May 11th, 2021 - Battlefield Tour Part 1 of 8
One of the main reasons we came to Gettysburg was to tour the battlefields. We started at the visitor center of the Gettysburg National Military Park.
I knew there was a self drive tour around the battlefield and we had decided this was what we wanted to do rather than an organized tour. This way we could go at our own pace, which is invariably slower than most people 😂 and take our time. We were in no hurry and knew we probably wouldn't get the whole tour done in one day!!
We got the tour details and instructions and off we went.
Here is the whole tour map, but I will put the section that we are doing at the beginning of the pictures for the day.
Remember you can click on any map or picture and it should enlarge for you.
The map below shows the part this blog covers.
There were signs showing us the way and when we reached a certain point.
Unfortunately our tour didn't start particularly well. The tour took us through town and they had closed a road they were working on, so we had to make a detour. At this point we lost the directional signs and although we knew the general direction we were going, there were many one way roads and we couldn't figure out how to rejoin the tour. We knew the road we had to get on but just couldn't get there. Eventually I put the address of the first stop in my phone and found a route that didn't take us through the closed road!!! Phew!!!
The irony of this was that we ended up just up the road from our campground.
Lets go back in time to July 1st, 1863 - Day 1 of the Battle of Gettysburg. The battle lasted 3 days.
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| Confederate Brigade Markers(Round Bases) describe the positions and actions of Confederate Brigades |
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| Union Brigade Markers(square bases)describe the positions and actions of Union Brigades |
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| "Regimental Monuments commemorate state and U.S. Regular Army regiments. These monuments are normally placed at the center of a regiment's line of battle." |
Whenever I put text in quotation marks and italics it means that has been taken from a brochure or sign.
These markers on Reynolds Road were the first markers we saw on our tour. They are confederate markers(round base)
We continued our drive taking pictures along the way.
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| Union monument(square base) |
Stop 1 - McPherson Ridge - "The battle began about 8am to the west beyond the McPherson barn. Union cavalry confronted Confederate infantry advancing east along Chambersburg Pike. Heavy fighting spread north and south along the ridge as additional forces arrived."
"Among the victims was Union Maj. Gen. John F Reynolds, the first of many generals whose careers ended at Gettysburg." Reynolds Woods is named after him.
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| These wild flowers were growing at the base of his memorial. |
"McPherson Barn- The several farm buildings here in 1862 became a focal point for the opening of the battle"
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| McPherson Barn |
Next was the Railway Cut. A train just happened to go by while we were there. How about that for timing!!!
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| 12th Illinois Cavalry |
Day 1 is not finished, it will continue in the next blog..............
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