look to the right that's the second,
and larger brick building. So perhaps one of those trees that we see
along the wall there was here. We get an idea that it's pretty open. Now we have had some changes to the landscape. We are not at the north end of the hill, as
the north end existed in 1863. There would be another field behind you, and
then there would be a rock wall on the opposite side of this parking lot. The way that we see this distance from rock
wall to rock wall, imagine that once more behind you. Major general Oliver Otis Howard has an equestrian
monument just behind me here- he is the commander of the 11th army corps. He is now in command of the Union soldiers. There are now 17,000 soldiers here at the
battle of Gettysburg for the Union army. There are 27,000 soldiers here for the Confederate
army. If you had a choice would you generally choose
to have 17,000 soldiers or 27,000? Quick response. He wants to have more soldiers. Not only does the Confederate army have more
soldiers, but they keep finding the end of the Union line. By 4' Oclock they are going to cause the 17,000
Union soldiers to move into a full retreat. This retreat is going to be taking place through
the town of Gettysburg. Now you may have noticed that as we crossed
the street as we walked through the grass, we started the string out a little bit through
the grass, right? This is what happens to large groups of people,
they don't stay in a tight, compact formation. The same thing is happening to the soldiers. Soldiers are used to fighting shoulder to
shoulder in long lines 2 ranks deep. They cannot do this through a town, so the
Union soldiers are breaking down into groups, they're trying to rush, they're trying to
get back to this point, Cemetery Hill, which has now become a rally point. Here to meet them is going to be General Howard. He says; "after an examination of the general
features of the country, I came to the conclusion that the only tenable position for my limited
force was the ridge to the Southeast of Gettysburg", now so well known as Cemetery Hill. Even though he's identified it he's going
to be able to have to defend it. He has 1000s of soliders streaming backwards. He has to reorganize them, get them ready
to fight again. He spies a young sergeant with the colors
moving towards the rear, grabs the sergeant and says "sergeant, plant your colors at the
wall". Remember there is one more wall, so he is
not talking about right here, but another 50 yards to our North. Now it appears that this young sergeant does
not recognize the major general, he responds to him by saying "only if you go with me". So this major general knows that he has to
display personal leadership. These men have been beaten, they're falling
back, they have lost their ability to fight as a unit. So instead of reminding that sergeant that
he is a major general who gives orders out to almost everyone, he instead takes the flag
and with the sergeant he goes and he places the flag with the sergeant to encourage the
men in that unit to rally. He is hoping that he can hold this hill. Around that time in the afternoon Major general
Winfield Scott Hancock is going to arrive. General Hancock has that next equestrian statue
over there, General Hancock is the commander of the Union second corps. He is sent here by General Meade, he's Meade's
personal representative, and he's going to take command of the field. Hancock decides that in order to get up to
speed he's going to ride in an ambulance, he's riding in an ambulance, banging down
the road. He's pulling out maps, he's trying to learn
everything he can about the terrain. He becomes impatient, stops the hospital wagon,
mounts up, and rides to Gettysburg. First thing he's gonna do, he's gonna meet
with general Howard. Hancock is going to be our fourth and final
Union commander to make that all important decision that this is the key point on the
field. So he and Howard are going to begin working
together. Howard is going to keep placing his soldiers
on this side of the Pike on Cemetery Hill, Hancock is going to work further to the left,
as he brings in elements of the Union second corps. They're preparing in case there's a Confederate
attack. I had mentioned earlier that 27,000 Confederate
soldiers had come onto the battlefield on July 1st. They have the superior numbers, that doesn't
mean that everything goes perfectly well. The Confederate army is going to have its
own challenges in leadership and coordination. One of the most important is going to take
place in the evening. At about 5PM, an order comes to Major General
Richard Yule. General Yule is in command of the second army
corps; the order tells him to take Cemetery Hill, if practicable, but do not bring on
a general engagement. How many of you find that as clear as mud? Alright let's break it down because there
are 2 very important pieces. Let's start with the easy piece; do not bring
on a general engagement. Lee is communicating to Yule, something that
Yule already knows. Do not bring on a general engagement means
that make sure that Lee still has options. As the attack is made, the 2 enemies should
not be in such close quarters that they have to keep fighting the next day. Lee is telling Yule- make sure that I have
a full range of options. Attack, defend, maneuver, he's keeping his
options open. Lee always believes as much as possible in
trying to seize the initiative. He wants to be acting, not responding. The more challenging part of that order is
take cemetery hill "if practicable". I want to give you another story of the command
experience Yule has had this day. This is his first significant battle as a
Lieutenant general in command of 20,000 soldiers. Over here on July 1st he's going to receive
an order telling him to concentrate in the Gettysburg cashtown vicinity. Anybody been to Cashtown? It's about 14 miles out to the West. So they are near on a map but not exactly
the same point. When Yule receives this order, he's going
to make one of these "under the breath" remarks, sort of those first response thoughts that
we hope others don't hear, and we really hope they don't write down. I can tell by the smiles that some people
identify with this. The others who aren't smiling I can guess
you identify as well but don't wish to share. On getting this order to go to two different
places 14 miles apart, Yule will say "why can't the commanding general have someone
on his staff who can write an intelligible order?". That was in the morning. Now he is going to get this order that says
to take Cemetery hill "if practicable". Let's see if we can take a different approach
to how we might think of this. What I want to do is ask everybody to think
about a 1-10 scale. So on a scale of 1 to 10, if you are Yule,
what is the importance of Cemetery hill based on the language of the order? Again the language of the order, "take Cemetery
hill if practicable, but do not bring on a general engagement". So 1, Lee has no concern about taking Cemetery
hill. 10; Lee absolutely has to have Cemetery hill. If you're Yule, thinking about this order,
take Cemetery hill is practicable but do not bring on a general engagement, where do you
think that falls on a 1-10 scale? We got a 5, a 7, 7, 5, five
a half, okay getting very detailed. 5, 5, 3, 6, three or four? So, I think we've demonstrated something very
well, this is not perfectly clear. It's not obvious. I think we had as low as a 1, we had as high
as a 7. We had a lot of 5's, good number of 3's as
well. The decision that has been given to general
Yule is challenging. Let's try to add in the variables that general
Yule is facing. He has three divisions, one of his divisions
is not going to reach Gettysburg before the end of the day. At 5PM he is working with 3 hours of daylight
left, it'll be pitch black by 8PM. In addition to this, he hears rumors that
there are Union forces approaching on his left. His 2 divisions that are present, one of them
is a little bit disorganized because of fighting through the town, they have to be reorganized
to conduct an attack. The other division is disorganized from a
bad fighting experience. That is to say that division did not fight
together, but fought by piecemeal. Yule begins to talk to these two junior commanders,
they tell him they think they can attack if they have reinforcements. So Yule writes to Lee, message comes back
from general Lee, there are no reinforcements, no support is coming. Yule's been told by his 2 commanders that
they think they can only make the attack with support, and his boss tells him there is no
support. He's got this rumor of union soldiers approaching,
and he does not know where the entire Union army is at. He can likely determine that the 1st and 11th
corps have been here based upon prisoners, but he's not going to know for certain. He knows that there are some 40 pieces of
artillery on this hill, and the remnants of the Union army. Numbers close to 10,000. What happens to somebody when they are boxed
into a corner? They fight as hard as possible. That could be the mentality in the Union army. If Yule is going to make an attack he is going
to make it a full scale attack. Yule is going to put all these things together,
and he is going to make the decision that it is not practicable to attack. There will be no fighting here on the night
of July 1st. 1863. Both armies have identified it as a key point
on the battlefield. Both armies want to control this point on
day 2. If you'll follow me we're gonna move up by
the artillery, to talk about Union plans to control this position, and learn about how
the Confederate forces would attempt to take this key point on the battlefield. We're very fortunate to have the physical
terrain of the battle of Gettysburg, because that is one of the things that enables us
to understand the experience of the soldiers. That's why as you walk around Cemetery Hill
especially, you're going to see some of these signs up. These lunettes are a part of the resources
that we want to try and protect, so as maneuver our group we're going to walk between and
walk around the lunettes, we don't walk to walk over any of them. The lunettes would have been dug by the artillerists
as a way of protecting their position from any incoming artillery fire. That artillery is going to be a key point
of this story. On the morning of July 2nd, the colonel of
the 11th corps artillery, colonel Wainwright, will come up to captain Rickets. Captain Rickets battery has 4 guns in this
location, so if you turn behind you by the bug tree, you're going to see a rock wall. Captain Rickets tells us he has 4 guns on
this side of the rock wall, and his monument is that large monument off to the right where
we can see the letters FNG, that's for the combined batteries. 4 guns on this side, and then 2 guns on the
North side of the wall. Rickets is told by his commander, "Captain,
this is the key point of our position on Cemetery Hill, and must be held. In case you are charged here, you will not
limber up under any circumstances, but fight your battery as long as you can". So if you listen to that order, what has Rickets
just been told? "Die here if necessary". You will hold this position, it is a very
important position. There's also going to be some concern, many
of these artillerists are worried about the infantrymen. The infantrymen of the 11th corps were unfortunately
called "The flying Dutch". Now they are not Dutch, the word Dutch should
instead be Deich, for German. 1 out of 4 soldiers in the Union army is born
outside of the United States. The United States is not necessarily very
welcoming of others, and there's a lot of hostility towards these foreigners in the
11th corps. They had the unfortunately reality to be in
a position where they got flanked at Chancellorsville, and they had an unfortunate reality of being
in a position where they are flanked here on July 1st. Part of what colonel Wainwright is telling
to captain Rickets is "you may be on your own", and the artillery has to hold. Let's look out to your left; let's begin to
take a look at this terrain. So as you are looking to the East, what do
you see? Fields, alright? We have a clear view for a good distance. What else? It's downhill, we have the commanding position. What else? What other things do we see on the terrain,
maybe obstacles you'd have to cross over? There's different colors of grass, so parts
of that may be marshy or harder to pass. We've got some fence lines, we're got more
stone walls, the road that you see there is not there in 1863, but it's still very difficult
terrain. This is a commanding position. And off to your right, so directly behind
me, and behind those trees we have another knoll. There's a monument there for the 5th main
artillery, Steven's battery. As we move a little bit we'll see Steven's
battery more clearly. So Steven's battery can shoot from South to
North, while the guns here shoot from West to East. There are going to be some delays in the Confederate
side, with the planning on July 2nd. The artillerists who are here are going to
pull out some devices, a pendulum hoss and a French ordinance glass, and what they're
going to do, they're going to take the morning and afternoon, they're going to start firing
test shots, and they're going to record where everything falls. In other words, by the afternoon, this area
has been turned into a killing field, and if anything tries to cross this ground, somebody
along this line wearing a blue uniform will know exactly what type of shot, and how long
to make the fuse, to make sure that something is hit at any point in our field of vision. It becomes a very dangerous zone to cross. The Union artillerists are prepared, they're
prepared by marking the field, they have been prepared to fight here to the death if necessary
from that order. What are the Confederate soldiers doing this
morning? If you'll follow me we're going to move down
the hill, we're going to talk a little bit about the planning of the Confederate army,
and then the attack the Confederate soldiers will make that evening. Are there going to be craters in the ground
from the cannonballs? There can be, but we don't necessarily know
how large. You have something that may be about 8-12
pounds, and so yeah that can make a dent. Now it is not a detonation device, so it is
not going to explode on contact. It has a paper fuse, when that fuse runs out
it explodes. If the artillerists do their job correctly,
it should explode in the air. If something explodes on the ground the artillerists
have not done their job. I don't know any incidences of a soldier saying
that he ran into a crater from an artillery piece. So the object of the cannon was to blow shrapnel
through the area, is that what they were supposed to do? Right, yes. How many people have been in a hailstorm? What happens to you when you duck? You still get hit. This is what the artillerists are trying to
do. They're trying to create a hail of death. A shell should explode 30 feet above and in
front, and that will produce large chunks. A case shot is filled with little bits of
metal and powder, will make a bigger explosion, that is where the term shrapnel came from. A canister is going to be golf ball sized
pieces of metal, that's a short range, 400 yards or less weapon. It's exactly about producing a large field
of metal that moves. That's how you hit a mass of moving soldiers. Of course if you are planning, from the opposite
side, the Confederate attack, you want to be able to avoid all of that. Confederate intelligence is going to gather
information very early in the morning, report back, and the orders are going to go out at
about 9AM. The key plan calls for 14,000 Confederate
soldiers to move south behind the Confederate line, and then to approach the Union line
by coming from South to North. This is Longstreet's corps, it will result
in the fighting that takes place on Little Round Top, Devil's Den, the Peach Orchard,
and Wheat Field. Now when those soldiers begin, the artillery
on this end of the Confederate line, so this is the Confederate left or North end of the
line, they are to make a demonstration. Demonstration is a fancy word for making a
lot of noise with your artillery. It is not necessarily an attack but it can
be converted into one. The idea is the Confederate artillery will
make a demonstration, and then when possible convert that into a full scale assault on
both Cemetery hill here, and Culp's Hill to your right front. You'll notice that Culp's Hill is significantly
different from where we stand on Cemetery hill, it is fully wooded. So there's going to be a couple of challenging
attacks. There are delays in the Confederate plans,
and that means that the soldiers who are to make the movement don't begin until 1PM. They reach their spot, they don't make the
attack before 4PM. So all that time up to 4PM Confederate soldiers
in the area can hear. They can hear axes, plates, cups, being used
to move dirt and terrain on Culp's hill. They can hear as these guns fire their test
shots, to figure out how to hit them were they to attack. Major Goldsborough, first North Carolina,
gives us an account of how challenging this is to the Confederate soldier. "Perhaps nothing in battle is so trying to
an infantryman's nerves as the patience of the preliminary artillery fire". All they can do is wait. Finally at 4PM when the Confederate attack
begins, the artillery here to the North of the battlefield will begin to respond as well. But Binner's hill, and other Confederate artillery
positions, are at lower elevations. Those guns may angle as far as 10 degrees,
they don't shoot up very well, they shoot out in this low parabolic curve. The confederate artillery at Binner's hill
and other points is very quickly defeated, almost all of it rendered combat ineffective. So very quickly Confederate leadership discovers
the consequences of what the Union artillery has been doing in preparation. No attack will go forward under daylight. They cannot send infantry soldiers across
these fields in daylight. They are going to wait for cover of darkness. So I have a pair of maps to share with you,
and what i'll have you do is point the top of the map, or North, towards your left, we
are located right here along what was then called "Brickyard lane", today this is Wineburner
run here. We're in this position with the Union soldiers,
Confederate soldiers would be to our left and well out of view, notice that they are
going to sweep and make a sweeping attack here on Cemetery hill, Culp's hill would be
nearby. Steven's battery, which is off to your right,
and then you all the different guns which would be here at the top of the hill. Reverse side, we've got a detailed map of
the artillery position, and a little bit of a finer detail of the attack here on Cemetery
Hill. This attack is not going to go forward until
under cover of darkness. Darkness, as I mentioned before, is at 8PM. Now, finally, Confederate soldiers will have
the ability to go forwards. 2100 Confederate soldiers will be on the attack,
no artillery support. The artillery has been defeated, it is also
nighttime. This is gonna be a very rare instance of Civil
war nighttime fighting. In defense there are about 1200 Union soldiers
along this line, and about 30 guns at the top of the hill who can point out towards
the East. We do have to note a challenge for these artillerists
as well; at some point Confederate soldiers are going to get so close to the curvature
of the hill that those shots would fly over them. So at some point when they get close enough
they will have a respite from these guns on the hill. Union artillerists, knowing that possibility,
have placed the battery over on Steven's knoll. Because Steven's knoll is off to the side,
the guns there will always have this space in their view. "The moment the line made its appearance on
the top of the hill, 18 pieces of artillery and 300 infantry opened on them, but old Harry
shouted 'forward' and on we went, over fences, ditches, through marshy fields, and we bunched
up behind a stone fence where Mr. Yank had posted himself and did not want to leave". This is an account of one of the Confederate
soldiers in the 8th Louisiana. He's gonna tell us 18 pieces of artillery
and 3000 infantry, well he wasn't correct. It's more about 30 pieces of artillery and
only 1200 infantry. But it is still a challenge. Even though Confederate soldiers are moving
at night, these guns are still firing. The only source of light is going to be that
flash of the muzzle, either from the artillery or from the rifle. Imagine that you are in these long lines shoulder
to shoulder, and you're trying to move across that terrain at darkness. Some points you will be in view of artillery,
you will have stuff flying in. At other points as you drop down in elevation
you have a little bit of cover. It's going to be a tremendous task that these
Confederate soldiers have been called upon to undertake. Our soldier in the 8th Louisiana tells us
that as they come up to this stone wall and fence, they won't stop there. "With bayonets and clubbed guns, we drove
them back. By this time it was dark and we couldn't tell
whether we were shooting our own men or not." Sergeant Oscar Ladley, one of the Ohio boys
in defense; "They came on us at dark, yelling like demons, with fixed bayonets. We opened on them, but still they came, their
officers and colors in advance. We lay behind a stone wall and received them
with our bayonets". As these soldiers talk about bayonets we know
that it is close quarters, hand to hand combat. Confederate soldiers know that they need to
take this hill, Union soldiers know that they need to hold this hill. Major James Beal, out of the North Carolinians;
"The ground we had to pass over was ascending, but the troops advanced in double quick time,
and with a cheer over the rifle pit, in advance of the enemy's main line of breastworks. The ground was strewn with dead and wounded". They know that in addition to making this
attack, they're seeing family members fall, friends fall, yet that have to continue on. Lieutenant Wittiger, with the 5th Maine battery
over to your right on Steven's knoll, "In a moment, the whole battery was pouring a
most destructive, demoralizing, incapacitating fire of double canister into a confused mass
of the enemy, struggling in the uncertain shadows of the crest of Cemetery Hill". If they're struggling in the uncertain shadows
of the crest, Wittiger's telling us that they have punched holes in the Union line. Confederate soldiers have moved through, they
are streaming uphill. They are no longer in shoulder to shoulder
battle lines, but they have gathered in groups, maybe 10, 20, 30, and they're going to try
to rush up this hill as quickly as they can. Turn around for a second here, we can see
some of the guns and some of the monuments. We would not have this low shrub brush that
we have today, animals would have eaten that. This terrain is going to be a challenge. You are carrying 30 pounds of gear absolute
minimum. You are in a wool uniform. There is smoke in the air, it is humid, it
is noisy, it is confusing, there are flashes of light, flashes of these hails of death. Still the soldiers are pressing on, trying
to get up to those guns. We know that some groups of Confederate soldiers
are going to make it up there, and they are going to challenge Captain Ricket's orders
to stay there and not give up the guns. If you'll follow me we'll move back up the
hill and learn the story of what happens to these guns on the top of Cemetery Hill. The 11th Corps again was commanded by General
Oliver Otis Howard, and the symbol of the 11th corps is that crescent moon. Especially on the monuments here, you're going
to see a crescent moon telling us that that unit was a part of the 11th corps. It would have been on their flag as well. now they would have carried state flags and
federal flags, and then at a brigade or division level there would have been a flag to identify
that brigade or division and it would have had the emblem. For example, general Hancock commands the
2nd corps, and the 2nd corps emblem is the Trefoil, or 3-leaf clover. The first corps is the circle, the 5th corps
is going to be the Maltese cross, think 4 triangles inverted to the center, 6th corps
is going to be the Greek cross, think of a tic-tac-toe board missing the 4 corners, and
then the 12th corps is going to be the star. So in the Union army each corps has an emblem,
and we see those emblems here and their monumentation as well. Those emblems are a marker of pride and a
spirit of corps, same thing as for these soldiers, there's pride in making sure that these cannons
don't fall. They're going to be heavily tested along this
entire line. At Weedrick's battery, this next battery down
at this North side of the wall. So this first battery is going to be a part
of Ricket's battery, then this next one is Weedrick's. If a Confederate soldier reaches one of these
guns, and he claims the gun in the name of the Confederacy, the soldiers who is standing
in the back left of that gun, that's the number 4 position, number 4 holds a 4 foot piece
of string, and he responds to this Confederate solider "Sie sollen es haben!" and he pulls
that string. Anyone know what ""Sie sollen es haben means?
it translates into "you shall have it". Now this Union artillerist is referring to
the content of the gun, and not the physical possession of the gun, as the Confederate
soldier had claimed. That tells us that Confederate soldiers are
in the guns, they are up close, they have broken through the infantry support at least
at some points. "Seizing sponge staffs, rammers, and rocks
from the adjacent wall, we now repulsed the thoroughly disheartened tigers" Weedrick wrote. Ricket's 4 guns here, 2 guns of the other
side of the wall, "The boys fought them hand to hand, with pistols, hand spikes, and rammers. The left half of the battery engaged in a
hand to hand fight with the rebels who had leaped the stone wall", the one that you're
sitting on right now. "The fire was kept up by the right half",
the 4 guns over here. So again we have hand to hand fighting, the
Confederate soldiers, 10s, 20s, have gotten to this hill and are trying to capture these
pieces of artillery. The Union artillerists have been told never
to retreat, they have to hold this ground. Lieutenant Brockway of Ricket's battery is
going to give us what I find to be the most exciting story of the fighting here at Cemetery
Hill. "A rebel first Lieutenant attempted to seize
our battery guide-on". So the battery guide-on is the flag that identifies
the battery. "But while in the act of grasping it, the
bearer rode up and shot the Confederate officer. Seizing the colors, he wielded it on his horse,
but at the same moment was shot and died soon thereafter". A sergeant from the tigers, a Confederate
soldier was Louisiana, had been nicknamed the tigers, this was originally Wheat's battalion
called the Louisiana tigers. and the Louisiana tigers got clear back to the limbers, so he's
at least 14 yards behind the guns to the next set of vehicles, when he was encountered by
sergeant Stratford who demanded to know where he was going with that horse. Horses are very important to the artillery,
that's what helped move the guns. The soldiers in the artillery do not get to
ride the horses, they walk alongside. So he's very disconcerted to see someone taking
this horse away. "The rebel brought his musket to his shoulder,
and demanded Stratford surrender. At this moment, I walked up, and a glance
showed me the true state of affairs. Having no sidearms by me, I picked up a stone
and in the most unmilitary manner broke it over the fellow's head. He tumbled to the ground, but Stratford, not
knowing the cause, seized his musket and shot him through the abdomen". There is a great deal of confusion, any implement
of the artillery is becoming a weapon. Rocks are becoming weapons. For these Confederate soldiers who have made
it to the top of the hill, if they're looking back the casualties are behind them, but no
one else. There are no reserves coming. For the Union army there are very few reserves,
but there is a little but of help coming of a few regiments. Most everybody else had already been sent
to the opposite end of the battlefield earlier in the day, but a couple of key units will
come forwards and provide some assistance. The Confederate attack will be pushed out
from amongst the guns back down this hill. The fighting here on the night of July second
will end. The Confederate soldiers will reach this area;
though they contest for the guns, they cannot take or hold, so they fall back. On July 3rd, Cemetery Hill is going to continue
to figure prominently in the battle. Lee writes that the general plan is unchanged,
he had hoped to continue his attacks on each end of the line, one end being over at Culp's
Hill. Culp's hill might even be an approach to Cemetery
Hill. There will be fighting at Culp's Hill from
4:30AM to 10:30AM, 6 hours of sustained fighting. The Confederate soldiers cannot take that
part of the line. Because that fighting starts very early in
the day it disrupts part of Lee's plan. He has to make a couple of minor adjustments,
and he will launch what becomes known as Pickett's charge. Prior to that charge 150 pieces of Confederate
artillery will fire against the center of the Union line, which is held by 30 pieces
of artillery. 30 of these guns here on Cemetery Hill turn
to the West, and they begin responding. There are 40 additional guns to the South,
a total of 100 Union guns in defense. When that charge goes forward, the guns on
Cemetery Hill sight the far left end of the line of Pickett's charge, a unit called Brackenbrow's
brigade. It's a brigade of Virginians. They take so much artillery fire from other
guns on Cemetery Hill, that Confederate brigade falls out of Pickett's charge, the leftmost
brigade is beaten back by artillery. That is going to allow Union units in General
Hancock's second corps to sweep and attack the left flank of Pickett's charge. Pickett's charge, which is supposed to strike
the center of the Union line, is itself enveloped on both sides from infantry and artillery. That last Confederate attack on July 3rd finds
that it is no more successful than the one that took place here on the night of July
2nd. Cemetery Hill is going to be the key point
of the field July 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. A number of soldiers wearing both blue and
grey look at the field that way, including General Buford, General Reynolds, General
Howard, General Hancock on the Union side. General Yule, General Lee, on the Confederate
side. So as David Wills, who lives here in the town
of Gettysburg, as he learns about this battle days afterwards, he will write to the governor
of Pennsylvania, "from this most important point on the field, during Thursday and Friday
of the battle, our artillery dealt death and destruction to the rebel army, in every direction
of its advance". In his mind, holding this ground won the battle. So when it comes time to honor those Union
soldiers who have fallen on this battlefield, he is going to buy up property on Cemetery
Hill. Again if you will all please turn to your
right, looking over the terrain, we can see some of the graves there in the soldier's
national cemetery. You may even be able to see the gates on the
Baltimore Pike. From this position we can see the graves both
of those who died here at Gettysburg as well as veterans of the United States who have
served in wars since that time. Today Cemetery Hill continues to be an important
point on the field, both for understanding what happened here, and for memorializing
those who gave all for their country. Thank you very much for joining me this afternoon. I'll be happy to take some questions, a couple
other things quick; please help me thank Matt Hoosh, who is here filming these programs,
you can see these programs, these are for the American public, we're putting these up
on out Youtube channel so you can get online and you can watch a ranger program from various
parts of the battlefield wherever you're at. Unfortunately it's still second to actually
being able to go out on the terrain and see it yourself. This is another way in which you can learn
about the battle of Gettysburg, so we are on Youtube, we are also on Facebook as well
and I would encourage you to like us on Facebook. You want to look for Gettysburg National Military
Park, and you have to use all 4 words because there are about 40 different groups that have
the word "Gettysburg" in their title. So look for Gettysburg National Military Park,
we try to put up new content every day on Facebook, and we're rolling out new films
through Youtube. So you have a great opportunity to be a part
of what is happening at the park from where you're at. Anybody have any questions? "For the cannons, how many men did it take
to work the cannons?". A cannon crew is going to take a total of
10 soldiers, we're gonna have 6 soldiers right at the gun operating it in battle, we're gonna
have 2 soldiers at the next vehicle which is the limber, and we're going to have 2 more
soldiers at the next vehicle which is going to be the caseon. So you're going to have 3 different vehicles,
they're going to be spaced 0, 14, and 28 yards from the front. So there's 6 guys to make that gun actually
work, day in and day out during the battle. Very heavy on logistics. Any other questions? "Going back to when General Lee told General
Yule to take this hill if applicable, say general Jackson was still here at the time,
and he told General Jackson to take this hill. Being that they were of one mind, do you think
General Jackson would have taken this hill or died trying?". Well I would disagree that they were of one
mind. When we look at Jackson's career, we often
focus on the part of his career looking at the valley campaign or looking at second Manassis,
Antietam, and Chancellorsville especially. We don't look necessarily at Jackson's performance
in the 7 days campaign around Richmond, where there are some challenges in that communication. I bring that up just to say that Jackson's
not perfect, and he has his challenges, so I don't think we can all agree or assume that
if Jackson's here something specific would follow. There is a big difference between Yule and
Jackson in terms of how they think, because Yule has been under Jackson he is used to
getting very specific orders that don't have discretion. Lee is giving him a level of discretion that
Jackson never did. In doing so I think Lee has failed to really
understand what that adaptation is. We have no idea what the army of Northern
Virginia is going to look like if Jackson is here instead of Yule. I think it would have been very different. First of all we don't know if it would still
be 2 corps or 3 corps, that changes a lot in terms of how the army is organized, who's
the lead element, where the divisions are marching at. Jackson tended to be very decisive, so there
is a possibility that his interpretation of "If practicable" is "Do it". He may take a different interpretation. I don't think that's what Lee means at all. Because Lee doesn't tell him directly to take
it. Lee gives him that element of discernment,
and when Lee writes his official report, he takes those reasons that come back from Yule
and says "We weren't able to do it for these reasons". He accepts the decision that Yule made instead
of correcting Yule on that, so I don't think that it's very clear, I don't think that it
is an obvious decision for Yule, Lee is leaving him a lot of discretion. When Lee writes that official report he does
not censor or reprimand Yule at all for the way in which he makes the decision. Good question though. Any others? Ok. Well enjoy your visit to Gettysburg and I
want to invite you to attend as many ranger programs as you can.
