More Gettysburg National Battlefield

July 2nd saw the Confederate Army occupying Seminary Ridge just to the west and south of Gettysburg.  They also held the ground to the north of the city.  Here a statue of Gen. Lee looks to the east and the Union position.

Across from the Rebels, the Union Army waited anxiously, their lines still being reinforced by arriving Union troops.  Here some cannon and their limbers (a small two-wheel cart used to help pull the cannon and carry an ammo box)  mark the line of defense.

The Devil's Den, a mound of jumbled rocks was another scene of fierce fighting on the second day.

This English Whitworth, a breech-loading cannon, looks south toward Gettysburg from Oak Hill.

There are about 1400 monuments, statues, and markers covering the battlefield and adjacent areas.

Plaques like this with a round base mark brigade positions with a list of their actions and casualties during the battle.  Ones with round bases like this one mark Confederate positions, a square base is used for Federal troops.

This monument to the 1st Minnesota commerates their attack on a much larger Confederate force on July 2.  The Union center had been weakened by moving troops from there to the right and left of the Union lines to bolster troops under attack.  When the Rebel attack threatened to split the Federals, the 1st Minnesota was ordered advance and delay the attackers until reinforcements arrived.  Out of 262 men, 215 men were either killed or wounded in about five minutes.  This 82% casualty rate remains the highest for any unit in any engagement in US history.

A Confederate Napolean aimed towards Cemetary Ridge.  This would've been the view that Pickett's soldiers had before beginning their fateful charge.

The left end of the Union defense was marked by an undefended hill, Little Round Top.  At the height of the attacks on July 2, Union general Gouvenor Warren rushed reinforcements to the undefended hill just in time to stop a Rebel attack that if not stopped would have opened the Union to attacks in their rear.

The 20th Maine anchored the very left of the Federal line and beat back several attacks by Alabamian and Texan regiments to hold on to the hill.

Speaking of Alabama, this one is for Danny!

Unlike the bronze smoothbore Napolean 12-lbdr cannons, the 3-inch Ordnance Rifle was made of wrought iron and was rifled.

General George Meade was given command of the Army of the Potomac just three days before the clash at Gettysburg.

This farmhouse was the site of the Union HQ.

Confederate General James Longstreet finally got his own monument at Gettysburg.  After the war ended he was vilified by Jubal Early and others for being a friend of General Grant and worse, for joining the Republican Party!

This monument commemorates the Confederate "high water mark".  Some Rebels actually overran the Union line on the 3rd day during Pickett's charge but were quickly repulsed.

The Angle, yet another scene of bloody fighting.

Not all the monuments honor men and regiments.  At the base of the monument to the 11th Pennsylvania is a statue of a dog, Sallie, by name.  Adopted by the regiment, she survived several battles, including Gettysburg.  Her luck ran out later in the war at Spotsylvania, but the veterans of the regiment made sure she was remembered.

The next pictures speak for themselves.