Battle of Gettysburg : Pitzer Woods

Pitzer Woods
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Owned at the time of the battle by farmer Samuel Pitzer, this plot of oaks and maples stands at the southern tip of Seminary Ridge and marks its juncture with Warfield Ridge. The woods had no significance at all to the Gettysburg landscape until certain events took place here on July 2. Just prior to midday, the 1st United States Sharpshooters were ordered by Major General Daniel Sickles, commander of the Union Third Corps, to scout this patch of woods. Accompanied by members of the 3rd Maine Infantry, the sharpshooters encountered Alabama soldiers from Brig. General Cadmus Wilcox's Brigade. A brisk fire fight broke out and though it lasted only a few moments, the Union soldiers withdrew with the knowledge that the woods on Seminary Ridge were teeming with Confederates. Returning to Cemetery Ridge, they reported their encounter to General Sickles who realized that the number of Confederates in those woods meant only one thing- a heavy, concentrated attack on his corps from the west. Sickles sent a courier to General Meade with the information, followed by another courier a half hour later. Another hour passed and having received no response from Meade, Sickles decided to advance his corps to the Emmitsburg Road, the only high ground between the two ridges where he would meet the attack before they'd taken possession of it. This controversial decision separated his corps from the remainder of the Union army, which still lay on Cemetery Ridge.

Later that afternoon, Confederate troops of Lieutenant General James Longstreet's Corps marched into this area, with the left of his line anchored in Pitzer Woods by the Mississippi Brigade of Brig. General William Barksdale. The Georgia brigade of Brig. General W.T. Wofford formed just outside of the woods, but close behind Barksdale's men who were thankful for the shade under which they rested. The objective for Barksdale and Wofford was to attack Union troops forming on the Emmitsburg Road and the salient of the advanced line at the Peach Orchard.

Gen. Barksdale
Generals in Gray

Just before 4 o'clock, Confederate artillery along this portion of Seminary Ridge opened fire on the Union batteries stationed in the Peach Orchard. Huddling in the woods, the Mississippi troops listened to the boom of the guns and screech of Union shells crashing through the trees above them. Impatient that his part of the attack was delayed until other troops had gone in first, a fuming Barksdale stormed up and down, stopping only to petition his division commander for permission to go into the attack early. Almost two hours into the attack, the hot tempered general was given permission to move forward in support of Confederate troops advancing on their right. Barksdale ordered his men to the eastern edge of the woods where the Mississippians dressed their ranks and went to the position of "parade rest" while Union shells burst around them. Though considered a senior in age, General Barksdale was a fiery and fearless leader in battle whose face appeared to "glow with excitement at the prospect of battle." Dressed in a resplendent gray officer's coat highlighted with gold trim, his long gray hair flowing almost to the collar, Barksdale spurred his black charger to the front of his old regiment, the 13th Mississippi. Above the din of battle, the general spoke a few words of encouragement. He then waved his hat as a signal to begin the charge and his brigade moved forward in an unstoppable wave.

View toward the Peach Orchard from Pitzer Woods. Barksdale's Brigade charged over this open field toward Union defenders in the distance. The Round Tops rise in the distance just beyond the orchard.
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The Mississippi Brigade raced across open fields and sliced through the Union line. It was "The most magnificent charge of the war," as one eyewitness called it. Despite the heroic efforts of two Union regiments near the Sherfy House to slow the Mississippians, Barksdale's soldiers broke through the shaken Union defenders in the Peach Orchard and the precarious Union line began to collapse. Wofford's Georgians followed in Barksdale's path and eventually drove in the last defenders of the orchard before they reached the Wheatfield and beyond, which you will visit as you continue the tour.

Samuel Pitzer's farmhouse still stands today, approximately 400 yards west of the woods for which he is named, and is today part of Eisenhower National Historic Site. The size and shape of these woods has changed very little since the battle, despite the placement of a Civilian Conservation Corps camp here in 1935 and the park amphitheater installed within the woods during the 1960's. The 1999 General Management Plan for Gettysburg National Military Park calls for the relocation of the amphitheater in the near future, and Pitzer Woods will return to its 1863 appearance.

Mississippi Honors Her Sons at Gettysburg

Mississippi Monument
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The Mississippi State Monument stands near this location, selected for this site because of the service of General Barksdale's Mississippi Brigade on July 2. Dedicated in 1973, the bronze soldiers atop the polished granite base depict the fighting spirit of the Mississippi soldiers who fought at Gettysburg. Sculptor Donald DeLue wrote that the monument, "expresses (the) bitter fighting on both sides. But, here on the Confederate side the tide has turned against them, ammunition gone, the flag down, only the courage of desperation remains to the courageous young soldier...", which aptly describes the closing scenes of Barksdale's charge, which not only broke the advanced Union line at the Peach Orchard, but also threatened to open a serious breach in the center of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge. Only the most desperate of measures taken by Union defenders threw the Mississippi regiments back.

Adjacent to the Mississippi Monument is the Louisiana State Monument, also sculpted by DeLue, and dedicated in 1971. The famed "Washington Artillery of New Orleans" was positioned near this location on July 2 and pushed forward to the Peach Orchard on July 3, prior to the bombardment of the Union line. It was two guns from the Washington Artillery that fired the opening shots to begin the cannonade prior to "Pickett's Charge". Behind both monuments and set within Pitzer Woods, stands the monument to General James Longstreet sculpted by Gary Casteel. One of the more recent monuments on the battlefield, it was sponsored by the North Carolina Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and dedicated on July 3, 1998.

The Deadly Sharpshooter

Co. F, 1st USSS Monument
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Also within Pitzer Woods is Berdan Avenue, which leads from West Confederate Avenue to a small cul-de-sac where three monuments stand. Two of these are to companies of the 1st United States Sharpshooters, often referred to as "Berdan's Sharpshooters". At the beginning of the Civil War, Hiram Berdan submitted a proposal to the US War Department to raise a regiment of soldiers who were expert marksmen. The regiment would be composed of companies from Northern or "loyal" states, and to qualify for enlistment in the sharpshooters, men had to be able to hit a target with ten consecutive bulls eyes at 200 yards. Men could provide their own weapons or rely on a rifle given by the government. There was such a clamor of men to join the sharpshooters that two regiments were raised. Berdan was appointed colonel of the 1st USSS and organized his first regiment at Weehawken, New York. The 2nd Regiment soon joined the 1st and both units were uniformed with a distinctive green coat, cap and trousers made of fine wool broadcloth that gave them the nickname of "Green Coats". Even more distinctive were the accurate Colt Revolving Rifles and breech-loading Sharps Rifles that Colonel Berdan secured for both regiments. The US Sharpshooters saw their first combat during the Seven Days Battles before Richmond and then were active throughout all of the campaigns of the Army of the Potomac.

At Gettysburg, Company F (Vermont troops) 1st USSS, was one of the companies sent forward by General Sickles to reconnoiter the front of the Third Corps. It was at the spot where their monument sits that the sharpshooters engaged several regiments of General Cadmus Wilcox's Brigade. The distinctive marble shaft and hand-carved stone eagle atop the monument were both knocked over and shattered by a falling tree during a windstorm in 1991. It was only through the interest and donations of outside parties that the shaft and eagle were restored to the monument in May 2000.