John Rose’s Wheatfield at Gettysburg National Military Park
GETTYSBURG BATTLE FIELD TOUR STOP 9
The Wheatfield
The Wheatfield at Gettysburg National Military Park is the ninth stop on the Gettysburg Battlefield Tour. If you visited Devil’s Den, you veered from the official tour route. However, it’s not a big deal. Just continue north on Sickles Avenue and you’ll come right to the tour stop. Here you will find a wayside exhibit about the fighting that took place at the Wheatfield on July 2, 1863, and plenty of monuments, most of which are located on the actual field. There are mowed paths to follow.
Mowed paths lead to monuments on the Wheatfield at Gettysburg National Military Park
The Wheatfield of the John Rose Farm is another area where heavy fighting took place along the Peach Orchard Salient (angle) that was formed when Major General Daniel Sickles, the commander of the Union III Corps, decided to move his 10,000 men from Little Round Top to the high ground along Emmitsburg Road at the Sherfy Family’s peach orchard. The orchard was the forward point of the salient, and from there the line ran northeast along Emmitsburg Road to near the Codori Farm and southeast along Wheatfield Road until turning south at Houck’s Ridge and ending at a rocky area known as Devil’s Den. The Wheatfield is on the southeastern part of the angle between the Peach Orchard and Houck’s Ridge.
Intense fighting at the Wheatfield began around 4:30 PM and lasted for two and a half hours. The field changed possession six times, but in the end, the Union troops were overrun and retreated back to Cemetery Ridge. Four thousand men were killed or wounded at this location.
Map by Hal Jespersen, www.cwmaps.com
Map by Hal Jespersen, www.cwmaps.com
A stroll through the Wheatfield to see the monuments takes about ten minutes. There are also a number of monuments on De Trobriano Avenue that are within walking distance from the Wheatfield parking area.
The following are photos of some of the monuments in the Wheatfield area (dedication dates are in parenthesis).
Battery D, 1st New York Light Infantry Monument (1888), Gettysburg National Military Park
61st Regiment New York Infantry Monument (1889), Gettysburg National Military Park
27th Connecticut Infantry Monument (1889), Gettysburg National Military Park
81st Pennsylvania Infantry Monument (1888), Gettysburg National Military Park
148th Pennsylvania Infantry Monument (1889), Gettysburg National Military Park
17th Maine Infantry Monument (1889), Gettysburg National Military Park
Tour Stop 10 | Tour Stop 8 | Battlefield Tour Main Page
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Last updated on October 28, 2022
