Doubleday Avenue Orientation Table - Gettysburg, PA
N 39° 50.639 W 077° 14.515
18S E 308186 N 4412846
Another installment of an official Gettysburg Battlefield signs of history/orientation table. So much occurred each of the three days of the battle in so many places, the the commission decided to intall a bunch of these markers.
Waymark Code: WMAH55
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 01/15/2011
Views: 7
This marker is located next to the observation tower on the Oak Ridge section of Gettysburg National Military Park. The sign is on Doubleday Avenue. All of these signs are really nice. They are laid horizontal at a slight angle in a metal support/frame around various, strategic battlefield sites. Usually they are erected in scenic locations where one might get a 360 degree view of the field.
This one talks about all that happened on the first day and in the second part gives the reader a complete perspective of the field of battle, putting the visitor in relative position to everything else that happened on that horrible first day of battle on July 1, 1863. The orientation table offers several positions of important locations in Gettysburg. Another one of these signs is right down the hill at the Eternal Peace memorial.
The SOH reads:
"The enemy gave way on all sides, and was driven through Gettysburg with great loss."
Gen. Robert E. Lee, C.S.A.
Commander, Army of Northern Virginia
Infantry and artillery of the Union Eleventh Corps formed in the valley below you on the afternoon of July 1 to defend against Rodes' and Early's Confederate divisions which were attacking them from your left and rear. By 4:00 p.m. the Confederate tide swept through this area, scooping up 3,000 Union prisoners on the way.
9,000 Union soldiers and 6,800 Confederate soldiers were killed, wounded, or missing on July 1. Both sides paid a heavy price, but the Southerners had won the day. Gen. Robert E. Lee, the Confederate commander, believed his gains here gave hope for victory.
The Federals retreated through the streets of Gettysburg to Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill just south and east of town. Despite their defeat the first day, they held a strong defensive position from which to renew the fight the following day.
(Key points indicated in photographs):
(1) Barlow Knoll
Maj. Gen. Jubal Early's Confederates smashed Union defenders here on the afternoon of July 1, leading to the collapse of the Union line.
(2) Carlisle Road
(3) Mummasburg Road
(4) Culp's Hill
Retreating Federals occupied this strategic high ground on the evening of July 1.
(5) Gettysburg College
Known as Pennsylvania College in 1863, it served as a hospital during and after the battle. Both armies posted lookouts in the cupola on the roof of the main building.
(6) Cemetery Hill
Union troops who survived the route north of town rallied here on the evening of July 1 with the reserve troops of Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard
In the upper center and right of the marker are a set of photos showing key points north of and in Gettysburg. You are standing on Oak Ridge looking east and south toward Gettysburg. You are one mile from the center of town.
In the lower center, This illustration of Union infantrymen by Gilbert Gaul gives a good impression of what it must have been like here on the first day.
In the right center, This 1880s photo taken from this ridge shows how Gettysburg may have looked to an attacking Confederate. The large building at center is Pennsylvania College (now Gettysburg College), and behind it to the left, Culp's Hill. Below the photo is a drawing of Pennsylvania College (Gettysburg College).