The Elliot Map, Do You Know?

JPK Huson 1863

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Joined
Feb 14, 2012
Location
Central Pennsylvania
The Elliot Map, both chilling and striking- an incredible reminder of Gettysburg's most tragic legacy, the war dead, was completed in 1864. Perhaps arguable in content but given the date- in 1864 the mind-boggling task of recovering our dead for proper internment had just been completed. Barely. Basil Biggs, one of Gettysburg's remaining black citizens, a vetrinarian had been paid I think a buck twenty five for each body recovered as the National Cemetery took solemn shape. From October 1863 to March 1864 he and his crew found, disinterred and reburied 3,500 cemeteries- raising money while he was at it for an organization he founded called 'The Sons of Good Will'. While burying our honored dead Basil bought land for black cemeteries.

There remains controversy on the number of soldiers laying in peace under our most famous battlefield, unrecovered ; by no means forgotten. My own opinion is allow them their peace after 150 years. We know they are there. Once a man, forever a soldier marched into Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on a hot, unspeakable July day in 1863. Their last moment on this planet was given to a country, a last thought to a home in which waited in quiet, growing panic a family, a member vanished as if snatched up into war's roiling sky. The earth welcomed his remains below; the greetings above, what peace he found there quieted in an instant war's roar. Let be.


" Elliott's map of the battlefield of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Made from an accurate survey of the ground by transit and chain. F. Bourquin & Co., liths., Philada. S. G. Elliott & Co. CREATED/PUBLISHED [Philadelphia], S. G. Elliott & Co., c1864. NOTES Scale 1:9051. Shows breastworks and rifle pits, graves of Union and Confederate soldiers, "dead horses" reads and streets, relief by hachures, vegetation, drainage, houses and names of residents. "
http://www.thehistoricalarchive.com/products/Pennsylvania-Civil--72.html

To get to the thread- beyond grim statistics and seeing those three days rage across one of the most lovely landscapes with which Pennsylvania is gifted ( and we have an awful lot ), are the what may as well be tiny coffins, side-by-side, where two ancestors vanished. Two. After these fragments are posted, will find JPK's tiny marker and David Adams, Day 1 and Day 2, 126th NY, 11th PA.

Both Union and Confederate graves are here. Perhaps less is known about the Confederate fallen, still, commemorating war dead is never a mistake. If anyone's ancestor fell at Gettysburg, where was he, do you know?

em1.JPG

The " introduction"

em union graves conf grave.JPG

This is a ' key ', Union grave drawn like a fence, Confederate without lines through

http://www.loc.gov/resource/g3824g.cw0332000/
elliot whole2.jpg

This is all Library of Congress- nothing here which may not be reproduced.

Four sections of Cemetery Hill, very many graves, sorry to go backwards
em cem hill1.JPG
em cem hill2.JPG
em cem hill3.JPG
em cem hill4.JPG


From here, am just listing landmarks included in the snip
em2 lee hq.JPG

Lee's HQ, the Thompson House

em3 herbst barn.JPG

Herbst barn

em4 spanglers.JPG

E. Spangler's

em5 peach orchard.JPG

Peach Orchard, here is where I'll find JPK, by Plum Run. The 126th New York and Barksdale and redeeming the Harper's Ferry cowards is right here.

em6 bushmans.JPG
Bushman's

Few more, need another post
 
I have looked over the Elliott map often, have used it on the battlefield, especially on Culp's Hill. It's nice to have specific areas highlighted like you've done, Annie.

When you look at the hash marks, the sheer number of men they represent is overwhelming.
 
There are a few individuals listed on the map, which helps completes their story. Such as Colonel Wasden who fell near the Codori buildings on the afternoon of July 2. His grave is known because his Masonic brothers in blue buried him and made a prominent grave marker that indicated a Masonic symbol, the compass. Ironic that a Confederate is remembered because of a Yankee initiative.
 
Marking this thread to come back later and study those maps under a magnifying glass. Great thread and maps. Can't even describe my thoughts right now after seeing those maps.
 
I have looked over the Elliott map often, have used it on the battlefield, especially on Culp's Hill. It's nice to have specific areas highlighted like you've done, Annie.

When you look at the hash marks, the sheer number of men they represent is overwhelming.
Are the maps in a book?
 
Eerie and macabre.

Yes, eerie, only macabre from a distance of 150 years really. I can sure see where it would give someone the willies before really understanding how much it was needed at the time. There must have been a sense of panic or something similar after so many battles, all those men buried nearly where they fell. Temporary markers sure to fade and fall. Regiments moved on, men who buried their fallen were gone beyond recall. We know from records like those found in ' Battles and Leaders ' ( Century Magazine's mammoth project ) vets did not always agree on where actions occurred- memories were inexact. The Elliot Map done so soon post-battle and as Elliot points out, with great exactness, gave a better idea of where our fallen lay than any other battlefield.

As Andy pointed out, hugely helpful on the terrain, too. I know some of the landmarks I'd never heard of before.
 
Some other individuals listed:

Lt. William R. Oursler, actually of the 17th Mississippi, Company F, who is buried just east of Christian Shefferer's place, and also a blacksmith shop owned by an African-American.

Benjamin Watkins Leigh, marked on Culp's Hill as "Reb. Gen.," was a Major and Acting Adjutant General for Maj. Gen. Edward Johnson. He rode up to the very front line during a lull in the action on the late morning of July 3, apparently oblivious to the close proximity of hundreds of Federal soldiers. A burst of gunfire brought his horse down, and Leigh jumped free, but he managed only a few more steps before being riddled by six lead balls (bullets). He was buried with Union soldiers on the hill; supposedly his remains were taken to Richmond after the war, but there is a "B.W. Laigh" headstone in the Gettysburg National Cemetery.

"W. E. Bulley," Company H, 4th Georgia, lies in the southwestern edge of town along Long Lane. But this is likely Corporal William R. Butler, who was buried in a church graveyard at that spot - his comrades probably did not realize at the time that it was an African-American church.

Three other men from the 4th Georgia appear north of town, including "E. T. Owens," whose identity I have not established. "Lt. Winn and J. H. Lew" appear as burials on the David Blocher farm. The former is actually Lt. Colonel David Read Evans Winn, who commanded the regiment until his death on July 1; while the latter is most probably Josiah H. Law of Company B.
 
This thread is from 2015, sorry- and in 5 years I've dug a ton more into this uber-sobering piece of our history. NOT a terrific researcher, just enough to be able to ascertain something more of how much personal tragedy is here and who contributed to Elliot's work.

The thing is, if anyone's caught the thread on an Elliot Map discovered for Antietam it's THIS, a picture of what war was, who we left behind- and where. I have a terrible time zooming in on The Elliot Map sometimes because it hits you- all those lines and crosses were men who never came home.
 
Haunting. My third great uncle was one of the Union dead at Letterman shown in the second image. Now in the national cemetery. LBG Phil Lechak was kind enough to show my family the almost exact spot one day.
 
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