Gettysburg Sources: The First Day

Above: Monument to the 7^th Wisconsin Infantry of the Union Iron Brigade on the northeast edge of Herbst Woods (Reynolds’ Grove) on the battlefield of the first day at Gettysburg (July 1, 1863).

Like all great battles, Gettysburg was an ensemble of battles, some large, some small, and many somewhere in between. It is impossible to understand, much less analyze, the battle without breaking it down into its constituent parts. Even to attempt that requires an analytical framework and, in addition, a body of knowledge that in itself requires years of study to acquire. Fortunately, many others have trod those paths and plowed those furrows and offered up the goodies for your edification.

One analytical construct is to examine each of the battle’s three days in book length. This poses certain very real problems with the second day, but seems to work quite well for the first day. Here are two readily available book-length treatments of the battle’s first day:

Martin, David G. Gettysburg July 1. Conshohocken, Pa.: Combined Books, 1995, 1996 (revised edition).

Pfanz, Harry W. Gettysburg--the First Day. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001.

Both of these are fine books, though in the case of Martin’s, I would suggest the “Completely Revised Edition,” since the first edition suffered from editorial defects.

Gettysburg Railway Cut (2)

 Above: View South Southeast toward the Lutheran Theological Seminary on Seminary Ridge.

Above: View Southeast toward the town of Gettysburg (hidden by trees).

These views were taken from the same position under the bridge abutment as the previous view posted on Nov. 16, but the camera is now pointed southerly as opposed to northerly. In the upper view, the monuments of the 95th N.Y. Inf. and the 6th Wisc. Inf. may be seen on the right. The cut was shallower as it tailed off toward Gettysburg, and the Confederates were able to better utilize it as a protected firing position to rake the 6th Wisc. Inf. in its advance from the Chambersburg Pike (middle ground).

Valley of Death

Another shot from our visit to Gettysburg last weekend. This is the view west across the Plum Run Valley (“Valley of Death”) from Little Round Top toward Houck’s Ridge (middle ground) and Devil’s Den. The wood line in the distance is Seminary Ridge, from which Longstreet’s Corps launched its attacks on July 2, 1863.