A full moon rises above the statue to Union Major General George Gordon Meade on Cemetery Ridge in Gettysburg. Among the Union monuments and cannon of Arnold's Battery marking the ground near The Angle is the 26th North Carolina monument (lower left). The marker to the Confederate unit is likely hundreds of feet misplaced - it pressed close to wall in Pickett's Charge, but not before Arnold's Battery (which had withdrawn and left only one operational gun during the Charge). The monument's 1986 placement was likely influenced by a desire to place it closer to the prestigious site of the breakthrough at the Angle (and further up the ridge). Regardless, the 26th NC suffered a staggering 81 percent casualty rate in fighting on the first and third days at Gettysburg. (Click image for larger view).
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