A Bit of History Relived

This summer, one of the many farms in Gettysburg will again bear witness to an event that took place there 150 years ago.

The Daniel Lady Farm, located at 986 Hanover Road, is headquarters for the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association who, along with the Florida Regiment Medical Department, will be hosting a kick-off event on the first day of the 10-day Gettysburg 150^th Commemoration – Friday, June 28. This event will begin for the living historians around 10 a.m. when men acting as the 1^st North Carolina Infantry will leave the farm, as if they are going to fight at the attack on Culp’s Hill as it happened in 1863.

Daniel Lady Farm

At noon, the Daniel Lady Farm Confederate Field Hospital will open to the public and at 2:15 p.m., the soldiers will return from Culp’s Hill, complete with movie-quality make-up to help portray their battle wounds. Visitors will be able to watch the wounded soldiers go through medical triage and be helped by other participants on the Daniel Lady Farm premises, just as they were 150 years prior.

Throughout the rest of the week, from Sunday, June 30 through Thursday, July 4, visitors to the Daniel Lady Farm will also get to experience the “Where War Met Compassion, the Confederate Field Hospital” event. Opening at noon on June 30 and 9 a.m. Monday through Thursday, the farm will have a variety of living history activities, as well as various live demonstrations daily on different topics ranging from medicine to pill-making in the 1860s to amputations. The event will end at 6 p.m. daily.

Historically, the Daniel Lady Farm was occupied by Confederate troops during the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg on July 1, 1863. The Army of Northern Virginia then used the stone farmhouse and barn located on the property as a field hospital, although wounded soldiers from both sides of the fighting were treated there. Confederate Gen. Richard Ewell also utilized the farmhouse as headquarters.

Whether visitors choose to experience the wounded soldiers returning from the attack on Culp’s Hill on June 28, or whether they decide to take in the living history occurring June 30 through July 4, the Daniel Lady Farm promises to be bustling with activity during the Gettysburg 150^th Commemoration. People coming to Gettysburg during the 10-day commemoration period will be able to experience living history in multiple spots around town, but the Daniel Lady Farm and its enthusiastic participants will bring the medical side to life again – a true bit of history relived, if even for a short time.

Risen from the Ashes of War

Courtesy of Gettysburg National Military Park.

A victory occurred recently on the battlefield at Gettysburg, as a monument once vandalized was restored to its previous state.

The 11^th Massachusetts Infantry monument, with its original and unique stone sculpture of an arm holding a bronze sword on top, was vandalized in February 2006, leaving part of the monument in pieces, with some parts missing. The monument, located at the intersection of Sickles Avenue and Emmitsburg Road, was one of three monuments damaged at that time. Dedicated by the State of Massachusetts in 1885, the monument honors the men of the 11^th Massachusetts Infantry, many of whom came from Boston. Nicknamed the “Boston Volunteers,” the infantry was led by Lt. Col. Porter D. Tripp at the Battle of Gettysburg and came with 364 men to Gettysburg, but 23 were killed, 96 wounded and 10 missing when the battle concluded.

The other two monuments damaged in February 2006 (the 4^th New York Battery of Artillery and the 114^th Pennsylvania Infantry) were restored in the past, but the 11^th Massachusetts took a great deal of care to re-create. A National Park Service preservationist used pieces left at the site of the vandalism to create a replica sculpture as close to the original as possible out of clay, using old photographs as guides. A mold was then cast from the clay piece and sent to Vermont, where a stone version was cast.

This marked an important moment for the battlefield and the National Park Service, which diligently worked to recreate a piece of lost history. The granite arm, complete with a pedestal and its sword-in-hand, was placed on top of the monument that had been standing incomplete for over seven years. Despite someone’s attempt to vandalize the battlefield in 2006 (no one was ever caught and tried for the crime), the battlefield proved that no negative effort can destroy the pride and history found at Gettysburg. Hopefully now, visitors will be able to view the monument as it was meant to be seen, either when taking a battlefield tour or talking with local guides.

When the Battle of Gettysburg ended, valiant efforts were made by soldiers on both sides, as is represented by the now complete 11^th Massachusetts Infantry monument. The park’s monuments are a symbol of how everyone, no matter which “side” they can trace their heritage back to, can come together in pursuit of preservation of a historic site and can truly rise from the ashes of war.

Flying High Over the Roads of Gettysburg

The Gettysburg Flag

There were many reasons why the American Civil War came north into Pennsylvania and found its way to the small town of Gettysburg, but what few can argue is how Gettysburg’s road network made it an ideal location to battle.

Often compared to the spokes of a wagon wheel, the roads that lead in and out of Gettysburg are numerous and were great for fortifying troop levels on the first couple days of fighting. Roads like the Chambersburg Pike, Emmitsburg Road, and the Taneytown Road still exist today and are the arteries of Gettysburg to bring in the millions of visitors.

Of course, some of those once one-lane dirt roads are now two lane routes that carry thousands of vehicles each day.

Gettysburg’s road network, in a way, has become a symbol of the town, and nowhere more striking than the town’s own official flag.

The flag, actually, isn’t that old. Adopted just 10 years ago next month, the official design is taken from the borough’s former seal. Modified several times over (see illustration), the flag now flies proudly in many parts of the town and highlights that famous road network, along with a few other symbolic meanings.

The Gettysburg Flag Design

In the middle is the famous Lincoln Square, with road tentacles jutting out in six different directions. Along the left side are three stars to represent the three days of battle in July 1863 (as well as  the borough’s three wards). The gold stars and blue background follows the colors in the Pennsylvania state flag.

This flag flies not only throughout this historic town but on the USS Gettysburg, which designated this as the ship’s “house flag,” and flown during special occasions and into battle.

If you’d like your own “Gettysburg” flag, call (717) 334-1160.

Piecing Together the Gettysburg Puzzle

If you’ve been to Gettysburg, you know that the 6,000 acres and 1,300 monuments and markers can be a bit cumbersome and overwhelming. It’s difficult to understand the context of the battle, even one day of it by reading one marker alone. At most, you’re likely to understand one unit’s position, action and casualties.

And in order to truly understand the magnitude of what happened in Gettysburg nearly 150 years ago, that context is important. Often it’s best to tour the battlefield in its entirety before honing in on specific monuments and plaques.

Two such sets of markers, however, are the exceptions to the rules – the Itinerary Tablets. A set of tablets stands at the Gettysburg National Military Park for both the Union and Confederate armies, at East Cemetery Hill and Seminary Ridge along West Confederate Avenue, respectively.

The Itinerary Tablets are distinguishable only by their stance on the battlefield as a line of markers spaced only a few feet from one another. In a way, they seem oddly placed, but there’s a reason they look much different than all other monuments and markers.

These markers tell the positions of both armies before, during and after the Battle of Gettysburg. The ten Confederate tablets, start on July 26 and end on July 5; while the nine Union tablets start on July 29 and end on July 9. In both cases, the stories begin and end, of course, outside Gettysburg.

The Itinerary Tablets – shown in detail at www.stonesentinels.com – help visitors understand how both armies arrived, re-enforced, and retreated from Gettysburg.

These markers help battlefield visitors understand that this battle affected more than just the town of Gettysburg. The towns north, south, east and west all felt the impacts of the war coming north. It was certainly something that the citizens of these towns feared for months.

Next year, as Gettysburg commemorates the 150^th Anniversary of its epic battle, the stories of these towns – Cashtown, Fairfield, Hunterstown, Hanover, Union Mills – will be shared to the throngs of visitors expected to visit during 2013. It’s part of the story.

To fully understand the magnitude of Gettysburg, one must look beyond Gettysburg. Just as we all take time to piece together the events of the entire war, it’s worth looking at the pieces that make up the Battle of Gettysburg.

Whether it’s the Union cavalry attack in Hunterstown that prevented Confederates from re-enforcing the Army of Northern Virginia in Gettysburg just a few miles away, or the Confederate victory in Fairfield on July 3 that paved the way for the CSA retreat days later, these pieces make up the puzzle.

For more on how Gettysburg is commemorating the 150^th Anniversary, visit www.gettysburgcivilwar150.com.

(All photos courtesy of StoneSentinels.com)

Avoiding Capture Through Timely Aid

In Gettysburg, many of the battlefield’s 1,300-plus monuments get lost in the shadows of the park’s most famous sculptures. But as we all know, each monument has a story. In fact, each monument represents hundreds of men with hundreds of stories.

Such is the case with the 32^nd Massachusetts Infantry. No, they aren’t the Hollywood stars that the 20^th Maine became, and their monument is photographed a fraction of what the 72nd Pennsylvania is, as it stands tall in the sunset beaming over Cemetery Ridge.

The 32nd Massachusetts Infantry Regiment Monument (Courtesy of StoneSentinels.com)

But the monument, and the regiment is unique.

As most battlefield visitors speed away from the Irish Brigade Monument and the wolfhound that rests at its feet, many don’t notice that small little Civil War pup tent or the plaque across the road as they try to negotiate the tight turns of Sickles Avenue.

Writes one Civil War blogger … “This area of the battlefield gets so few visits. I often wonder why, when people stop to get out and look at the Irish Brigade monument, they don’t just walk across the road to visit the little grouping of monuments there. I’ve watched. And it’s a shame.”

On the left side of the road, below the road’s surface, sits a tiny little tent – enough actually to sleep three men, a Licensed Battlefield Guide once told us. On it, hangs a canteen and is marked with the Fifth Corps’ Maltese Cross.

The men of the 32^nd Massachusetts had one tough July 2, 1863. At 5 p.m. that night, they withstood a Confederate attack and then was thrust back into action at the Wheatfield. The monument states the regiment lost in both actions. Out of 227 men, they lost 79 that day, according to Stone Sentinels.

The monument marking the field hospital for the 32nd Massachusetts.

Of those 79, many were undoubtedly taken under the care of Surgeon Z. Boylston Adams – a man whose bravery and unrelenting sacrificed clearly matched that of the soldiers for which he cared.

Adams established a field hospital just yards away from that little pup tent monument. Across the road, behind the Fifth Michigan monument sits a large rock with a plaque fastened tightly to it.

It was here that Adams cared for the wounded of the 32^nd Massachusetts.

“Established so near the line of battle, many of our wounded escaped capture or death by its timely aid,” the monument reads.

Our fellow Civil War blogger perhaps says it best … “So, you walk around this boulder and sure enough, there is an area that is surrounded by boulders. It would be an ideal spot to place a field hospital.”

Adams worked day and night through the end of the battle and beyond caring for both Union and Confederate wounded. he worked so hard, one website states – that he suffered temporary blindness and exhaustion. He was honorably discharged.

The plaque to Adams, according to the Civil War Surgeons Memorial website, is one of only a handful of memorials and monuments to surgeons in the United States.

Remember, the battle isn’t just about enlisted men and officers, cavalry and infantry. It’s about men and women – soldiers, civilians, ministers and doctors, among many others.

The monuments to the 32^nd Massachusetts can be found by following the Sickles Avenue around Devil’s Den, past DeTrobriand Avenue into the Rose Woods and of course, right past the Irish Brigade monument.

Every August, the Society of Civil War Surgeons hosts the Gettysburg Medical Living History Weekend in the shadow of the Pennsylvania Memorial. This year, the event is Aug. 18-19, and will include surgical demonstrations, programs and a wide variety of medical artifacts.

Take a hard look at Gettysburg’s monuments

The Gettysburg Battlefield is adorned with some of the best craftsmanship and symbolism found in the country. The 1,300 monuments and markers not only represent the bravery and sacrifice of the soldiers who fought here, but sometimes contain special representations of the regiments and batteries.

It’s no secret that many regiments and personalized their monuments at the Gettysburg battlefield. Some are more apparent than others, including the 11^th Pennsylvania (Sally the Dog), or the bird nest perched high on the 91^st Pennsylvania just a few feet away, but others are more subtle.

The monument to the 78^th and 102^nd New York Infantry Regiments is a great example of both symbolism and subtle meaning. While not nearly as obvious as the 1^st Vermont Brigade Monumenton Wright Avenue just south of Little Round Top, the monument to the New York regiments is similar in its feline qualities.

Courtesy of DrawTheSword.com

If you’re zipping by, eager to get to the top of Culp’s Hill, you might see the monument to the 78^th and 102^nd as simply a soldier resting his weapon on a stone wall, aimed at Confederates below. But at closer look – and perhaps a slight squint of the eyes – you’ll see a lion, something that once you’ve seen once you’ll notice first every time you drive by.

One of the stones is the wall was carved to resemble a lion’s head, while a part of the fence looks like a lion’s paw. The lion was included in the monument to represent the regiments’ valor during the Battle of Gettysburg. Don’t see it? Keep squinting – the lion appears to be resting its head on the fence. (Scroll down, there’s a hint in the second photo.)

On July 2, the regiments lost nearly 60 men of the 446 they brought to the field. When in Gettysburg, the regiments fought side by side, but separately, and it wasn’t until a year later when the loss of casualties in both regiments led them to join as one.

The monument visitors see there today along North Slocum Avenue (on the right side of the road), is a replacement. Vandals destroyed the original in 1987.

Courtesy of http://www.stonesentinels.com

The monuments to the 78^th and 102^nd New York regiments, as well as the 1^st Vermont Brigade, 11^th and 91^st Pennsylvania, are just a few examples of how special meaning has been worked into the craftsmanship of monuments on the Gettysburg battlefield.

Most visitors know they can take a tour to learn about the Battle of Gettysburg and the fighting that occurred here, but few know they can hire a guide to do a monument tour – one that focuses on the art, meaning and stories behind the stone sculptures in Gettysburg.

The next time you’re in Gettysburg, take a closer look at the sculpture on the monuments, in addition to the words written on their sides. To do some homework before your trip, websites such as www.stonesentinels.com are great resources for monuments.

A Symbol of Faith

In a vast battlefield scattered with monuments of muskets, flags and bayonets, it’s unusual to see a memorial of a man holding nothing – not a single weapon, not a fellow soldier, bugle or colors. It’s simply a bearded man looking out from Cemetery Ridge with his hand up in the air.

Father Corby, Courtesy of StoneSentinels.com

Today, for most visitors, Father Corby may be simply a drive-by monument as sights are set on the battlefield’s biggest monument a few hundred yards away, the Pennsylvania Memorial on Hancock Avenue. But like all those other monuments – of muskets, bayonets and stone – this one has a story too.

But it also begs the question, in a war filled with chaplains, why Father Corby? What’d he do to deserve a monument on the war’s most hallowed ground?

Father Corby was one of a handful of priests from Notre Dame University who joined regiments in the Union Army. Corby became part of the 88^th New York Infantry, as part of the beloved and heroic Irish Brigade.

And like other chaplains, Father Corby accompanied the 88^th on numerous battlefields throughout the war – giving comfort to wounded soldiers and giving absolution to the dying, according to StoneSentinels.com, his greatest moment came at Gettysburg.

Courtesy of HorryRebels.com

It was July 2, 1863, and to the south, the men of the Third Corps were suffering great casualties. As the 88^th New York prepared to storm The Wheatfield, Father Corby mounted a large rock and offered the men – just 500 of the 3,000 remaining – absolution for their sins. We found various accounts of what was actually said, including GettysburgDaily.com and StoneSentinels.com.

One account reads as such, as according to a blog, Almost Chosen People …

He decided, due to the certainty that many of the men of the brigade would soon die, to give a mass absolution, an application of the sacrament unknown in America. Father Corby sternly reminded the soldiers of their duties, warning that the Church would deny Christian burial to any who wavered in their duty. The members of the Brigade were instructed to confess their sins to a priest in the usual manner at their earliest opportunity. Then the entire brigade knelt, Catholics and Protestants alike.  Father Corby raised his right arm and recited the ancient words of forgiveness.

The regiment faced fierce fire from the Confederates that afternoon and lost more than a third of their men within minutes. They fought bravely, and survivors remembered their moment with Father Corby well, so well in fact that they fought to have him issued The Medal of Honor in 1893. And while their request was denied, Father Corby is forever memorialized on the Gettysburg battlefield – and some say on the very rock in which he offered absolution.

After the war, Father Corby went back to Notre Dame and served as president of the school. He died in 1897, and his monument in Gettysburg was dedicated in 1910. A similar monument stands at Notre Dame and notes his ties to the Battle of Gettysburg.

The Father Corby monument in Gettysburg resembles one of many examples of how faith played such a big part in our nation’s biggest conflict. It’s often a site for Christians to gather and pray, bringing to light the bravery and sacrifice the men of the 88^th New York experienced that July afternoon.

The Father Corby monument is between stops 11 and 12 on the Self-Guided Auto Tour, just south of the Pennsylvania Memorial.

The View From The Top

It’s tough being Big Round Top. Every day, it watches everyone drive by in awe of the little hill on its right shoulder. What many may not realize, however, is how close Big Round Top came to lighting up the sky.

The towering peak on the south end of the Gettysburg battlefield avoided major bloodshed in July 1863, but because of that, many visitors avoid it today. Instead, visitors hone in on neighboring Devil’s Den and Little Round Top, the scene of one of the conflict’s most courageous and movie-worthy battles on July 2.

Battlefield visitors taking the battlefield’s Self-Guiding Auto Tour make a quick jaunt along the southern and western slopes of Big Round Top, spotting a few monuments – the 1^st Vermont Cavalry or the 10^th Pennsylvania Reserves – but it’s mostly just a nice scenic drive along South Confederate Avenue.

Big Round Top, as seen from Seminary Ridge

The most adventurous of visitors will park in a small lot half-way up and take Big Round Top by foot along a hiking trail. There usually aren’t a lot of cars because it’s quite a climb to the top. But up there, you’ll find a collection of monuments – to that of four Pennsylvania regiments and a second monument to the famous 20^th Maine, popular for its heroic fight at the extreme left flank of the Union army on July 2.

But one of the most interesting finds at the peak of Big Round Top is the foundation for an observation tower, similar to those found at Culp’s Hill, West Confederate Avenue and Oak Hill. The tower that once stood there gave an incredible view of the southern end of the battlefield. Its view was vastly higher than those on the crest of Little Round Top.

The tower was disassembled in the late 1960s, according to a June 19, 1968 article in the Gettysburg Times. The National Park Service announced it would remove the monument rather than replace or repair the late 19^thcentury structure, deeming it uneconomical “considering its condition and very limited use” in recent years.

The view from the Big Round Top Observation Tower, courtesy of GettysburgDaily.com and the Center for Civil War Photography

“The tower reached by a lengthy climb up the side of Big Round Top, was used only by the hardiest of tourists,” the article read. “Most who started the climb gave out en route, and upon reaching the tower decided against continuing the climb to the top of the metal conservatory.”

But it was more than 20 years earlier that talks began about removing the tower from the battlefield’s second highest (Culp’s Hill is higher) peak.

In 1937, a local state legislator – John Rice – announced that a commission would be formed along with a memorial fund to create the so-called “Gettysburg Peace Memorial” in preparation for the 75^th anniversary of the battle the next year.

Of course, the memorial – now called the Eternal Peace Light Memorial – sits atop Oak Hill overlooking the town of Gettysburg and the first day’s battlefield. But that wasn’t always the location marked for the monument.

In initial plans outlined in 1937, according to the Gettysburg Compiler, designs called for “an observation platform 75 feet from the base, while 30 feet above, and from the top, will be an eternal flame.”

That would have certainly made an impact on not only Big Round Top, but the remainder of the Gettysburg battlefield, as its flame would certainly be seen from across the Valley of Death, Wheatfield and Peach Orchard, all the way to the Confederate line on Seminary Ridge.

“The memorial will be dedicated to every man, woman and child who participated in any way in the Civil War,” the article continued.

The Eternal Peace Light Memorial

In all six designs and several locations were considered, but of course, the final decision was to place the monument on Oak Hill. That monument was finished in time for a dedication in July 1938 by Franklin D. Roosevelt.

As Gettysburg commemorates the 150^th anniversary of the American Civil War, much attention is focused back to those days in 1938, as the last major anniversary in which veterans attended. The monument is a reminder of how this nation has healed from that brutal four-year war.

We encourage you to lace up those hiking boots someday and take the climb up Big Round Top. Those soldiers certainly deserve your time and recognition.

The First to Fall

Of the thousands of men – Union and Confederate – who died on the farm fields and in the streets of Gettysburg in the summer of 1863, none is more important than another. But only one has the distinction of being the first.

Courtesy of Findagrave.com

And strangely enough, the first casualty came before the first official shot of the three-day battle.

George Washington Sandoe, a local boy growing up in the hills surrounding Gettysburg, mustered into service on June 23, 1863. He was 20 years old. He served in Capt. Robert Bell’s Independent Cavalry, later to become the 21^st Pennsylvania Cavalry.

On June 26, Sandoe and fellow cavalryman William Lightner were scouting the roads around Gettysburg three days later. As they came upon an area known as McAllister’s Mill, an Underground Railroad site just yards from Rock Creek south of Gettysburg, the two came upon Confederate Brig. Gen. John B. Gordon’s brigade “hidden behind brush and bushes.”

Gordon’s men ordered Sandoe and Lightner to halt. Lightner quickly turned his horse around and rode down the Baltimore Pike to safety. Sandoe did not. His horse fell as he tried to mount and ride off. A southern soldier shot him as he tried to flee on foot.

And of course the first official shot was recorded early morning on July 1^st.

The 21st Pennsylvania Cavalry Monument, Courtesy of StoneSentinels.com

Sandoe would never know what would come in the week ahead. Four days after his death, Union Gen. John Buford would arrive and encounter an onslaught of Confederates in the first day of the three-day long battle.

That battle would become the turning point of the Civil War and go down in history as the biggest conflict on American soil.

Two monuments stand in Gettysburg today to honor the men of the 21^st Cavalry, both along Baltimore Pike not far from where the young Sandoe lost his life. Among the 1,300 monuments and markers in Gettysburg, he is the only private memorialized on this battlefield.

Today, the McAllister’s Mill Underground Railroad site is part of the National Park Service’s Network to Freedom. During the summer, tours of the site are given every Saturday at 10 a.m. by a fellow Sandoe – Debra McCauslin. Click here for more information.

As well, members of the 21^st Pennsylvania Cavalry regularly set up camp in Gettysburg at the American Civil War Wax Museum.

A Soldier Picks Up The Pen

Without a doubt, the 1,300-plus monuments that stand on the Gettysburg battlefield represent the bravery of the men who fought here in 1863. Their names and likenesses hold many stories. These stone memorials are reminders of the blood shed and the heroic decisions that were made during the biggest conflict on American soil.

But there’s one monument that perhaps represents more of what this soldier did after the battle than actually during the three-day fight.

William Brooke Rawle - Courtesy of Findagrave.com

Standing tall above the surrounding evergreen trees along Gregg Avenue on the East Cavalry Battlefield is a flag pole. There’s no flag – just the pole. It’s rusty, but the plaque remains readable – “To the memory of Brevet Lieut. Colonel William Brooke Rawle, 1843 -1915.”

Rawle doesn’t exactly make it into the same conversations as say, Chamberlain, Culp, Cushing, and other Gettysburg soldiers, but that’s not to say his name didn’t make it into the history books. In fact, it’s on the cover.

William Rawle Brooke, as he was named at his birth, was a Philadelphia man, and arrived to Gettysburg as part of the 3^rdPennsylvania Cavalry under Capt. William E. Miller. On the third day of the battle, during cavalry action against Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, Miller disobeyed orders to hold his troops in the woods and charged into a cavalry column attempting to get to the Union flank.

3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry Monument - Courtesy of Draw the Sword

According to one account … “With but thirty men of his Company, Brooke Rawle was posted on a slope of Lotts’ Wood, on the Confederate left flank. Captain Miller, with a like number from another Company of the Third Pennsylvania Cavalry, was in command of the little squadron, and he, in a letter of four days later, gives the conclusion of the story: ‘At Brooke’s suggestion, I ordered him to close up the squadron whilst I looked out for a point to strike. We struck Stuart’s left flank in rear of his colors and cut him in half, turned the rear portion and drove them like sheep.’

This action, in which Rawle participated in, forced the Confederates to retreat on July 3. Rawle’s testimony years later helped Miller receive the Medal of Honor for his bravery, according to the Pennsylvania Department of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. Rawle’s modesty would not permit his friends to present his name for the same honor.

The William Brooke Rawle Flagpole

In the decades that followed that fierce cavalry battle east of Gettysburg, Rawle become a leading historian on Union cavalry and helped document much of the cavalry action at Gettysburg. His books include: “The Right Flank at Gettysburg” and “With Gregg in the Gettysburg Campaign,” the latter of which refers to Major Gen. David McMurtrie Gregg, Union Cavalry Commander.

 

A monument to the 3^rd Pennsylvania Cavalry was dedicated in 1890, and today stands down a grassy lane just yards from what’s known as the Cavalry Shaft or Gregg’s Cavalry Shaft, dedicated six years earlier with the help of Rawle, who delivered an address at the occasion.

The flag pole was dedicated much later and many believe it’s more representative of his documentation and reporting of the Union cavalry that day. The pole was dedicated in Rawle’s presence in 1909, but a plaque was not installed until 1915, the same year of his death.

 

The East Cavalry Battlefield is often missed by Gettysburg’s visitors, but it’s worth the short drive down Hanover Road to learn about such soldiers as Rawle, Miller, Stuart and George Custer. And, of course, you can always ask your Licensed Battlefield Guide to give you a tour that focuses in on this famous fight on July 3.