Sharpshooters - Gettysburg

Car tailights bend around the aptly named Loop adjacent to the Wheatfield, scene of fighting on the second day at Gettysburg. Members of the 2nd company Andrews Sharpshooters, whose monument is pictured, would have been used early in the fighting as skirmishers, strung out along the Union line. (Click image for larger view).

Eternal Light Peace Memorial - Gettysburg

The Eternal Light Peace Memorial stands over Oak Ridge on the battlefield of the first day of fighting at Gettysburg. A natural gas-fed flame burns 24 hours a day on the monument dedicated to "Peace Eternal in a Nation United." President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the featured speaker at the grand reunion of the Civil War combatants at Gettysburg when the monument was dedicated. The President acknowledged the aging vets' presence at the ceremony. "All of them we honor," he said, "not asking under which Flag they fought then- thankful that they stand together under one Flag now." (Click image for larger view).

Dawn at The Angle - Gettysburg

Early morning sun stretches to monuments for the 72nd (left) and 71st Pa. monuments at The Angle, scene of the climax of Pickett's Charge on the third day at Gettysburg. Of the 12,000 Rebel men who took part in the charge, a small number of men pierced the Union line here. It was not enough. (Click image for larger view).

Big Round Top - Gettysburg

Big Round Top rises above fog as seen from West Confederate Avenue at Gettysburg. The rocky hill did not achieve great fame during the battle for one simple reason: Its heavy woods made it less strategically important than its partially cleared neighbor and shorter hill, Little Round Top. Confederate forces climbed the then-empty hill before attacking on the second day of fighting. (Click image for larger view).

The Death of Reynolds - Gettysburg

A simple monument marks the spot where Union Major General John Reynolds was killed instantly by a wound to the back of the head on the first day of fighting at Gettysburg. In quick succession his body was taken to Westminster and then by train to Baltimore where it was embalmed. Within 36 hours of his death his body was in Philadelphia, then on another train to his hometown of Lancaster for burial. As the nation celebrated a Union victory at Gettysburg, he was interred in a simple service on the 4th of July. Captain Stephen Weld, with the General from Westminster and witness to the burial, wrote: "Poor General Reynolds disappeared from us for some time to come." Reynolds's standing in the Army is reflected in the number of monuments associated with him on field - including a full equestrian statue, another fall-length bronze in the National Cemetery, plus one on the Pennsylvania State Monument, this marker and a frieze depicting his death on the New York State Monument. (Click image for larger view).

Pennsylvania Monument - Gettysburg

Names of high-ranking Pennsylvanians are carved into arches of the Keystone state's massive monument on Cemetery Ridge. Ten of thousands of soldiers fought for the Union on their home state's soil. Decades before the completion of this monument, a speaker at Gettysburg's "Pennsylvania Day" ceremonies praised the men who fought for the Commonwealth. "Soldiers of Pennsylvania, your valor has been seen in many battle fields, but on none has it been greater or grander, nobler or more heroic than on the July days of 1863." (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).

Mozart Regiment in the Valley of Death - Gettysburg

A soldier peers over a protective boulder in the monument to the 40th New York on the floor of the Valley of Death at Gettysburg, site of fighting on the second day at Gettysburg. Nicknamed the Mozart Regiment after the Mozart Hall Committee of the New York City Democratic party which sponsored it, the 40th entered the fight between Devils Den and Little Round Top as the Confederates where taking control of the sector. Despite being credited with "fighting like tigers," the 40th did not last long in the valley. (Click image for larger view).

North Carolina - Gettysburg

The North Carolina Monument faces the moon and Cemetery Ridge from Seminary Ridge at Gettysburg. Gutzon Borglum - the same sculptor who created Mount Rushmore - created a grouping of five figures pushing forward toward the distant ridge to honor the service of all North Carolinians in the battle. (Click image for larger view).

General Hays - Gettysburg

Late day sun glistens off the gold patina of the Brigadier General Alexander Hays monument on Cemetery Ridge, where units of his Union division were posted during the repulse of Pickett's Charge. Hays is pictured as a commander in motion - and with a stern determination, appropriate for a general who was on the line near Ziegler's Grove as the charge crested, and had two horses shot from under him. "Hurrah! Boys, we're giving them hell!" he yelled from the saddle as he rode among his men. (Click image for larger view).