Defense of Little Round Top - Gettysburg, PA
N 39° 47.493 W 077° 14.221
18S E 308460 N 4407015
The story of Gettysburg is told to visitors through beautiful & comprehensive interpretives placed at strategic & often historic locations about the battlefield. This marker speaks to the Union defense of this strategic location where you now stand.
Waymark Code: WMENWB
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 06/20/2012
Views: 12
This beautiful collection of markers are usually roadside and in some cases, trail-side (paved mostly) especially when they are telling a story that happened at this rocky terrain that is Gettysburg. This marker is definitely trail-side, 152 feet away form the road, along side a dusty and sometimes rocky trail, filled with interpretives and huge monuments. This marker is an oblong, rectangular one, held landscape style in a thick, metal bracket. The interpretive is angled forward for easy viewing and is about 4 feet or so off of the ground, and on the left edge of the paved path (not a dirt trail) as you snake your way north along through the Little Round Top pass. 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.
The marker is located on Sykes Avenue, on the left or west side of the road when traveling north and is in the Little Round Top section, stop eight of the driving tour of the Gettysburg National Military Park. There is an obvious trailhead which stats off of Sykes Avenue that will let visitors wind their way through the mountain pass. This site is an interesting location marked by scores of tablets, markers, monuments, memorials with lots of large boulders and rocky outcroppings good for scrambling upon to get better looks at the monuments and the amazing western view. There is ample parking along the side of the road at intermittent shoulder cutouts. 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 @ approximately 5:33 PM, just before the clocks were set ahead an hour for Spring. I was at an approximate height of 653 feet, ASL. I highly recommend visiting this site near sundown. The light is beautiful and makes for gorgeous pictures.
From the Stone Sentinels site: Union monuments cluster thickly on this strategic hill, a turning point of the battle. The second highest point on the battlefield (after Big Round Top) it offers a magnificent view to the west which can be particularly stunning at sunset. Sykes Avenue runs one-way from near the intersection of Warren Avenue and Wright Avenue, over the east flank of Little Round Top and north to the intersection with Wheatfield Road, where it continues north as Sedgwick Avenue. Parking can be an issue at peak times in spite of a large number of spaces at Little Round Top summit. A small number of parking spaces are also available on Wright and Warren Avenue at the foot of the hill.
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:
"A great basin lay before us full of smoke and fire, and literally swarming with riderless horses and fighting, fleeing, and pursuing men."
1st Lt. Porter Farley, U.S.A.
140th New York Infantry
Col. Strong Vincent and his 1,300-man Union infantry brigade rushed to defend this hill about 4:00 p.m. on July 2-and none too soon. Just as his men took position on the slopes below, Texans and Alabamians of Maj. Gen. John B. Hood's division began streaming out of the woods to your left. Rapid, deadly fire from Vincent's line drove them back.
Hood's determined men rallied and renewed the fight. When the Union right flank began to crumble, Colonel Vincent went to their aid. While exposed, he fell mortally wounded.
Just when the Federals seemed doomed, over the hill behind you poured the 140th New York Infantry led by Col. Patrick O'Rorke. The New Yorkers, who had no time to load their muskets, swept down the hill in front of you into the surging Confederates. O'Rorke fell dead when a bullet pierced his neck. After a bloody struggle the exhausted Southerners fell back, leaving Little Round Top in Union hands.
In the center of the marker is a depiction of the Federals fighting on Little Round Top.
The timely counterattack of Col. Patrick O'Rorke's 140th New York Infantry down the slope in front of you probably saved Little Round Top for the Union. Painting by Gil Cohen.In the upper right is a portrait of Col. Strong Vincent, described as
an attorney before the war, was only 26 when he was mortally wounded here. His decisive action in seizing Little Round Top prevented the destruction of the Union left flank. He died in a field hospital five days after the fight, perhaps unaware that he had been promoted to brigadier general.In the lower right is a portrait of Col. O'Rorke.
The gallant Col. Patrick O'Rorke graduated first in his class at West Point in 1861. The 140th New York was his first combat command. Brig. Gen. G.K. Warren, who had sent O'Rorke into the fight here, lamented his death: "I would have died to save him if I could." O'Rorke is honored on the monument behind you to the left.