When I was over on Mon-Tues, I looked for the location of the 23rd pa. in reserve near Meades HQ. I had read about it on Randy Drais site and looked for it twice. The 23rd known as Birney's Zouaves, their monument is over on Culps.
After their stint on the hill they returned to a reserve position Jul 3 east of Meades HQ and you may have heard of one of them, Lt Garsed getting struck in the neck by an artillery shell. Around 5pm. I'm told it was a Whitworth bolt, but you know that may be speculation.
When his family came to Gettysburg to retrieve their son, they had members of his unit show where he was killed. His father placed a metal post in the ground and every year the family would come and visit. Finally after many years the post went missing so a family member carved his initials in a rock.
So to me it was interesting because of 2 things. I always liked to get to some off the beaten path places, and this being behind the lines is a great way to see how Taneytown Rd was very dangerous July 3 (and yes the Whitworths made it dangerous for 3 days but you have to admit hit in the neck 2 miles away is a one in a million shot). Meade temporarily moved to Powers Hill because of the danger. Surely the 23rd thought they were in a quiet place to rest.
Anyways.... the 2nd reason I wanted to walk it was because its in the middle of Fantasyland.
Yeah, I went there as a kid. Like it or not purists... it brought a lot of kids to the field who then would take the standard stationwagon cruise to read monument inscriptions We had no Google to look up regiment histories (or 140 places, or carvings etc...).
So to finish my story, I missed the boulder twice and finally emailed Randy to ask a question. I found all kinds of things like
old picnic table stanchions, trees growing out of huge pots, trash cans, old power cables etc... that are left over from the park days. Then finally somewhere between Henny Penny, the Gingerbread house and Mr. Musselman I did find it, but it took 3 tries.
Hat tip to Mr. Drais who has a fantastic website. Thanks for the help. There is a lot to learn in the burg.
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