'Will you hold it?' - Gettysburg

The monument to Union General Winfield Scott Hancock on East Cemetery Hill at Gettysburg pictures the Second Corps commander in an active pose, reaching out a steadying hand. His arrival there late on the opening day of battle helped assure the Union would secure its position after being soundly beaten back by Confederates. Taking command of the field, he rode the lines, making preparation for defense of the gathering army's newest position. "My corps is on the way, but will not be here in time. This position should be held at all hazards. Now, Colonel, can you hold it?" he asked of Col. Orland Smith, a brigade commander. "I think I can," was his reply. This did not satisfy Hancock. "Will you hold it?" he asked again, his tone doubtlessly changing. "I will," Smith replied. (Click image for larger view).

Firepower in the Cemetery - Gettysburg

What is today the peaceful National Cemetery at Gettysburg was crowded with artillery during the battle. Cemetery Hill, prominently situated overlooking Gettysburg, became home to dozens of artillery pieces that anchored the center of the Union line and were splayed in nearly all directions. Among them was Taft's New York battery, outfitted with 20-pounder Parrots, the largest artillery carried in the army. A diminutive rendering of one of the large guns now tops the monument to Taft's men and their Cemetery Hill position. (Click image for larger view).

Dilger on Day One - Gettysburg

Guns mark one of the positions held by Capt. Hubert Dilger's battery of Ohio men on the first day at Gettysburg. Dilger's efforts were one of the few success stories for the Union army fighting north of the town. He held several positions, taking on both enemy artillery and infantry with great effect. His opening shots against a Confederate battery provided a memorable, if unlikely, sequence of events as reported by one witness:

"The first shot from the Ohio Battery flew over the Confederate Battery. At this time the rebels yelled in derision. Capt. Dilger now sighted the gun himself and fired it. The shot dismounted a rebel gun and killed the horses. Capt. Dilger tried it a second time, sighting and firing the gun. No effect being visible with the naked eye, Col. Brown who was near, asked, 'what effect, Capt. Dilger?' Capt. Dilger, after looking through his glass, replied. 'I have spiked a gun for them plugging it at the muzzle.' "

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).

'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).

Rhode Island at Pickett's Charge - Gettysburg

Leaden clouds hang over the monument to Arnold's Battery at the Angle at Gettysburg, where its Rhode Islanders helped repel Pickett's Charge - but not before first surviving action on the second day, as well. From its spot on the low crest of Cemetery Ridge, the battery's gunners countered the bombardment preceding the Charge, then those who remained witnessed the awful effectiveness of the Union artillery on the advancing rebels. "Men, or fragments of men, were being thrown in the air every moment," one of them wrote. (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.)

Shadows on Cemetery Ridge - Gettysburg

Federal artillery stands on Cemetery Ridge, marking the Union line near the Angle at Gettysburg. (Click image for larger view).

Towering over the Angle - Gettysburg

The National Tower (top right) stands over the battlefield as seen from the Angle at Gettysburg. The commercial sight-seeing attraction was demolished in 2000 as the spearhead of a wave of change and restoration at the park this decade. Next up: removal of the Cyclorama Center and old Visitor Center. (Click image for larger view).

'Screaming shells and shot' - Gettysburg

Fog surrounds a Union cannon on Cemetery Ridge where the cannonade preceding Pickett's Charge on the third day at Gettysburg was directed. Both lines were soon clouded by smoke at the onset of the barrage. "The air is darkened with sulphurous clouds. The whole valley is enveloped," declared one participant, recounting decades later. "The sun, lately so glaring, is itself obscured. Nothing can be seen but the flashing light leaping from the cannon's mouth amidst the surrounding smoke. The air which was so silent and serene is now full of exploding and screaming shells and shot..." (Click image for larger view).

Guns of the Cannonade - Gettysburg

Union cannon on Cemetery Ridge near The Angle at Gettysburg rest under lifting fog and a blazing sun. Smoke from the dozens of batteries lining the North's main battle line and the South's Seminary Ridge position quickly veiled both lines after the Rebel guns opened fire preceding Pickett's Charge, limiting the effectiveness of efforts to soften up the Union position. Despite the smokescreen, neither position was a safe place in the hour or more before the Charge. "Nothing you have ever heard or read of can give you an idea of the terrific fire Lee opened on their heights," recalled one Confederate. Near where the fire was focused, the display was less admired. "My God it was terrible," Colonel Richard Penn Smith of the 71st Pa. said. "The field was a grave. Such a sight you never saw."

Two Generals on East Cemetery Hill - Gettysburg

Equestrian monuments to Union Major Generals and corps commanders Oliver Otis Howard (left) and Winfield Scott Hancock stand within shouting distance of each other among a handful of other markers on East Cemetery Hill in Gettysburg. When the pair first met at Gettysburg, on this hill commanding the town, Howard was in charge of an army that was scrambling to get to the rise after rough handling on the first day of battle. Hancock arrived with orders to take command, despite Howard's seniority. The awkward result was remembered differently by the two generals. Howard later claimed the two split command, Hancock felt and acted as in charge. "General," Hancock rebuked a subordinate who didn't jump to his orders, "I want you to understand I am in command here." (Click image for larger view).