| Click on the image and look very closely. My camera was resting on
the monument to the 26th North Carolina. The black object in the very
near distance is a cannon at the Angle. I paced it off. The muzzle was
39 feet away. This is how close the men of the 26th were when the Union
soldiers manning the gun set it off. These men marched all the way across
the field of Picketts Charge to this point. |
| This is the business end of the cannon that fired on the 26th North
Carolina. The carnage is not something you necessarily want to dwell on
when you visit the battlefield. But its also not something you want to
gloss over or forget. There was a staggering amount of suffering and
death going on in these green fields. |
| Barlows Knoll the right flank of the Union 11th Corps named after General
Francis Barlow whose division defended this ground. This was not an easy position
to hold and by the afternoon of the first day of battle the Union forces had
retreated through the streets of Gettysburg. |
| This is McPherson's barn on McPherson's Ridge out in the area of the
first day of battle. The battle opened early on the morning of July 1st when
the Confederates ran into Bufords dismounted calvary deployed along this ridge.
Not far from here is a monument in the woods which approximates the spot where
General Reynolds was killed. General Reynold's saddle can be viewed in the museum
at General Lee's Headquarters. |
| This is the Mississippi Monument on Seminary Ridge included in this collection for a
specific reason. Note the color bearer has fallen with the colors. This
infantrymen swinging his rifle like a club is protecting those colors
with every ounce of strength he can muster. This is a powerful monument
and a powerful statement of just how important the colors were to a fighting
unit. Look closely at the monuments on this battlefield and see just how many
have a battle flag incorporated in them. |
