'Hold this position' - The Peach Orchard, Gettysburg

A Union gun peers over the Peach Orchard, scene of massed artillery and sharp fighting on the second day at Gettysburg. Union corps commander Major General Dan Sickles knew when he extended his line to form a salient here that the work would be hard. "Hold this position while you have a shot in your limbers and a man to work your guns," he told one battery commander. It was not a unique order on a day filled with similar directives - and it was nearly carried out as commanded when the batteries were threatened or overrun in what became a rout of the position. The Peach Orchard trees are undergoing replacement in a rehabilitation of the orchard, and are currently much smaller than the mature trees pictured here. (Click image for larger view).

Trostle farm - Gettysburg

The moon hangs over the Trostle farm at Gettysburg. The scene here would have been chaotic late in the afternoon and early evening on the second day of fighting as Union troops posted at the Peach Orchard were routed and sent streaming back to Cemetery Ridge by Longstreet's assault. To the right of the Trostle barn (center) Union Major General Dan Sickles received the artillery wound that cost him his leg and knocked him out of the battle. (Click image for larger view).