 Gettysburg National Military Park
Virtual Tour - Day Two
Longstreet's Headquarters
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Gen. Longstreet's HQ marker
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It was near this location on Warfield Ridge where General James Longstreet established his headquarters late on the afternoon of July 2. His infantry column had marched over 18 miles to arrive near this point and deploy along Seminary Ridge to the north and Warfield Ridge to the south in preparation to strike the Union line. By this time, Union General Daniel Sickles had moved troops of his Third Corps forward from Cemetery Ridge to establish a thin line of infantry and artillery from the Peach Orchard on the Emmitsburg Road to the Devil's Den, just west of Big Round Top. Union artillerymen had set up their guns in the orchard and General Longstreet saw this as an opportunity to concentrate his artillery fire on their position, blasting it from two directions at once. But it also presented a roadblock for the infantry that were to attack up the Emmitsburg Road as General Lee wished and would necessarily alter Lee's original battle plan. Longstreet conferred with his two division commanders, Generals John Bell Hood and Lafayette McLaws, near this location. He pointed out the general direction and course the attack was to follow and gave orders for the attack to begin as soon as possible. All three generals realized the difficulty in making the charge as their troops had to cross open farm fields with little or no concealment making their formations an inviting target for the gunners at the orchard.
West Confederate Avenue today, looking south. Kershaw's Confederates were positioned behind the stone wall at left.
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This was the site where Brig. General Joseph Kershaw's brigade of South Carolina soldiers formed their ranks behind the stone wall that still borders the woods, with the Georgia brigade under Brig. General Paul Semmes 150 yards behind and also placed behind a stonewall. Kershaw walked through the woods and peered ahead over the ground his troops were soon to cross. "I found (the Union troops) in superior force," the general wrote, "strongly posted in the Peach Orchard, which bristled with artillery, with a main line of battle in their rear... to Little Round Top. I placed my command in position under cover of the stone wall, and communicated the condition of matters to Major General McLaws." The men were ordered to stay hidden behind the wall and for the flags to remain cased. Here the men waited and watched Hood's troops as they passed moving to their starting points south of here. Volunteers took empty canteens to fill from the well of a nearby farm house, while some men played cards, read letters from home, or slept after the long march.
A few minutes before 4 P.M., Confederate artillerymen rolled their guns into the fields and opened fire on the Union batteries near the Emmitsburg Road, concentrating on those in the Peach Orchard. At that same moment, General Sickles had just about completed the movement of the last of his Third Corps into his new advanced position and was conferring with General Meade who had finally arrived on the scene. The shriek of southern cannon shells from two directions stunned both officers. Sickles offered to withdraw but Meade replied that it was too late. The commanding general ordered Sickles to hold his new line, then issued orders to send reinforcements to Sickles' corps.
Meanwhile, General Longstreet rode to the southern end of his line where Hood's troops had just stepped off toward the Round Tops. With red battle flags waving in the light afternoon breeze, brigade after brigade moved out in solid battle lines toward the thin Union line. Some Union artillerymen turned their attention to these infantry formations, very inviting targets for the big guns to hit with solid shot and shell. Longstreet, assured that his infantry had moved off, next rode along the line of waiting troops back to this area where he conferred once again with General McLaws. Over the next four hours his troops would be involved in some of the deadliest fighting yet seen during the war.
McLaw's Division was to follow upon the heels of Hood's division in the attack, but it was not until 5 o'clock when General Kershaw received orders to move into the attack. His enthusiastic South Carolinians clambered over the wall and as the men fell into place, the color sergeant of the 7th South Carolina unfurled the regiment's flag. Within a matter of seconds, a Union battery found the range and sent a shell crashing into the 7th's color guard, killing two and wounding three. Color bearers in the other regiments wisely chose to wait until the order to advance was given before they unfurled their flags. With Semmes' Brigade close behind, Kershaw's South Carolinians moved off toward the Rose Farm and Peach Orchard, which you will visit on this tour.
The Flaharty Farm site from the Georgia Monument.
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One of the many mysteries about Gettysburg is where General Longstreet established his headquarters on July 2. Evidence points to a small farm that was located on the Millerstown Road, just west of the woods on Warfield Ridge where his headquarters marker sits today. The farm was owned by J. Flaharty and is now part of Eisenhower National Historic Site. The Flaharty farm was sold and the buildings were abandoned or destroyed in the years following the Civil War, and very little is known about them or their use by Lee's corps commander who later admitted, "My headquarters was in the saddle..." at Gettysburg. Sometime after 1900, a small wooden frame building at the nearby Warfield Farm was labeled "General Longstreet's Headquarters" by the owner who purportedly relocated it to his property from the Flaharty site. Yet there was nothing about that non-nondescript wood shed to prove this claim and the question of any building having been used by General Longstreet as a headquarters remains unanswered to this very day.
South Carolina Memorial
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The Georgia Monument is located here as a tribute to the Georgians who served at Gettysburg including many in Longstreet's Corps. It was dedicated on September 21, 1961. Also at this stop is the South Carolina Memorial, placed here during the Civil War centennial celebration. The memorial stands at this location because of it's relationship to General Kershaw's brigade, but like most state monuments it commemorates the services of all South Carolina troops who served at Gettysburg. The state had ten volunteer infantry regiments, two cavalry regiments, and four artillery batteries in the Army of Northern Virginia at Gettysburg and all saw heavy fighting during the three day battle. The monument's unique design features the carved outline of the state and shield flanked by palmetto trees, the state symbol. Funds for the monument were raised by private donations and through the Sons of Confederate Veterans. The memorial cost an estimated $20,000 and was dedicated by the governor of South Carolina on July 2, 1963.
Lee's Old War Horse
General James Longstreet
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Though a marker for General Longstreet's Headquarters stands at this location, the general admittedly spent very little time here, preferring to remain mobile during the battle near his division commanders or at General Lee's side near army headquarters on the grounds of the Lutheran Seminary. In the post-war era, General Longstreet grew to become one of the more controversial personalities connected to the Confederate defeat at the battle. At the height of Reconstruction in the 1870's, Longstreet joined the Republican Party. It was not a popular decision among most southerners who saw the Republicans as the party which pursued the war against the South and attempted to punish the southern states with bitter policies during reconstruction. As post-war debates became widespread as to exactly where the South may have gone wrong, attention centered on the Battle of Gettysburg as the turning point. Lee refused to join in any such debate and died in 1870 without any response to the discussion. Many southern political leaders and former generals, including Jubal Early and Sandie Pendleton, were quick to point out that Longstreet had not cooperated with Lee at Gettysburg by not supporting his commander's wishes as fully as he should have. Longstreet responded with criticisms of Lee's field decisions and strategy. By this time, the stature of Lee was so great and his abilities as a southern commander so highly regarded that many in the South saw Longstreet's comments as treachery. The war of words continued until the last days of General Longstreet's life, though he was exonerated time and again by the veterans who had marched, fought, and bled under his command on many a battlefield.
War Department Towers
Longstreet Tower
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One of the last three remaining War Department-era observation towers stands at this site and offers the visitor a panoramic view of the battlefield. Originally, there were five towers constructed by the United States War Department on the battlefield and this is the only one built on West Confederate Avenue. From the observation deck, one can appreciate the distance that Longstreet's Confederates had to cross to reach the Union positions at Little Round Top, the Wheatfield and in the Peach Orchard. The tower also overlooks the farm that is today Eisenhower National Historic Site, the retirement home of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The farm buildings used by General Longstreet as a temporary headquarters stood on the Eisenhower property, but they no longer exist.
The tower was the last major structure to be placed on West Confederate Avenue, which was also laid out and paved by the US War Department at the turn of the century. William Robbins, a Confederate veteran of the battle and one of the first battlefield commissioners, promoted the avenue so that Confederate artillery and infantry positions could be marked. Robbins worked with original reports and documents while relying on eyewitness testimony from visiting veterans to compose the tablets. This portion of West Confederate between Millerstown Road and the Emmitsburg Road is lined with numerous Confederate battery positions as well as several state memorials and brigade markers.
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National Park Service
Gettysburg National Military Park
1195 Baltimore Pike, Suite 100
Gettysburg, PA 17325
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