The Wounded and the Dead - Gettysburg, PA - Signs of History on Waymarking.com

This beautiful collection of markers are usually roadside and in some cases, trailside especially when they are telling a story that happened in the rocky terrain that is Gettysburg. This marker is an oblong rectangular one, held landscape style of a thick, metal bracket. The interpretive is angled forward for easy viewing and is about 4 feet or so off of the ground. These markers were produced and installed by the Gettysburg National Military Park. I am unsure from where the funds originated or if this was a federal or local initiative. There is another similar marker to the right of this one (the two are next to each other) called Farnsworth's Cavalry Charge.

The marker is located on South Confederate Avenue, on the left or north side of the road when traveling in an easterly direction and is in the Warfield Ridge section. It is a convenient place to stop as there is a wayside pull off between Bushman Hill and Big Round Top. This site is an interesting location marked by scored of tablets, markers, monuments and memorials. This part of South Confederate Avenue is very curvy, like two soup ladles or a sine wave if you are into math. This location is the beginning of the second period or the apex of the second ladle. The road eventually (not too far away) ends up at Little Round Top where there are several more of these interpretives and an impressive array of monuments. There is ample parking along the side of the road at intermittent should cutouts. This area is tough to park as there is low visibility due to the many curves in the road. Make sure to never park on anything green or greenish as you will be ticket by park police. I visited this monument on Saturday, March 10, 2012 @ 5:00 PM, just before the clocks were set ahead an hour for Spring. I was at an approximate height of 545 feet, ASL.

Mostly all of these interpretives begin with an historic quote form one of the military officers or a witness to the battle. These first hand quotes offer a bit of authenticity to the accounts given by these historic markers. The marker reads:

"Every conceivable wound that iron and lead can make, blunt or sharp, bullet, ball and shell, piercing, bruising, tearing, was there...."
1lst Lt. Frank A. Haskell, U.S.A.
Aide to Brig. Gen. John Gibbon

In the three days at Gettysburg, 7,708 soldiers were killed. 26,856 were wounded. Never before had there been so many dead, dying, and maimed on an American battlefield. The human misery was monumental, as was the task of caring for the wounded and burying the dead.

Schools, churches, homes, and farm buildings - including John Slyder's farm in front of you - were converted into emergency shelters and field hospitals. Clothing and sheets were ripped for bandages, and barn doors became operating tables. Army surgeons labored until they collapsed. Amputated arms and legs accumulated in piles.

Doctors, nurses, and volunteers remained at Gettysburg four months to care for the wounded. Citizens also responded to the soldiers' suffering with donations of money, food, letters, and gifts.

Few civilians were injured during the battle, but many, like the Slyders here, lost property, livestock, and crops.

A Painful Scene
A trooper of the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry served picket duty here at the Slyder farm the night after the battle:
"The house was being used as a field hospital and was filled with wounded upon whom the surgeons were engaged in their revolting work. As fast as the men died their bodies were taken out of the house and into the rain and left there temporarily. The scene was so painful and sickening to us that we determined to remain with the picket reserve out in the pitiless downpour of rain."

Gettysburg Casualties
Union Killed 3,149
Wounded 14,501
Missing/Captured 5,157
Total 22,807

Confederate
Killed 4,559
Wounded 12,355
Missing/Captured 5,643
Total 22,557

"Killed" do not include wounded who died after the battle. Figures are based on incomplete records. Confederate losses may have been as high as 28,000.

Group that erected the marker: Gettysburg National Military Park URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: [Web Link] Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary: Gettysburg National Military Park South Confederate Avenue Gettysburg, PA USA 17325

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