CWL---Gettysburg Battlewalks: The 13th Vermont on July 3rd at Gettysburg

The 13th Vermont Infantry: Gettysburg Battlewalks, Scott Hartwig and the Mifflin Gaurd, Pennsylvania Cable Network, dvd, 70 minutes, 2004.

Gettysburg National Park Ranger Scott Hartwig conducts the movements of the Mifflin Guard, a Civil War reenactment unit, in the footsteps of the 13th Vermont Infantry. On July 3rd,the 13th and 16th Vermont Infantry units flanked Kemper's Brigade as to marched from the Spangler Farm, through the Cordori Farm and to the Copse of Trees at the Angle. The ranger, about 200 members of the reenactment unit and about 200 park visitors, proceed from the Vermont Brigade monument and march toward the Cordori Farm buildings and then wheel right by companies and march toward the Copse of trees.

Hartwig begins his presentation with the 4:30a Union artillery assault on the Confederates ensconced on lower Culp's Hill and the ensuing battle until 11:00a. Longstreet's troops depositions during the dawn hours are presented in light of Lee's visit to Longstreet and his dismissal of Longstreet's suggestion to move the Confederate First Corps further to the right. The Grand Assault is briefly presented by Hartwig with special attention to Kemper's Brigade.

He describes the Vermont Brigade and in particular the 13th Vermont, nine month volunteers whose only battle was Gettysburg. Hartwig relies on the words of the men of the 13th Vermont as found in letters and post-war memoirs. He imparts a sense of immediacy during the tour as the words of the soldiers are presented in the footsteps of the soldiers. The 13th Vermont was much larger than most Union Regiments on the field; the regiments 650 soldiers made it twice the size of the majority of the Federal fighting units.

This particular Battlewalk relies heavily on the the tactical movements and manual of arms that are reenacted by the Mifflin Gaurd. For those viewers who are familar with the fields covered by the Vermont Brigade, the reenactment unit's size with the addition of the park visitors, accurately show movements of a regiment. Hartwig has both the reenactors and the park visitors lie down behind the breastwork that was built by the 13th Vermont on the Cordori Knoll, then rise up, march forward and deliver several volleys toward the Cordori Farm. Overall, this Gettysburg Battlewalk is consistently interesting for the information it gives, the tactical movements that are shown, and the visuals of having a nearly accurately-sized Federal regiment in the right spot at the right time to repel The Grand Assault.

Walking Gettysburg's Battlefield--Henry Hunt At Cemetery Ridge

Gettysburg Battlewalks: Henry Hunt at Cemetery Ridge, Eric Campbell, Pennsylvania Cable Network, 2 hours, 3 minutes, 2006.

Eric Campbell's rapid delivery holds constant through the course of two hours of both general and detailed facts concering Union artillery on July 3rd. Without a nod to the Culp's Hill action from 4:30a to 11a July 3rd, Campbell's complete focus is upon the Union guns that are facing west: Cemetery Hill, Cemetery Ridge, Plum Run and Little Round Top.

Quickly covering Henry Hunt's career and his Civil War activities to July 1863, Campbell argues that Hunt desired his cannoneers to delivery 12 well aimed shots an hour on visible targets. Most cannoneers wished to send up to three shots a minutes at the enemy. Hunt's desire clashed with Winfield Scott Hancock's orders during the afternoon of July 3rd.

The Cemetery Hill artillery, commanded by Major Thomas Osborn of the 11th Corps, stretched from the cemetery gatehouse to Ziegler's Grove and commanded Seminary Ridge from the McMillian Farm to the Bliss Farm. The Cemetery Ridge artillery, commanded by Captain John Hazzard of the 2nd Corps, was massed between Ziegler's Grove to the Copse of Trees near The Angle. The Plum Run artillery, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Freeman McGilvery of the Artillery Reserve Corps, occupied the Union line from the Copse of Trees to past the Trostle Farm lane.

The placement of the guns by Hunt and his commanders, the delivery of ammunition to the pieces, and reinforcement during the assault was essential to the defeat of Longstreet's second assault. Lee and Longstreet ordered the barrage, which Campbell asserts Lee understood would last only twenty minutes. Most accounts that it lasted about an hour. Campbell does not elaborate difference between what Lee ordered and what Lee got.

The decision to reply to the Confederate bombardment was made by Hancock and against Hunt's orders. Hunt wanted the Rebel assault under long range artillery fire as soon as the troops stepped forward. Hancock's orders diminished the supply of the long range ordinance available for striking the Rebels as they came out of the woods.

The decision to withdraw pieces from Cemetery Ridge and thereby misleading Alexander to conclude that the Federal artillery had been driven away was simultaneously reached by three different generals in three different locations on the battlefield.
Hunt as he rode the Cemetery Ridge line, Osborn on Cemetery Hill and Meade beyond the Taneytown Road. Hunt and Osborn agreed on the withdrawal as a courier from Meade found them and requested the withdrawal.

McGilvery's batteries took Kemper's brigade in their right flank; Osborn's batteries enfiladed Pettigrew's advance. Hazzard's batteries confronted Garnett's and Armisted's brigades head on.

Gettysburg Battlewalks: Henry Hunt at Cemtery Ridge should be viewed with either several issues of Gettysburg Magazine handy or with "Double Canister at Ten Yards": The federal Artillery and the Repulse of Pickett's Charge at hand. Like many of the PCN tours the information delivered is clear, concise and complete within the limits of the dvd format but, unless the viewer is very familiar with the battlefield, the persepective of the PCN camera is limited. The viewer at times wonders just where exactly are the Park Rangers standing while they speak. Campbell has six or seven stops on his tour and he makes the effort to show the audience importance of the terrain and uses 19th century enlarged photographs to show how the tree lines have changed.

CWL---Walking Gettysburg's Battlefield With The Wounded

PCN Tours Gettysburg Battle Walks: The Wounded and the Dead,NPS Ranger Joseph Onofrey, Pennsylvania Cable Network, 72 minutes, 1996, released in 2006. Ensconced at the Slyder Farm at the base of Big Round Top, NPS Ranger Joseph Onofrey provides an overview of Civil War battlefield medicine. The Slyder Farm, also known as the Granite Farm, was at times both a battlefield and a Confederate triage station. The 74 acre farm was purchased by William Slyder in 1840 and the current house, built in 1852, has both his initials at the date carved into one of its stones.

In 1863 there were five occupants who after hearing the battle of July 1 which was between two and three miles away, and after waking up with the Federal 3rd Corps as their neighbors on July 2nd, skedaddled by noon. Onofrey relates the several types of physical exams that recruits received. One physical examination occurred as an entire regiment marched by a dortor. Other exams managed to let somewhere between 400 and 700 women into the armies. Noting the exceptions, Onofrey skips a description of the usual physical and the forms that were used. He focuses upon camp life sanitation, food, and sickness. 'Death By Frying Pan' is a portion of the presentation offers a wide range of information, from dessicated vegetables to the depth and width of the latrines and their location relative to the troops water supply. Paregoric, an opium derivative, calomel, castor oil, are discussed as well as the issue of mercury being a frequent ingredient in prescriptions. Typhoid struck 27,000 soldiers during the war; there were two million ounces of opium and quinine dispensed.

Onofrey discusses battlefield wounds caused by bayonets (.4 of 1%), the variety of artillery rounds, and lastly the minie ball. In the demonstration segment of the presentation, he lays out the surgeon's case and adds a discussion upon microbes. The location of triage/first aid stations and hospitals are discussed. While demonstrating how a leg was removed, he dwells upon laudable pus and pymea, a type of blood infection. Over all, Onofrey receives high marks for putting a lot of statistical and anecdotal information together within 72 minutes.

CWL, when not managing an academic library, teaching a U.S.survey course or reading, manages to find time to reenact the American Civil War as an infantryman, a Union medical service captain, a signal corps lieutenant, or Abraham Lincoln. Onofrey's presentation is a very good introduction to the topic of Civil War era medicine; I soon will be adding information regarding the artillery wounds to my own presentation.

Coincidentally, I an now re-reading Greg Coco's Strange and Blighted Land: Gettysburg and the Aftermath of the Battle. This book is highly recommended and compliments PCN Tours Gettysburg Battle Walks: The Wounded and the Dead. Also, readers would do well to add to their bookshelf Debris of Battle: The Wounded of Gettysburg by Gerard A. Patterson. For a further in dept understanding of the era's medicine buy or borrow (through inter-library loan)two very fine works on Civil War era medicine: Bleeding Blue and Gray and Gangrene and Glory.

CWL --- Walking Gettysburg's Battlefield: The Pennsylvania Bucktail Brigade on McPherson's Farm

Gettysburg Battlewalks: The Bucktail Brigade, John Heiser, Pennsylvania Cable Network, 1 hour 35 minutes, dvd, 2005, $20.00.

Army of the Potomac, First Corps, Third Division, Second Brigade, in which 2 of every 3 soldiers are killed or wounded during the battle of Gettysburg. The Bucktail Brigade.

Like other brigades of the First Corps on July 1st, it was assigned an area too large for 1300 soldiers to cover. Assailed on both flanks by Rebel soldiers from two different divisions, this brigade of Pennsylvanians retreated to Cemetery Ridge.

The commander of this brigade, Colonel Roy Stone, orginally served with the 13th Pennsylvania Reserve, the original Bucktail Regiment. In the fall of 1862, Stone was given command of three Pennsylvania regiments un-related to the Pennsylvania Reserve division. Derisively known at the 'Bogus Bucktails' by the Pennyslvania Reserve regiments, the 143rd, 149th and the 150th Pennsylvania entered the army in late 1862 and saw their first combat at Gettysburg.

John Heiser, GNMP ranger who manages the park's library and crafts maps for Gettysburg Magazine, gives an enthusiastic tour over the McPherson Farm in the steps of the Pennsylvanians. Capturing and having their own flags captured, repulsing Daniels' CSA brigade and then being routed on two flanks, gaining a Medal of Honor and making the McPherson barn their hospital, the story of the Bucktail Brigade at Gettysburg is one of victory and defeat.

Though only about 90 minutes, this PCN tour is one of the more enjoyable. Heiser's perseverance during the July morning heat, the stories of Yankee tactics and valor are well told, and walking among the Bucktail Brigades three monuments along Chambersburg Pike, give a strong sense of place. The viewer would be well served to have a copy of the McElfresh July 1 map that shows crops, buildings, fences and woodlots while viewing the dvd. This PCN tour is recommended for both the new and more experienced Gettysburg visitors and readers.

Walking Gettysburg's Battlefield: Meade on July 3rd

Gettysburg Battlewalks: General Meade After Pickett's Charge, Troy Harmon, Pennsylvania Cable Network, 1 hour 50 minutes, 2005, dvd. $20.

Did Meade want to fight at Gettysburg? Did Meade want to retreat on the evening of July 2nd? Why didn't Meade counter-assault the Army of Northern Virginia after the Pickett-Pettigrew-Trimble charge? Troy Harmon, National Park Service ranger addresses these questions. He states the answers quickly with "Yes. No. He tried".

Harmon quotes the memoirs and testimony, before the Committee on the Conduct of the War (CCW), of Sedgwick, Hancock, Sickles, Butterfield, Birney, Pleasanton and Warren. He also cites Longstreet's memoirs. Each of these men were Meade detractors. Hancock and Sickles were wounded and off the field and yet testified as if they had been there on the late afternoon of July 3rd. Longstreet was on the opposing side. Pleasanton Birney and Butterfield were on the battlefield and testified against Meade in Congressional hearings. Warren's testimony wavered between 'he did-he didn't'. As a trend within the testimony, Harmon sees the CCW hearings as a 'clear Meade out of the way for Grant' mentality.

Harmon covers the Meade's actions from 1p until 7p on July 3rd. The ranger's conclusion is that Meade did try to organize an immediate offensive and that it was a partial success.

Pleasanton, commander of the Army of the Potomac's cavalry, recalled a provocative remark that he made to Meade. "I'll give you an half an hour to show that your are a great general." Like many of Pleasanton's recollections, this one was written and published after the chief witness, in this case Meade, is dead. Understating the irony, Harmon describes Meade's actual order to Pleasanton and Pleasanton's inability, as commander, to achieve the slightest degree of success. Farnsworth's Charge and Merritt's Charge, on South Cavalry battlefield, yeilded only Federal casualities.

The Sixth Corps had marched 32 miles on July 2nd and was the offensive/defensive reserve of the Army of the Potomac. With Sedgwick's Sixth Corps scattered about the battlefield tending to the support of the 11th Corps on Cemetry Hill, Meade personally ordered the advance of the two brigades of the Fifth Corps' Pennsylvania Reserves Division. As one brigade, located between the Round Tops, challenged CSA sharpshooters in the Devils Den, two brigades advanced for a second time across Plum Run. At dusk on July 2nd, these two Pennsylvania Reserve brigades cleared the north slope of Little Round Top, Plum Run and the Wentz Farm.

Harmon reports that at approximately4:15p on July 3rd, Meade met with Sykes, Sedgwick, Warren, Pleasanton and Crawford on Little Round Top. He ordered Sykes to advance Crawford's Division, called an armed reconnaissance to clear the Wheatfield. He also ordered Pleasanton advance the cavalry in an armed reconnaissance on to the Warfield Ridge and to the Emmittsburg Road.

Longstreet’s Corps stretched from the Trostle Barn to Bushman Hill, from McLaws' division's left flank to Hood's divisions right flank. The gap, which Hancock cites in CCW testimony, is to the left of McLaws' division, where Pickett reported to Lee, "Sir, I have no division." Longstreet's corps had no cavalry flankers. All the available CSA cavalry was east of the Army of the Potomac and fought that morning to gain the Low Dutch Road which led to Powers' Hill, the ‘Grand Central Station’ of the Army of the Potomac. If Meade had been forced to retreat he would have sent the army south on the Baltimore Pike and the Taneytown Road.
CSA cavalry success on the Low Dutch Road would have imperiled any Federal movement on the Taneytown Road, explains Harmon.

Though Pleasanton's efforts are in vain, Crawford's Pennsylvania Reserves and Niven's brigade are successful in checking for strenghth, location and morale of the rebel force in front of the Federal left. On the right of the Federal advance, several of Niven's regiments make it to the Emmitsburg Road where they discover McLaws' division in wait immediately to the west. On the left of the Federal advance, Harmon explains that about half of the15th Georgia was gobbled up along with their colors by the 6th Pennsylvania Reserves as they rushed the Wheatfield and Houck’s Ridge. The ranger keenly notes that Houck's Ridge and the crest of the Wheatfield is actually elements of the same topographic feature.

In closing Harmon cites Edwin Coddington’s conclusions that:
1. the Sixth Corps was not fully available
2. from 4:15p to 4:45p Meade was on Little Round Top with his commanders
3. at approximately 4:45p Meade ordered Sedgwick to concentrate the Sixth Corps' troops
and make an armed reconnaissance immediately
4. by 5:30p 10,000 men available Munshower Knoll, immediately north of Little Round Top

Harmon and Coddington both understand that the window of attack is 4:00p-5:00p and that sunset is 7:15p, three hours after the end of PPT charge. From reports, Harmon as found that Longstreet pulled out and moved west of Warfield Ridge by 6p. Harmon cites Federal cavalry general Merritt report as stating that a rainstorm began at about 7p.

Like nearly all PCN Gettysburg tours, the viewer needs to have readily available maps such as McElfresh's watercolor map showing 1863 roads, fences and crops and the Desjardin/Friends of Gettysburg map of troop movements, along with a Trailhead Graphics map of contemporary roads and monument locations. The viewer who has read one or two full length treatments of the battle, such as Trudeau's or Sears, is well served by Harmon's tour. The order of battle in these books are handy while viewing the dvd. Novices may find this description of this portion of the battle and battlefield perplexing.

CWL --- Walking Gettysburg's Battlefield: Power's Hill

Gettysburg Battlewalks: Power's Hill, Troy Harman, Pennsylvania Cable Network, DVD, two hours, dvd, 2002, $20.00.

It was between 1867 and 1870, in Drayer's account of the battle, when the term 'fish hook' was first used in print to describe the Federal battleline at Gettysburg. Troy Harman, NPS ranger, understands that this term oversimplies the facts. He states that Gibbon and Haskell described the battleline as a 'U'. If it is a fish hook then the barb is the Power's-Wolf's-McAllister's Hills. Also in the vicinity is the McAllister family's mills, mill race, and the mill pond which as an impediment to a CSA advance, could not be improved upon by the Federals.

Furthermore, Harmon states that the Round Tops were not a major objective in the CSA battlefield strategy. He quotes Longstreet as stating that the point of reinforcement was Culp's Hill. The reinforcments sent July 2nd and 3rd battles for the hill speak to Harmon's point. Harmon further enhances his argument by stating that the only Federal corps to take the offensive was the Sixth and the point of attack was Culp's Hill on July 3rd which was initiated from the Power's Hill area. He does allow for the late afternoon of Fifth and Sixth Corps troops advance into Houck's Ridge/Wheatfield as an advance, but one smaller than the effort to retake the lower Culp's Hill on the morning of July 3rd. This advance was also generated from the Power's Hill area

Harmon entitles this particular tour as 'Power's Hill: The Grand Central Station.'
Power's Hill--the Granite School House Road area's story is one of logistics. The Federal attack on Culp's Hill and the support of the Federal center during the Pickett-Pettigrew-Trimble Charge orginated in this area. Both the ammunition park and the ambulance park for the battle was along the intersection of the Baltimore Pike and the Granite School House road at Power's Hill. He uses Edwin Forbes eyewitness illustration to reinforce this point.

Power's Hill was the first stop George Meade made when he came to the battlefield and it held the potential of the last line of defense if East Cemetery and Culp's Hill fell to the relentless CSA onslaughts. During the battle, Power's Hill was the site of Sixth Corps's headquarters and three batteries, Rigby's Maryland battery, Knapp's Pennsylvania battery and Atwell's Maine battery. At the time, unlike today, the hill was cleared of trees.

This hill also offered fields of fire for Union artillery directed at the Confederate far left flank at Pardee's Field. Harmon estimates that approximately 200 to 400 Rebel sharpshooters were ordered to Wolf's Hill and ordered to scout the Yankee far right flank. These sharpshooters were hindered by the mills' dam, pond, resevoir, and mill race. McAllister's saw and grist mills, before the battle, was a station on the Underground Railroad. Also, in close proximity to the mills' ruins today is Neill (Lost) Avenue, which is a Licensed Battlefield Guide exam test quesiton. Farmsteads that covered Power's, McAllister's and Wolfe's Hill served as hospitals for generals Barlow, and Armistead.

Harmon's tour, as recorded by the Pennsylvania Cable Network, may be frustrating to the viewer who does not a detailed map of the battlefield while watching. At the time the tour was recorded, Power's Hill is overgrown with trees, a portion of the orginal Granite School House Road is cabled off, the McAllister Mill portion is approachable by foot, and Wolfe's Hill is not owned by the NPS. The tour is an excellent for those quite familar with battle but for those who are making a first or second visit to the battlefield or reading their first or second book on the three days\, they may be a little lost among the trees. Also, an order of battle is probably a requirement for most viewers.

CWL --- Walking Gettysburg's Battlefield: East Cemetery Hill

"The Hour Was One of Horror: East Cemetery Hill at Gettysburg," Archer, John M., 100 pp., b/w photographs, maps, appendix, endnotes, index, 1997, $10.00

About half of the East Cemetery Hill battlefield has been lost to development; a watertower, a high school and middle school, and a tour bus center may obscure a casual visitor's comprehension of this portion of the battle. "The Hour Was One of Horror: East Cemetery Hill At Gettysburg" by John Archer is essential in putting the strategic and tactical puzzle together when touring this part of the battlefield. When thinking of East Cemetery Hill, one may picture the Hancock statue, artillery redouts and the Evergreen Cemetery Gate House. Archer's book takes the reader much further than the crest of the hill. East Cemetery Hill was the first land to be set aside as a park, along with Culp's Hill; it is not surprising that public interest in these areas is lags behind the public interest in the Round Tops, Devils Den, and the High Water Mark areas. Though closest to town, economic development and the layout of the park roads do not encourage quick study of this segment of the battle.

The tactical and strategic circumstances of July 1st and 2nd are reviewed in the first quarter of the discussion; then Benner's Hill, the terrain of Early's advance, Brickyard Lane, the CSA breakthroughs at the base of the hill and again at the top, and repulse by USA reinforcements is presented. Archer's presentation of the East Cemetery Hill battle begins, not on the hill but streets of Gettysburg. The retreat of the Federal First and Eleventh Corps, on July 1st from west and north of town to Cemetery Hill, East Cemetery Hill, McKnight's Knoll and Culp's Hill clarifies the combat exhaustion and readiness of the Union forces which defend the Evergreen Gatehouse on July 2nd and 3rd. Archer's discussion of the placement of CSA troops in front of these positions and on Benner's Hill, east of Culp's Hill reveals the terrain and logistical problems that Ewell, CSA 2nd Corps commander had in coordinating the Confederate attacks. Benner's Hill on July 2nd became the platform for CSA artillery that aided the attacks on both Culp's and East Cemetery Hill. The Federal domination of the Confederate artillery on Benner's Hill is essential in understanding the heroic nature of the Rebel attacks, unsupported by artillery, Archer explains.

Though a tourbook with designated stops, Archer's work may be easily used as a general presentation of the combat. Ten maps guide both the armchair reader and the battlefield walker. These maps are original to the book and not generic; based upon the 1864 Bachelder Isometric Map, the 1869 Warren Survey Map, the 1876 Bachelder Maps, and the 1900 Cope Map, these maps are models of clarity and precise reinforcement of the text. Nearly forty historic and modern photographs and illustrations aid the reader in recollecting the site from the armchair or present the walker with the exact spot which soldiers' primary sources discuss. There are no portraits of commanders in the book; this is not lamentable. The text is consistently reinforced with the words of the rank and file soldiers. What is lacking in the book, but is probably on the reader's bookshelf or in the backpack, is an order of battle. The index is brief and adequate. The notes are thorough and add to the text. "The Hour Was One of Horror" is both a fine presentation of the combat and an essential guide to understanding the strategy of the battle, as it developed in the minds of the commanders. This book is highly recommended for the committed student of the battle.

CWL --- Walking Gettysburg's Battlefield: The Weikert, Trostle and Klingel Farms

Gettysburg Battlewalks: The Weikert, Trostle, and Klingle Farms, barbara Sanders, Pennsylvania Cable Network, 2004, 95 minutes, DVD format, $20.

Before the battle, Adams County was home to prosperous farm families. Remarks by invading Confederates are found in most books that survey the battle. Jacob Hoke's 'The Great Invasion' and Wilbur Nye's 'Here Come The Rebels' provide many instances of the surprise and admiration by the Confederates of the size and prosperity of Pennyslvania's farmsteads. Nearly forty farms were occupied by the armies on July 1, 2, 3, 1863. Entire farms were destroyed; the Harmon farm and Herbst farm buildings were burned by Rebels on the mid-afternoon of July 1. Also, the Bliss farm had all its buildings and it house burned on the morning of July 3 by Union troops who were exhausted by the constant harrassment of Confederate sharpshooters. Most battlefield first aid stations and hospitals were located on farms.

The Weikert, Trostle and Klingel farms suffered on July 2 from the advance of Longstreet's corps and the resistence of the Third Corp. These farm families had little choice but to abandon their homes when the fighting were in there farm yards. National Park Service Ranger Barbara Sanders walks, with an audience of adults and children, over these farmsteads. Few subjects are neglected; Sanders covers fences as defensive barricades and offensive impediments, barns and houses as both sharpshooter posts and first aid locations, and springs and streams as unique meeting places for enemies. She depicts the corn as being 'knee high by the Fourth of July' and the oats, barley, and orchards ripening on the farms and being destroyed by men and horses.

Sanders discusses surgery and amupation as she and the audience stands near the spot of General Daniel Sickles' wounding. She describes the withdrawal of artillery by prolong in the fields of the Trostle farm and the hinderance to the battery's escape by occassioned by the stone and rail fence behind the barn. Of the many tours in PCN Productions' Gettysburg Battlewalks series, this ranks among the most enjoyable and informative. Sanders enthusiasm, point of view, and interactions with the audience adds to her attention to detail regarding the farm families' stories give this tour distinctive.

CWL --- Walking Gettysburg's Battlefield: Culp's Hill

Culp's Hill at Gettysburg: "The Mountain Trembled", Archer, John M., Thomas Publications, 2002, 144 pp., paperbound, notes, index, $12.95


Among the least visited and walked areas of Gettysburg battlefield is Culp's Hill. This portion of the battlefield has an equal amount of fighting, heroism, drama, and human interest as Little Round Top or The Copse of Trees. Probably there are two reasons for the lack of popular interest in Culp's Hill. The first is that tourists can't climb over the rocks (Devil's Den) and there is no grand vista (Little Round Top). The second is that the story is difficult to tell, read and visualize. The switchback roads, the steep slopes, the monuments scattered about in the woods all hinder the imagination that tries to understand which unit did what and where. The compass spins through all four quadrants when you drive the Culp's Hill roads.

John Archer's guide is a great help for any student of the battle and probably is on the bookshelf of every licensed battlefield guide. An Adams County resident, Archer has spent hours upon hours on the Culp's Hill battlefield; this fact becomes obvious from his precise directions for driving and walking the tour. Accompanying the tour, is a very fine presentation of the troop movements, assaults and retreats. The clarity of Archer's organization of the material is consistent throughout the book. Keeping an eye on the battle's clock, Archer helps the reader keep moving forward with the troops.

His use of the veteran's words to describe the ground is exceptional and is often accompanied by both period and contemporary photographs. Archer selects the most descriptive accounts of combat and these occur frequently in the text. A quick look through the text shows that the words of soldiers are used on nearly two-thirds of the 144 pages of the book. In the three page
'Aftermath' discussion, Archer uses three soldiers' view of Union and Confederate burial.

Value is added to the book by a discussion of how this portion of the battlefield became a park. The installation of the roads and the loss of McAllister's mill pond are clearly explained; they are discussed as factors in interpreting the present day park. The maps are adequate for the tour but this reader wishes that one small- scale map covering the area bounded by East Cemetry Hill, the Daniel Lady farmstead, Wolf's and Power's Hills, and the McAllister Mill would have been included. Having a McElfresh watercolor map of the area aids in the reading of the book; the farmsteads and lanes, the original fences, crops and woodlots shown on this map guided the understanding of Archer's maps. A discussion of the 1863 farmsteads, their owners, tenant families, and damage claims would have been appropriate and enhanced both Introduction and the Aftermath. Citations in the text are found at the end of the monograph. Lacking is an order of battle but the index does list all the Federal and Confederate regiments. Listings of officiers' names give rank. Only a brigade commander commanders are designated as such. Other officers' commands, such as regimental, division, artillery, are not noted.

CWL --- Walking Gettysburg's Battlefield: The Rose Farm

Gettysburg Battlefield Walks: The Rose Farm, Tim Smith and Gary Adelman, Pennsylvania Cable Network, 2003. DVD format, $20.

The Pennsylvania Cable Network, owned and operated by the Commonwealth, broadcasts NPS Rangers' and LBG tours of the Gettysburg National Military Park. There are over sixty tours available on DVD format available from www.pcntv.com. At $20 to $25 each, they are an affordable means of learning more about the battle. These tours,filmed on the battlefield,work best with a battlefield map on your lap as the tour plays on your television. Recommended are the McElfresh water color maps that show only the roads, fences, buildings and crops at the time of the battle.

The Rose Farm tour, presented by Licensed Battlefield Guides Tim Smith and Gary Adelman, focuses on the bloodiest farmstead in the Civil War. The Rose Farm is located on the southern end of the battlefield, between Devil's Den an the Emmitsburg Road. The program is an enjoyable 70 minute tour of that portion of the battlefield and covers: the owners and tenants of the farm, Longstreet's attacks on the Wheatfield and the Stoney Hill, the successive attacks by U.S. through The Wheatfield and the Stoney Hill, the burials around the Rose Farm buildings, the post-battle photography on the farm, the first monuments and their mistakes, early tourism and the creation of the National Battlefield Park by the U.S. War Department.

Adelman and Smith, support and interrupt each other. At times the tour becomes a conversation between them; their congeniality avoids the common pitfall of 'the talking head' or 'the monotone' of public discussions presented in video format. Their tour offers period photography, maps, and portaits, enlarged for the audience. Anyone preparing for the Licensed Battlefield Guide exam would do well use this PCN tour in their studies.