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).

Hampton's Battery at the Peach Orchard - Gettysburg

The sun sets beyond the monument to Hampton's Battery at the Peach Orchard at Gettysburg. Because of earlier losses, Hampton's gunners were incorporated with another battery during the fight at Gettysburg, when they were placed at the center of the ferocious artillery fight at the Sickles salient. (Click image for larger view).

'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).

The 7th at the Salient - Gettysburg

The unusual monument to the 7th New Jersey Infantry rests at the Peach Orchard salient where the Jersey men engaged in fighting on the second day. It depicts in massive scale a minie ball -the principal bullet of the Civil War era - on the site of the mortal wounding of Col. Louis Raymond Francine during the unit's withdrawal as the Union line collapsed. Francine survived two more weeks, dying on July 16th before being buried in his native Philadelphia's Laurel Hill Cemetery. (Click image for larger view).

Dawn at the Sickles Salient - Gettysburg

The rising sun lights up the sky over the Peach Orchard area at Gettysburg. It was late afternoon when Federal troops and artillery here were routed by the en echelon attacks launched by Confederates from Seminary Ridge. (Click image for larger view).

'Limber up and get out' -Gettysburg

The position held by the 9th Massachusetts Battery, the last to leave the Wheatfield Road line of artillery, is marked with a stone monument and a pair of cannon near the Peach Orchard at Gettysburg. It was at a nearby farmhouse, however, where the battery was hardest pressed. Capt. John Bigelow, ordered to 'limber up and get out" as the Confederates collapsed the Union's Peach Orchard salient, feared his gunners would be shot down if they stopped firing the cannons to pull them out. Instead, he ordered firing on the run, moving back with each gun's blast. The battery was finally ready for a more traditional withdrawal when Bigelow was ordered to hold his ground in a tight corner of land at the Trostle House as the Union artillery line was reformed on Cemetery Ridge. Guns were lost as the rebels mixed with the battery before the final chaotic withdrawal. Bigelow reported his battery had fired three tons of ammunition. He also lost 8 killed, 18 wounded and two missing, plus 45 horses, essential sacrifices to buy time. (Click image for larger view.)

The Peach Orchard - Gettysburg

The Peach Orchard, seen in the distance from Brooke Avenue between the Wheatfield and the Rose farmhouse, overlooks much of the battlefield of the second day from its low rise between Cemetery and Seminary Ridges at Gettysburg. (Click image for larger view).

'You all remember that afternoon' - Gettysburg

The 68th Pennsylvania Infantry monument stands in the last light at the Peach Orchard, scene of fighting on the second day at Gettysburg. The 68th was one of many Union regiments and artillery units forced back under heavy attacks at the salient. "You all remember that afternoon," one speaker commented at the monument dedication exactly 25 years later, "and out of the small band of us that went into that orchard few of us came safely out, but you did your duty bravely while there." (Click image for larger view).

Artillery at the Peach Orchard - Gettysburg

The monument to Hampton's Battery, 1st Pennsylvania Artillery, stands over the Peach Orchard in one of the more prominent monuments in that sector, where fighting raged on the second day. The unit was actually combined with cannoneers and guns from Thompson's Battery, both having been depleted in earlier campaigns, and operating at Gettysburg under the command of Captain James Thompson. Both Pittsburgh-based units placed monuments at the Peach Orchard despite their combined arrangement. (Click image for larger view).

3rd Michigan - the Peach Orchard

The 3rd Michigan Infantry monument depicts two soldiers at work where they skirmished near The Peach Orchard on the second day. Later, as the fight thickened, they formed a regular line before being forced back among the other troops trying in vain to hold the salient on the Emmitsburg road. (Click image for larger view).

Peach Orchard - Gettysburg

The Peach Orchard salient, as seen from where Confederates stepped off during attacks along the Union line on the second day at Gettysburg, rests under a misty sun. Confederate Brigadier General William Barksdale led one brigade of Mississippi troops from this point, smashing the Union line. A Union officer was impressed by the Rebels, remembering later how they came on "firing and shrieking like Indians." (Click image for larger view).

Four-legged soldiers - Gettysburg

Horses relax in a green field in front of Union monuments to New Yorkers of the Third Corps that fought in vain to repel attacks at the Peach Orchard on the second day of fighting at Gettysburg. An estimated 72,000 horses were in service with both armies at Gettysburg, with 3000 to 5000 killed during the fighting. Many had names we know today and served high-placed riders, such as Old Baldy, Hero or Lucy Long. The majority were anonymous and toiled at the back-breaking work of moving armies. (Click image for larger view.)

The Second Day

The 15th New York artillery monument stands on the Wheatfield Road at the Peach Orchard, where 145 years ago today a line of 40 cannon was hard pressed, then overrun, by Confederates in the second day of fighting at Gettysburg. Here, at a salient that was created when Union General Dan Sickles over-extended his line, the Union line crumbled as Lt. General James Longstreet's forces pushed their relentless attacks. This battery, its ammunition exhausted, escaped the field with 3 cannoneers killed and 13 wounded. (Click on image for larger view).