Battlefield Landmarks—South and West

From the Union position on Cemetery Ridge, looking southwest toward the Confederate position on Seminary Ridge, the ground before you was the route of Pickett's Confederate infantry attack on the afternoon of July 3, 1863. Confederate soldiers penetrated the Union line as far as the Copse of Trees, behind which along Hancock Avenue stands the High Water Mark Monument. Emmitsburg Road, a historic sunken road, bisected the fields over which the Confederates attacked; when Pickett's ranks reached it, they turned left 45 degrees before charging the stone wall, and rail fences along the road slowed their progress. The two-story brick house and log barn of Nicholas Codori stood in the path of the attack, with the 5,000 Virginians passing on either side as they marched forward, and a number of wounded Confederates taking refuge there; Pickett himself may have observed the attack's progress from the farm. Along the tree line of Seminary Ridge, General Lee positioned his Confederate First and Third Corps on July 2 and launched Pickett's Charge from there on July 3.

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania · United States