Thank you for your pictures. You have done a fine job of documenting the location of what is possibly the most famous charge, of the most famous battle of the American Civil War. I usually try to be at Gettysburg on July 3rd each year. Although I go where my ancestors of the 2nd VA Infantry and 7th VA Cavalry fought at Culp's Hill and Fairfield, I also walk the fields of this most historic event.
I couldn't make it to Gettysburg this year, however, I did take the time to read a letter on July 3rd. I have an original soldier letter written by James Marshall Hamlet of Co. H, 18th VA Infantry. He wrote the letter to his father from near Frederick, MD on September 8, 1862. He gives a vivid description of his unit's participation in the second battle at Manassas and the reception he got marching into Maryland. He ends his letter requesting correspondence and ironically asking his father if he could get a substitute for him. Ironic because he never got his substitute and was ultimately killed in action during the charge on July 3rd, 1863 as a member of Garnett's Brigade, Pickett's Division, Longstreet's Corps.
That letter always connects me to the humanity of this most historic event. Your photograph of the Angle with the field of the charge on the right, the wall stretching out toward the Roundtops in the center, with the 72nd PA monument in the distance and the bark of the tree trunk on the left gives me a good view of where James M Marshall probably lost his life. The image of the field from the Union side with the path leading toward the distant Virginia monument also gives me a sense of where his last moments were.
Thanks for the images.
Lew