Amazing revelations in an old pic

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Dec 12, 2010
Location
Pennsylvania
Friends,

Check out this post from Gettysburg Daily:

http://www.gettysburgdaily.com/?p=9639

A rather well-known picture has revealed some amazing elements once it's been enhanced and closely studied... perhaps even a glimpse (for the first time!) of the AOP on the Gettysburg battlefield in column on the march. If so, it might be part of the Federal artillery marching south on the chase for Lee.

Whatever it is, it sure is provoking!

J.D. Petruzzi
 
I wish I lived closer to the field so I could try to line up the pic. This is just a wild preliminary guess, but tracking Gardner's travels across the field, I'm guessing that column may be on the Emmitsburg or Millerstown Road. It could be part of a 6th Corps artillery battery heading south.

And since that's a dead mule there in the foreground, I'm wondering if the wreckage is Confederate. Perhaps artillery that was busted up during the assault of July 2.

Thoughts?

J.D. Petruzzi
 
The first thing that grabbed my attention was the fruit trees. They seem to start just above the ambulance and end beyond the team pulling the forge. They appear to be apple trees or possibly improperly pruned peaches. The taller fruit tree to the left could be an improperly pruned peach but I'd bet on an apple tree without a crop on it. The younger fruit trees to the right seem to have a good crop of small apples judging by position of the limbs. I would also guess there had been a recent rain with some wind coming from the left of the background due to the limb positions of the smaller apple trees. When a tree has a crop on it and there is a hard wind the limbs will take a "set" in the position they are blowing due to the weight of the crop. They probably would begin to sag even more when the apples get bigger.

That is my educated guess.

dvrmte
 
Wow, I have looked at that picture so many times over the years and didn't dream what was in the background!

Kinda makes one wonder about all of the other gems that might be found in Brady's and Gardner's works.

Thanks lots for that JD! Good job!
 
I studied pictures from old books for about a zillion hours some time back with a glass, got alot of headaches, found some neat stuff in the background cloudy stuff but nothing as clear as this. These are amazing. Forgot to add, Poor Mule.
 
The first thing that grabbed my attention was the fruit trees. They seem to start just above the ambulance and end beyond the team pulling the forge. They appear to be apple trees or possibly improperly pruned peaches. The taller fruit tree to the left could be an improperly pruned peach but I'd bet on an apple tree without a crop on it. The younger fruit trees to the right seem to have a good crop of small apples judging by position of the limbs. I would also guess there had been a recent rain with some wind coming from the left of the background due to the limb positions of the smaller apple trees. When a tree has a crop on it and there is a hard wind the limbs will take a "set" in the position they are blowing due to the weight of the crop. They probably would begin to sag even more when the apples get bigger.

That is my educated guess.

dvrmte

I can't see the forge nor make out the trees.

What I did notice is what appears to be a fresh grave at about 11 o'clock from the mule's head maybe six feet.
"Light 12 Pdr gun" stenciled on the caisson.

Three wagons or ambulances headed towards the left.There is no sign of a rail fence nor a fence pole in the sixty or so feet. From other pictures of the Emittsburg Road it seems that such a large gap with no fence or especially the sturdy poles were likely. Absence of fence or posts also eliminate the Millerstown RD. I'm guessing this is a farm lane around the Rose property.

Edit: I can see the forge and notice that the wagon has a two horse team making it unlikely to be a supply wagon which usually had four or six animals.

Most importantly is a barn that can be made out above the line of wagons and alongside the crack in the plate. Anybody recognize the barn?
 
Your right, more than one grave, men killed along with the mule and cassion, place has been gone over a bit as mule is stripped, men buried, and easy to pick up items gone. All the junk around the wreck is some good some blown up, looks to be case shot with small blow outs, some cannister, some unblown complete rounds, odds and ends, tray from cassion box, a couple of those case shot rounds look to have borman type fuses. More intersting stuff in these photos than a dried up lake. I may not be able to sleep tonight, my wife is already mad because i made her come look. Maybe i should have emailed it.
 
The barn is the key. Alignment would be simple once we have identified it. I thought there were two graves but not as sure about the upper one.

Were mules used more in the Confederate artillery? Not sure if mules were that common as they tended to get skittish but believe the Confederates used mules as riding horses were somewhat scarce.
 
There appears to be a chimney with that structure - since there's no barn, it's leading many folks to opine that it could be the Sherfy house. We know that his barn was burnt down during the battle. Those fruit trees could be a little apple orchard near the house. I think finding this location now is doable - once someone can line up the terrain, the structure, etc.

It's amazing. As I had some spare time at the office today, I pored over the pictures as much as I could. Tomorrow's post on that site is going to show a possible location or locations. I know some local folks are already out trying to line up the elements - this will prove very interesting indeed.

J.D.
 
There appears to be a chimney with that structure - since there's no barn, it's leading many folks to opine that it could be the Sherfy house. We know that his barn was burnt down during the battle. Those fruit trees could be a little apple orchard near the house. I think finding this location now is doable - once someone can line up the terrain, the structure, etc.

There does not seem to be any windows and what "appears to be a chimney" could also be the outline of a nearby tree. I would not discount a barn.

Based on Gardiner's movements, the area around the Wheatfield or Rose Farm makes the most sense. If the mule indicates the likelihood of the caisson being Confederate, than it might be from Porter Alexander's Bn. Any record of one of his gun crew's getting a hit that killed two members?
 
Trying to tie the mule to Confederates would be tough at best. The mule could have gone down with the explosion, or could have been lead over to the wreck and put down as a cripple. Or some photo op could do the same as the picture he was after was the wreck. The mule has his lower leg area bandaged or wrapped, that could or could not mean much. Both sides used any critter they could get to replace their animals short term, so could be Union or Confederate. No way to tell on the wreck itself as both sides stole each others artillery as well. After two hours of looking it over i gave up trying to pin down who the wreck belongs to.
 
The followup post today on Gettysburg Daily has LBG Rich Kohr at a possible site - with the building as possibly the Peter Rogers house. Interesting. I wish I could get out there myself!

J.D.
 
The followup post today on Gettysburg Daily has LBG Rich Kohr at a possible site - with the building as possibly the Peter Rogers house. Interesting. I wish I could get out there myself!

J.D.

So it appears that it was quite possibly a SC battery site. From the enhanced image on Gettysburg daily, the structure looks even more like a barn. The lack of fence posts by the wagon line would eliminate the major roadways, IMO. Photos of the time showed that many fence rails were gone but most of the dug-in posts remained. In the approx 70 yard view of the wagon line, not one post remains in sight.
 
This is truly fascinating. I admire the people who thought to manipulate this image, then were able to determine what it was they saw. I'm not really good at stuff like that. "Captivating" may be the right word for this ongoing story. I love it.
 
This is truly fascinating. I admire the people who thought to manipulate this image, then were able to determine what it was they saw. I'm not really good at stuff like that. "Captivating" may be the right word for this ongoing story. I love it.

I found the manipulated picture to be great. It disproves the old saying "seeing is believing". The seamless matching was amazing, however the rail fence in the modern part of the picture reinforces my idea of the absence of fence posts in the older part.
 
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