'Like grain before the reaper' - Gettysburg

The last final charge uphill stands beyond the second of two fences along the Emmitsburg Road crossed by Confederates in Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg. "We opened on them and they fell like grain before the reaper," wrote a soldier of the 12th New Jersey in a letter home shortly following the Union victory. (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.)

Artillery on Powers Hill - Gettysburg

A monument to one of three Union batteries posted on Powers Hill stands in isolation in heavy woods near Granite Schoolhouse Lane at Gettysburg. The hill was a better artillery platform during the battle, when trees did not obscure the sightlines to Culp's Hill. (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).

116th Pennsylvania of the Irish Brigade - Gettysburg

The monument to the 116th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry stands on the Loop at the Stony Hill at Gettysburg, where it had been sent into action at the Wheatfield on the second day at Gettysburg. The monument depicts a Irish Brigade member at rest along a stone fence, exactly as described by the unit's commander, Major St. Clair A. Mulholland, who came upon the young faced-casualty and remembered the scene vividly despite the roar and confusion of the fighting. He described the dead man as laying at peace, face turned to the sun, appearing relaxed with only a small bullet wound to the head to give evidence of his fate. (Click image for larger view).

'Savior of Little Round Top' - Gettysburg

Union Brigadier General Gouverneur Warren is memorialized in a bronze statue on the summit of Little Round Top, perhaps the most photographed monument on the most photographed part of the battlefield at Gettysburg. Warren earned his prominent marker for becoming the "Savior of Little Round Top" when he recognized the need for troops to secure the strategic hill and rushed to see that they arrived. (Click image for larger view).

Wadsworth - Gettysburg

The monument to Union Brigadier General James S. Wadsworth looks out over the battlefield of the first day at Gettysburg. Wadsworth, a division commander of the First Corps, was respected by his peers though he was not a career soldier. "A braver man never lived," wrote one. He would later die in the Battle of the Wilderness less than a year later. (Click image for larger view).

Weikert House - Gettysburg

The George Wiekert house stands on Cemetery Ridge, about halfway between the Angle and Little Round Top on what was Union ground throughout the battle at Gettysburg. The simple stone house, typical of many farmhouses during the battle, did not see battle rage directly around it, but it was witness to heavy fighting just outside its fences. Union troops were funneled around it on the second day of battle, and artillery unlimbered and thundered across its fields. (Click image for larger view).

Moonlit Lee - Gettysburg

Confederate General Robert E. Lee rests on Traveller atop the Virginia State Memorial on Seminary Ridge at Gettysburg, lit by a bright moon. The Confederate Avenue monument depicts Lee looking out over the field of Pickett's Charge, looking at the Union position he failed to take. (Click image for larger view).

On the crest of Culp's Hill - Gettysburg

The monument to the 60th New York Infantry stands near the crest of Culp's Hill, where that unit joined others in building breastworks to defend the rugged slope just outside the town of Gettysburg. The hill appears here with thick underbrush, but at the time of the battle it had much less growth under its canopy of trees, making it easier for the defenders to find targets among advancing Confederates trying to take the hill from below. (Click image for larger view).