Ami's SOA Witness Trees at Gettysburg

I read somewhere just recently that the peach orchard was replanted with ornamentals that don't bear fruit. Is that right? A most vivid museum memory of my first visit to Gettysburg as a young teenager was the jar of peaches at the old visitor center, with its faded, yellowed, handwritten label identifying the contents as peaches from the famous peach orchard, preserved during the fall after the battle. By the time we saw them, they were as pallid as dumplings, packed in a thin, inky black liquid. Wonder whatever happened to them. What struck me at the time, apart from their being a curiosity, was how even the most ordinary objects became souvenirs of the battlefield, and how soon afterward.
 
The replanted peach trees in the Peach Orchard do fruit--at least as of August 2010, when this picture was taken and posted on Gettysburg Daily.


PeachOrchard081610_01_s.jpg


More here:

http://www.gettysburgdaily.com/?p=8384
 
One of the reasons I like reading about the ACW is the wealth of material and the scope, which is available, particularly on this forum. Always something fascinating to learn.

On fallen 'witness' trees. What does the NPS do with them after they have fallen? Seems to me, if the wood is suitable, they would be fine candidates to make some sort of saleable momentos. Possibly jewellery boxes etc. Or would that be a bit tasteless?
 
One of the reasons I like reading about the ACW is the wealth of material and the scope, which is available, particularly on this forum. Always something fascinating to learn.

On fallen 'witness' trees. What does the NPS do with them after they have fallen? Seems to me, if the wood is suitable, they would be fine candidates to make some sort of saleable momentos. Possibly jewellery boxes etc. Or would that be a bit tasteless?

In some of the shops in town we've seen walking sticks and pens advertised as having been made from witness trees, although I don't recall which trees they were from. Seems, though, we saw some item with certificates identifying the source as the sycamore that was removed from Baltimore Street, along the parade route to the cemetery dedication.
 
Interesting! Did the existing trees grow there naturally? Or have trees been planted there in the years since the battle? If so, by the NPS? Others?

My understanding is that Basil Biggs harvested the original trees, The Copse of trees in 1863 was larger than today, extending to the west. The current trees are natural growth , like so many places on the battlefield. I know that NPS and scouts planted pines in other parts of the park. The NPS has also replanted many historic orchards.
 
In some of the shops in town we've seen walking sticks and pens advertised as having been made from witness trees, although I don't recall which trees they were from. Seems, though, we saw some item with certificates identifying the source as the sycamore that was removed from Baltimore Street, along the parade route to the cemetery dedication.

You can contact Gettysburg Sentinels if you are interested Bill is a great guy.
http://www.gettysburgsentinels.com/About.html
 
Another tree that is fairly prominent on the Pickett's Charge field today but was planted there more than a hundred years after the battle is the Memorial Pine tree, which was planted in 1954 at the first reunion of the World Tank Corps Association, which was on the Gettysburg Battlefield during WWI. The pine is planted at the spot where Dwight D. Eisenhower's HQ was at Camp Colt. It was planted using soil from various states.

Expired Image Removed
 
Any photo's of the extremely controversial "Kilrain mortal wounding spy tree"?:nah disagree:

------I only briefly perused the thread but don't recall seeing the "Gibbon wounding tree" on Hanock Ave., south of the copse, near the 1st Minnesota Day 3 position? Like the Culp's Hill "God tree" .....You can still see the chicken wire where ages ago the NPS et. al. tried to mend the Gibbon Black Locust.

Another lesser know witness tree is near the Gordon Brigade marker on North Confederate Avenue. It's the one on the east side of the road, opposite the middle school construction riff-raff. It is consciously enclosed by post & rail fencing. The signatory metal coin is tacked to it. Though I don't recall the "coin" #.
 
Another tree that is fairly prominent on the Pickett's Charge field today but was planted there more than a hundred years after the battle is the Memorial Pine tree, which was planted in 1954 at the first reunion of the World Tank Corps Association, which was on the Gettysburg Battlefield during WWI. The pine is planted at the spot where Dwight D. Eisenhower's HQ was at Camp Colt. It was planted using soil from various states.

Expired Image Removed

I wanted to add this link to a post on the Gettysburg Daily about the Camp Colt pine--it gives a lot more info, and better pictures, too.

http://www.gettysburgdaily.com/?p=166
 
Sooooo . . . . . . If everyone agrees that the trees at the "Copse" were not there during the battle, how can we still say that the copse was Lee's objective on Day 3? All I have read about is that the trees were the point for Longstreet's right flank to use as a bearing to make their left oblique. I read a book called "Lee's Real Plan at Gettysburg" written by a Park Service Guide, and he states that on day 2 and day 3 Lee's true objective was Cemetery Hill by advancing up Emmittsburg Road.
(Sorry the italics icon won't shut off)
 
Sooooo . . . . . . If everyone agrees that the trees at the "Copse" were not there during the battle, how can we still say that the copse was Lee's objective on Day 3? All I have read about is that the trees were the point for Longstreet's right flank to use as a bearing to make their left oblique. I read a book called "Lee's Real Plan at Gettysburg" written by a Park Service Guide, and he states that on day 2 and day 3 Lee's true objective was Cemetery Hill by advancing up Emmittsburg Road.
(Sorry the italics icon won't shut off)
The author of the book is NPS Ranger Troy Harmon and he brings up some interesting points. General Lee has to take Cemetery Hill , the high ground and salient point of General Meade's line. From Pickett's position on the Spangler Farm the Copse of Trees is in direct line of sight with the trees on Cemetery Hill. The book remains very controversial.
 
The copse of trees was there at the time of the battle, but looked nothing like it does today. It was more like a pile of brush in 1863 than a copse of trees. I have a photograph in one of the Frassanito Gettysburg Photography Companions.
 
The Copse - where it is today - was pointed out many years ago by a veteran of the Charge as the focus point. I haven't read Troy's book or talked to him about it (I do know him), but I just have my doubts about his basic theory, probably because I tend to put more faith in a veteran who was there than someone who wasn't.
 
The copse of trees was there at the time of the battle, but looked nothing like it does today. It was more like a pile of brush in 1863 than a copse of trees. I have a photograph in one of the Frassanito Gettysburg Photography Companions.

Is the photo dated before 1883 .One thought is the trees had been harvested before the ground became part of the park and before the Cyclorama photos were taken
 
Back
Top