Copse of Trees - Gettysburg, PA
N 39° 48.758 W 077° 14.141
18S E 308633 N 4409352
This is about as historic as a group of trees can get. These trees were witness to and the focal point of Pickett's Charge on the last day of the Battle of Gettysburg. Amazingly, they still stand today.
Waymark Code: WMGXH3
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 04/20/2013
Views: 9
The Copse of Trees was the focal point of Pickett's Charge on July 3rd, 1863, the last day of the Battle of Gettysburg. It is located inside The Angle, an area within a stone fence that zigzags south, then west, the south again near the trees (just out of frame to the right). Union troops under Brigadier General John Gibbon defended the stone wall. Confederate troops led by Brigadier General Lewis Armistead temporarily broke through their lines and crossed the wall just west of the Copse of Trees (behind the trees in this ohoto) in what has come to be regarded as the high point of Confederate military acheivement in the war. It is commemorated by the High Water Mark monument at the base of the trees. The grove today is surrounded by an iron fence, and is probably much smaller than the original wooded area. SOURCE
The Copse of Trees is located on Hancock Avenue, on the left or west side of the road of traveling north, at the High Watermark of the Rebellion, an area called the Angle. This area is an absolute beehive of activity as this site represents the best of what Gettysburg has to offer, both historically and monumentally. Parking is plentiful and is available road-side at intermittently enlarged shoulder cut-outs, usually marked with white striping. Be sure to keep vehicles off the grass or you will be ticketed by park police. I visited this site on Tuesday, August 7, 2012 at 4:58 PM. I was at an elevation of 607 feet, ASL. I used a Canon PowerShot 14.1 Megapixel, SX210 IS digital camera for the photos.
The Copse of Trees is at an area called The Angle. The Angle (Bloody Angle colloq.) is a Gettysburg Battlefield area which includes the 1863 Copse of Trees used as the target landmark for Pickett's Charge, the 1892 monument that marks the high-water mark of the Confederacy, and several other Battle of Gettysburg monuments. The area is where 1500 Confederate Virginians broke through the July 3, 1863, Union line on Cemetery Ridge, and in 1922, the Marine Expeditionary Force of Camp Harding used The Angle in their reenactment of Pickett's Charge. The proper noun "Bloody Angle" became common during the battlefield's commemorative era after being used as early as 1893." Wikipedia
There are countless markers, memorials, monuments and artillery displays located here. Looking at my photos, one can see cannons and caissons which are part of the monument to Alonzo Cushing's Battery A, 4th United States Artillery. Directly in front of the cannon is the monument to Confederate Brigadier General Lewis Armistead, who led his men over the stone wall, breaking the Union line. Armistead was mortally wounded here and his men driven back, captured or killed. In the distance to the left is the Codori Farm, where Confederate Major General George Pickett commanded his division in the charge.
My Sources
1.
NRHP Narrative
2.
Stone Sentinels
3.
Wikpedia