Battle of Gettysburg: Three Days in 1863

The Battle of Gettysburg began here on 1 July 1863, when the two armies encountered each other on the low ridges northwest of town. John Buford's 3,200 dismounted cavalrymen held the ridge until 10:30 am against 7,000 Confederates, and were soon reinforced by two corps of Union infantry. Later a barn on the ridge was captured and used as a field hospital.

Location precision: The ridge ran along several farms; the pin marks the ridge itself, not one exact spot of the fighting.

Visitor guidance: Part of Gettysburg National Military Park.

After the first day, Union troops occupied Culp's Hill at nightfall on 1 July, as a rallying point. Confederate general Ewell's failure to take it that evening is considered one of the great missed opportunities of the battle. By mid-morning on 2 July the XII Corps had arrived, and Brig. Gen. George Greene set his troops to felling trees and collecting rocks and earth for defensive works.

Location precision: Fighting covered the whole wooded hill and its slopes; the pin marks the hill, not a single spot.

Visitor guidance: Part of Gettysburg National Military Park.

On the afternoon of 2 July, Confederate brigades climbed Little Round Top on the Union left. At the end of the line stood 386 officers and men of the 20th Maine and the 83rd Pennsylvania. Seeing the Confederates shifting around his flank, Colonel Joshua Chamberlain swung the southern half of his line back, and the regiment held through two charges by the 15th Alabama and others for ninety minutes. Chamberlain then ordered his men to fix bayonets and counterattack.

Visitor guidance: Part of Gettysburg National Military Park; monuments mark the positions.

On 3 July, about 12,500 Confederate soldiers stepped off toward the Union centre. Though called Pickett's Charge, the men marched deliberately in line across nearly three quarters of a mile of open fields. Union soldiers shouted "Fredericksburg!" as they came on. The attack reached a low stone wall that makes two 90-degree turns at the northern end of Cemetery Ridge, known as The Angle or the High Water Mark of the Confederacy.

Location precision: The pin marks Cemetery Ridge in general; The Angle lies near its northern end.

Visitor guidance: Part of Gettysburg National Military Park.

On 19 November 1863 came the consecration of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg. Lincoln had left Washington on 18 November to attend, and the Gettysburg Address was given at the ceremony. The plan grouped the Union dead by states and focused on a central monument. The centerpiece today is the Soldiers' National Monument of 1869.

Visitor guidance: Beside the battlefield; a place of burial, so visit quietly.