The Eye of General Warren - Gettysburg, PA
N 39° 47.535 W 077° 14.199
18S E 308494 N 4407092
The story of Gettysburg is told to visitors through beautiful & comprehensive interpretives placed at strategic & historic locations about the battlefield. The marker's subject is General Warren & his keen eyesight and insight helped save the day.
Waymark Code: WMENWZ
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 06/20/2012
Views: 15
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, 165 feet away from the road, along side a dusty and sometimes *rocky trail (*if you leave the paved access pass which you most certainly have to do if you want to see the monuments up close and personal), filled with interpretives and huge monuments. This marker is an oblong, rectangular one, held landscape style in a thick, metal bracket, doubling as a orientation table. 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. The marker faces north, in the exact direction of the Warren Statue (135 feet north of this position) which features General Warren gazing forward with his binoculars in his hand just as he did on July 2, 1863. General Warren is said to have stood on the exact boulder you would see in front of you on July 2 to observe the surrounding battle lines. The memorial uses this very rock as its base. I really loved this area. The trail opens up into a patio or look out of sorts where large amounts of people gathered to read this and the other two interpretives lined up in a nice row and no doubt to take in the majestic view of the battlefield at sundown. Starting to the left and moving to the right, this marker is the last of the three, on the far left. 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 @ 5:40 PM, just before the clocks were set ahead an hour for Spring. I was at an approximate height of 670 feet, ASL. I highly recommend visiting this site near sundown. The fading 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:
"I saw that this [Little Round Top] was the key to the whole position..."
Brig. Gen. G.K. Warren, U.S.A.
Chief of Engineers, Army of the Potomac
About 3:30 p.m. on July 2, the Union army's Chief Engineer, Brig. Gen. G.K. Warren, stepped out on these rocks with his binoculars. General Meade had sent him to examine battlefield conditions in the area. Warren found Union signalmen here, but no infantry. Little Round Top was undefended.
Warren discovered that Confederate troops were concealed in the woods just beyond the Emmitsburg Road (the second line of trees on the horizon). If these Southerners were allowed to seize Little Round Top, the Union army would be dangerously outflanked.
General Warren quickly dispatched aides to seek troops to defend the hill. Col. Strong Vincent's Brigade arrived just in time to meet the onrushing Confederates, and a bloddy conflict ensued. When Vincent's men were nearly overwhelmed, Warren found Col. Patrick O'Rorke's 140th New York Infantry on the hillside behind you and rushed them into the fight to save the day for the Union.
More information found on the marker:
On the right center of the marker is a drawing of the activities on Little round top. From near this point on Little Round Top, General Warren scans the horizon for attacking Confederates of Longstreet's Corps. The sight of a large enemy force about to outflank the Union position struck Warren as "almost appalling." Behind Warren, Union signalmen use a flag to send coded messages.
Visible in the front of you is a bronze figure of General Warren standing on the boulder where he stood on July 2. The statue was dedicated in 1888.
On the lower center is a portrait of General Warren. The keen eye and decisive judgment of Brig. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren helped save Little Round Top - and perhaps the battle - for the Union. Before the war Warren worked as a topographical engineer, and as a mathematics instructor at West Point where he had graduated second in his class in 1850. Here at Little Round Top he eluded death when a bullet grazed his neck.