Thursday, February 5, 2009

Guns of the Wheatfield Road - Gettysburg

Union artillery lines the Wheatfield Road at the Peach Orchard, scene of massed Union cannon the second day at Gettysburg. The Confederates won the day on this ground, but not before the artillerists exacted a cost, according to one witness: "Masses of Kershaw's and Wofford's brigades had been swept from the muzzles of the guns, which had been loaded either with double-shotted, or spherical case, with fuses cut to one second, to explode near the muzzles. They were literally blown to atoms. Corpses strewed the ground at every step." (Click image for larger view).

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