GETTYSBURG BATTLEFIELD TOUR STOP 12
Pennsylvania Memorial
While the Pennsylvania State Memorial is the main attraction at the 12th stop on the Gettysburg Battlefield Tour, the purpose of this stop is to highlight the Union position on Cemetery Ridge. When you turn onto Hancock Avenue from United States Avenue, you are now driving along the top of the ridge. This is where General George Meade’s Army of the Potomac positioned itself on the evening of July 1, 1863, the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg. The Union line now formed a hook, curving east to west from Culp’s Hill to Cemetery Hill, then running south along the ridge all the way to Little Round Top.
Don’t expect much of a ridge. Cemetery Ridge is only 30 to 40 feet higher than the ground in the valley below, and while that seems like a lot, it is a long, gradual ascent to the top, not a steep climb like the terrain at Little Round Top. (The Emmitsburg Road nearly a mile away is actually a little higher in elevation.) But Cemetery Ridge is an elevated position nonetheless, and it clearly gave the Union soldiers positioned here an advantage over the Confederates in the valley.
The area along Hancock Avenue is where Major General Winfield Hancock and his II Corps were positioned. The road did not exist at the time of the battle. It was added in the early 1900s to help visitors get around the battlefield. The road is lined with artillery pieces and monuments dedicated to the various regiments that defended the ridge during the Battle of Gettysburg.
On the second day of fighting at Gettysburg, so many Union troops had moved forward to help support Major General Dan Sickles at the Peach Orchard and the Wheatfield that a quarter-mile wide gap was created in the Union line along this area of Cemetery Ridge. After overrunning Sickles’ positions, 1,700 Alabamians under the command of Brigadier General Cadmus Wilcox were now heading right for this gap. Hancock ordered the 262 men of the 1st Minnesota Infantry regiment to charge down from the ridge and hold off the advancing Confederates just long enough for him to fill the gap with reinforcements, most of them coming from Culp’s Hill. The Minnesota soldiers made the charge knowing that most would die. Miraculously they were able to repulse the attack, but 215 of them were killed, wounded, or captured. By 8 PM the fighting in the area had come to an end; the Union line on Cemetery Ridge was still intact. However, over on Culp’s Hill and Cemetery Hill the battle continued late into the night.
The highlight of the tour stop, the Pennsylvania State Memorial, is the largest monument at Gettysburg National Military Park. It was completed in 1910. The monument is so large that visitors can walk inside and up to an observation platform at the top for a panoramic view of the battlefield. See the Pennsylvania State Memorial web page here on National Park Planner for additional photos and information about the monument.
Tour Stop 13 | Tour Stop 11| Battlefield Tour Main Page
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Last updated on September 9, 2022