Drawing a Regiment on a map

[E_just_E]

Very interesting, indeed. Although, I have to say that I've never seen a map like B, that shows Kemper's brigade extending all the way out to the Wheatfield Rd. Since you are using the @Tom Elmore measurement system, I would be curious as to what his map would show.

I physically paced both Garnett's and Kemper's brigade positions at the battlefield with the 22 inch per person guideline using the mapmyrun app to provide me a GPS line on a map of where I was going while pacing those positions. Kemper's right is close to Emmittsburg Rd just North of Sherfy's house right about where the NPS has planted the new fruit trees. Not quite at the Wheatfield Rd.
1575 men/2 = 788 x 22 inches = 17,325 inches or about 1450 feet. That's between a quarter and 1/3 of a mile, slightly longer than a city block.
Scary thing is that there is a better technology now and you do not really need to leave your chair. The new version of Bing maps allows the exact measurement of distances from Aerial photos. So all you have to do is to draw a line of 1450 feet and pivot it around. Like this:

Which is a much more accurate approximation of Kemper's brigade's size during the cannonade. The exact position is debatable, but that's what 1450 feet look like. And that's not debatable. Look at the size of Kemper's brigade in the above, in relation to the Sherfy house, and in the CWT map, where it has Wilcox just by the Sherfy house. IRL Kemper's brigade was the size of what is pictured as Kemper's plus Wilcox's...

(One more thing: Have fun try to get that right flank to the Copse of Trees, when drawn on scale )

 

[Tom Elmore]

I have Kemper's brigade at 1344 feet. We do know for certain that Kemper's center right regiment, the 11th Virginia, was divided by the Rogers house during its advance, which was located about where Sickles Avenue intersects the Emmitsburg Road. That would also be hard to achieve as Kemper's brigade is drawn above, even after the brigade dressed left to fill the gaps from considerable losses sustained during the cannonade before advancing. That's why I would place Kemper's left about 230 yards further north than is shown - in the north end of that orchard. Put another way, my map has the left of the 11th Virginia nearly at the same spot where the far left of Kemper's brigade is shown above, and that is before it dressed left before advancing. Moreover, rather than facing slightly south of due east, I think the brigade was aligned to face slightly north of due east. Otherwise, the brigade would have to be put even further to the north to get the 11th Virginia to cross paths with the Rogers house (unless one believes the brigade moved by the left oblique the entire distance).

 

[thomas aagaard]

only the guys on this forum would know 22 inches per man or approximately 30 cm centimeters.

22" = 55,88cm

I would count two feet pr. file when drawing brigades. You need a bit of space between each regiment and when moving a regiment change size as men drift a bit apart then dress to the colors.

 

[E_just_E]

I have Kemper's brigade at 1344 feet. We do know for certain that Kemper's center right regiment, the 11th Virginia, was divided by the Rogers house during its advance,.

Not sure that we know that. I think that it was likely the Klingle house, since the Rogers house was in front of Garnett's troops, since it was pretty much halfway between Codori's Carriage House and the horse/walking path on Emmitsburg Rd.

Another detail: Kemper's brigade lost several men in the cannonade, so its right would have been at a shorter distance from its left than what I picture up there (which is the starting position during the cannonade.) That would put the 11th dead smack in the middle of Klingle House.

 

[Tom Elmore]

It should be possible to establish whether it was the Rogers or Klingle house based on a postwar address by Lt. Col. James R. Hutter of the 11th. Hutter wrote, "Early in the charge the Eleventh Regiment encountered a white weather-boarded house with a paling enclosing a small yard. The adjutant, Lieutenant Valentine Harris, having told me that Colonel Otey said I should maneuver my wing around the house, I remarked it ought to be a regimental movement, as the obstacle was too large for a wing movement; however, I gave the command by right of company to the front. Company space was not large enough for the obstacle, so I had to order two of my captains to march by right and left flank, respectively, so as to pass the obstacle." (Supplement to the Official Records)

Moments before this occurred, the 1st Virginia, on the immediate left of the 11th, passed through Stribling's guns, per Capt. Stribling. If Hutter is describing the Klingle house, it would place Dearing's Battalion roughly 1,000 feet further south than I thought, so it will be helpful to settle this point.

Back to unit frontages, it might just be coincidence, but using the formula of 22 inches to the man, I can fit Kemper and Garnett on his left rather precisely into place, assuming Garnett's far left rests in or near the northeast corner of Spangler woods.

Another significant item to consider are the skirmishers deployed in front of Kemper's brigade, which were Companies D and A for the 11th Virginia. These skirmishers would have proceeded forward rather than obliquely, and if they also passed close by the Klingle house they would have entered the swale considerably south of the flanking units of Stannard, and there should there have been directly in front of Lang/Wilcox when the latter advanced. But I don't recall seeing any evidence to support this scenario.

 

[E_just_E]

Back to unit frontages, it might just be coincidence, but using the formula of 22 inches to the man, I can fit Kemper and Garnett on his left rather precisely into place, assuming Garnett's far left rests in or near the northeast corner of Spangler woods. .

I think that we disagree on where the confederate front was facing. Pretty sure we discussed this previously as well. I am basing my theory on a few things: First of all my main research has to do with Garnett's brigade, upon which I anchor the rest. Based on contemporary sources from Garnett's brigade discussing Spangler's orchard, where they lined regarding to that ("right in front of the fence") , where the cannons were supposedly on the high ground and where the swale they were during the cannonade is at the battlefield. So I have them in a line starting at the path of Spangler's farmhouse (their R) right in front of the fence of the Orchard and continuing (somewhat parallel to Confederate Ave) over the E-W fence that is there with Garnett's L end being around some modern blue (irrigation?) pipes that the NPS has recently installed. That's about half way from the VA statue to Emmitsburg Rd and just south of the Copse of Trees.

Post 19 up there. Second picture. Assuming that the cannons were that way, the infantry lines have to be parallel to them, which means that approximately they were parallel to Confederate Ave, the same way Pettigrew's (and Rodes in the extension) men were oriented.