The New Battlefield of Gettysburg

I’ve been visiting the Gettysburg Battlefield for nearly 30 years now, ever since I was a tyke and my parents took me there. Back then, I understood little and was content–like most kids my age–to crawl around the rocks at Devil’s Den and get lost in the woods.

Of course, as I got older, and especially since I graduated from college, my interest changed to the battle itself and how the terrain dictated the action over the three days. Since I’ve always had a deep interest in the cavalry, I began to specialize my study in that area. Terrain and geographical features always play a major role in “driving” cavalry actions, whether mounted or dismounted.

I am not trained in history at all, but as I began to collect a massive library of primary sources, I began to write. I’ve coauthored two books thus far on cavalry actions during the Gettysburg Campaign (which will be released in early 2006) and a number of articles for a popular Civil War magazine. However, I long ago made a promise to myself that I’d never write on a subject unless I had a chance to first study the ground where the action took place, and I’ve kept it thus far–and I plan to continue that commitment.

Which brings me back to the subject of this piece. To me, as to many other students of Civil War battles, the ground itself is a most valuable primary resource. Too often, too many folks miss that part of studying and learning. In fact, there are several well-known authors of Civil War battle books and articles who rarely study the ground they write about. I have not a scintilla of a clue how they do that–to me, it’s being disingenuous to the reader. Many times seeing the particular ground where a skirmish or battle took place can alter my view of it. In all cases, it certainly enhances it.

Over the past couple of years, Superintendant John Latschar has been overseeing a massive undertaking at the Gettysburg National Military Park–that of clearing acres of trees which didn’t exist at the time of the battle, replanting those that did and have since disappeared, and building fences and farm lanes which have also since disappeared. In short, this mult-year program is designed to return the geography and appearance of the battlefield as close to its 1863 condition as possible. In fact, the present Visitor Center (the Rosensteel building) with museum, and the Cyclorama Building, will soon be torn down and everything housed in a new Visitor Center complex further east off the Taneytown Road.

I never thought I could experience such bliss when it came to Gettysburg.
As to be expected, many don’t like the idea. Every time a new tree-cutting program is undertaken on an area of the battlefield, a slew of folks lodge complaints about it–mad that we’re cutting down trees. Mad that we’re altering the topography. Mad that birds are losing their nests, etc etc. However, the planning being undertaken has admirably addressed all these concerns.

By far, most everyone, and especially ardent battlefield trampers, have been delighted with the results. I for one couldn’t be happier. The tree clearing in the middle of the field, in the area of the Trostle Farm, which has removed a dense growth that didn’t exist at the time of the battle, has been eye-opening. For the first time in generations, visitors can now see an important part of the field much closer to the way the soldiers saw it. For those of us who marveled at the “new view” when the utility poles along the Emmitsburg Road (in the field of Pickett’s Charge) were removed and the lines buried, the tree clearing has been wargasmic.

As a cavalry afficianado, I was astonished to see the clearing done in the D-shaped field of the old Slyder Farm. This is a farm field just southwest of Big Round Top, which was the area where Brig. Gen. Elon Farnsworth (commanding a brigade in Kilpatrick’s Third Cavalry Division) was mortally wounded at the height of “Farnsworth’s Charge” on July 3 after Pickett’s Charge was repulsed. Although a cultivated field at the time of the battle, this field has since overgrown, and the trees completely surrounded and hid the monument of the 1st Vermont Cavalry of Farnsworth’s Brigade. Now that it has become a field again, visitors get a much better idea of the terrain, folks have “discovered” the monument itself, and students have a whole new arena in which to interpret this particular action. In fact, until I saw it myself, I had no idea that the field actually sits on a slight eminence–creating a military crest. It has shed new light on this ill-fated charge and what Farnsworth’s troopers faced as they galloped into the Confederate line at this point.

More clearing has been done just north of the Slyder Farm, further opening up the views on the south end of the field. More tree clearing is planned for the area of Little Round Top, the Plum Run Valley, and around Devil’s Den and Triangular Field.

As I began this piece, I stated that I’ve been visiting Gettysburg for three decades–but with this program I have been discovering an entirely new battlefield. In many ways I’m astonished. As a historical writer and interpreter, the change in views has in many ways changed my thinking on particular aspects of the battle–I often had to try to imagine if this or that stand of trees were gone, what would I see? But that’s very difficult to do. If you cannot see the ground, you simply can’t imagine it either. The clearing around the Slyder Farm, for instance, revealed those military crests, swales and knolls, as well as the enormous amount of boulders that Farnsworth’s mounted troopers had to contend with. Seeing that ground has left me like a sweet-toothed kid turned loose in a candy store.

One of the most recent clearings was done just north of Little Round Top–a small knoll that sits at the edge of what was Munshower’s Field. This area wouldn’t have much significance if it weren’t for the role the knoll played in Gen. Dan Sickles’ decision to move his entire Third Corps forward to the Emmitsburg Road on July 2. Again, for decades, this knoll and area surrounding the Gen. John Sedgwick statue had been completely covered and obscured by dense mature tree growth. Until cleared recently, once the visitor drove the Park road down Little Round Top and to Hancock Avenue at The Angle, one couldn’t see anything until nearly reaching the Pennsylvania Memorial. This part of the field was completely obscured, and it was therefore very difficult to envision what Sickles would have seen during the battle. Now with the area cleared, the whole discussion of Sickles’ move has opened to a new, much more informed debate.

Over the next several years, we’re going to see much more. More open ground like it was in 1863, replanted orchards, historic fence lines, farm lanes–the list goes on. For those of us who love walking the ground–feeling it in a sense–will have a new Gettysburg to soak in. And mark my words, some traditional ideas and interpretations will be tweaked. There probably won’t be any great new revelations from on High, but we are certainly going to look at the events of July 1, 2, and 3 of 1863 in a whole new light.

I love it. Elect John Latschar for President, I say. Some love him, some hate him, but in my book he’s doing more for interpretation of Gettysburg than has been done in the last 100 years. And all of it takes money–which is getting thin. Luckily the tree cutting companies, which sell the trees to paper companies and the like, have been able to clear the ground “on the cheap” but it takes money and volunteers to maintain it. If you like what’s been going on, dig down and send a few bucks to either the Park or an organization such as the Friends of the National Parks at Gettysburg.

Keep going, John Latschar. Saw and plant away.

J. David Petruzzi
Brockway PA

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