Has anyone on here hiked around the Gettysburg battle fields? Always drove around and hopped out at various places but planning on actually doing a hike to take some time and explore. There is apparently a 9 mile trail to hike there that look to have short trails off it here and there. Any of them worth diverging from the main trail? Any tips while visiting Gettyburg?
OT: Gettysburg - Hike around the battle fields
- Thread starter TheBigUglies
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actually I have. its a long walk out to Little Round top at midnight from the college, but the FIJI pledge class made it and retrieved the pledge trainers Diet Coke before it went flat. Now many guys were on that statue or is that some brother trying to harass us?
yes, and I think it's the only way to even begin to "get it" about the battle. Read a good book on the battle- one with maps and diagrams- before you go and give it a couple of days to walk it. Take your book with you.
My advice is to read a book that describes the battle in detail before your visit. You will understand the battlefield a lot better.
It should only count if you do it on the July 4th holiday, which is brutally hot and when the battle occurred.
I've stood in the corner of the Wheat field where Picketts charge started, in the summer time. I remember thinking, what were these guys thinking? and what kind of stone balls they must have had to ever attempt that.
I will add that you can refer to the book and pretty much envision what was happening during the battle.
I lived 25 minutes from Gettysburg for eight years and made many trips on my own. I bought the map that has all of the monuments on it from the visitor center. I visited many of them. I found it intriguing to research why a monument was where it was and I would dive into knowing what happened there during the battle. There are just so many more stories than Pickett's Charge, Little Round Top, et al. One example is Spangler's Spring by Culp's Hill. Both sides used the spring July 2nd and the fighting that occurred there on the second day seems to be an afterthought in the historical news of the battle.
Monuments Map
Have done several battle field walks . Best was a tour lead by Dr Gary Gallagher that took us out the old trolley tracks up through the triangle field into Devils Den then up little round top. Best way to see the battle field is with these tours.
We did a guided bike tour. It was about 10 miles and the guide was a retired history teacher who was fantastic. I’d highly recommend it, if you are able to bike. Little Round Top was a little challenging but the rest of the ride wasn’t too bad.
After hiking, head over to Four Score and sample their "heavily fruited" sours. I hate fruited beer, but this is like no other...outstanding.
Mason Dixon Distillery has some great eats and of course plenty of creative cold cocktails or drinks to help recover from your hike. MDD actually leases some farmland on the national battlefield and uses that grain in their rum, whiskey and vodka. They're attempting to create a whiskey 100% sourced from the battlefield.
Mason Dixon Distillery has some great eats and of course plenty of creative cold cocktails or drinks to help recover from your hike. MDD actually leases some farmland on the national battlefield and uses that grain in their rum, whiskey and vodka. They're attempting to create a whiskey 100% sourced from the battlefield.
I've walked nearly all of the battlefield, but in smallish bits rather than all at once. I teach in Gettysburg and often go to the battlefield or to the cemetery during breaks between classes. It is a place of awesome significance. I particularly love the cemetery in the twilight. It is beautiful and sad, and I find it important to spend time there.
When the sun goes down, go to Tommy's for pizza and a beer.
Tommy's Pizza | Gettysburg, PA (tommyspizzainc.com)
When the sun goes down, go to Tommy's for pizza and a beer.
Tommy's Pizza | Gettysburg, PA (tommyspizzainc.com)
Check out this video from the American Battlefield Trust. It's a driving tour but explains what vistors can see in good detail.
I grew up near Gettysburg and have hiked sections of the battlefield on several occasions. Walking Pickett's charge was especially moving. That said, I always felt biking is the best way to tour the battlefield.
Have dinner at the Dobbin House.
Ghost Tour is fun.
Tour battlefield with a tour guide in your car; some drive will drive so that you can enjoy the scenery and views of the battlefield.
Take the bus tour; we had a host who had us in stitches and provide some real insight into the battle.
Question is what did lee think because they say his blood was up. Well he must have been mad!!
definitely walk it but I wouldn’t do the 9 miles in one day. It doesn’t allow for you to pause and at certain key areas from both army perspective to take it all in.
I used to bike it all the time as well.
While I never hiked the battlefield, I did a Segway tour a few years ago. Not sure they are still offered but back then the tour included a short time to get use to the Segway before heading out. My tour was on 2 July, so the battlefield was full of reenactors and it was a hot day. Our tour was late in the afternoon so not too hot. The reenactors were of the opinion that Segways would have helped. But it was a great way to see the battlefield and better than in a car because you could stop and get off the Segway and walk around.
FYI. Seems like there is some interest
Once partially concealed by numerous postwar additions, the Civil War era homestead of Gettysburg blacksmith James Warfield and his family now stands revived to its 1860s appearance along the Millerstown Road. Rehabilitation efforts yielded as many questions as answers. Who were the Warfields? How did they and fellow African American families cope with Confederate invasion? What role did they and descendants play in the Gettysburg community? Finally, how might this historic property convey broader understandings of Civil War America and beyond? Join historian Jared Frederick for this in-depth look chronicling the complexity and courage of Gettysburg's civilian wartime experience.
Featuring some of the best Rangers, historians, and authors from across the country, the 10-week Winter Lecture Series will once again return to the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center in 2022! From the Centennial of the Civil War and the complicated legacy of Robert E. Lee, to the creation of the novel The Killer Angels and the evolution of the Gettysburg battlefield, these free hour-long lectures will explore and illuminate the people, places, and continuing legacies of the American Civil War.
Winter Lectures are held at 1:30 pm on weekends in the Ford Education Center at Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center. Attendance is free and on a first come, first serve basis.
For those unable to attend in person, all Winter Lectures will be live streamed on the Gettysburg National Military Park YouTube channel.
Once partially concealed by numerous postwar additions, the Civil War era homestead of Gettysburg blacksmith James Warfield and his family now stands revived to its 1860s appearance along the Millerstown Road. Rehabilitation efforts yielded as many questions as answers. Who were the Warfields? How did they and fellow African American families cope with Confederate invasion? What role did they and descendants play in the Gettysburg community? Finally, how might this historic property convey broader understandings of Civil War America and beyond? Join historian Jared Frederick for this in-depth look chronicling the complexity and courage of Gettysburg's civilian wartime experience.
Featuring some of the best Rangers, historians, and authors from across the country, the 10-week Winter Lecture Series will once again return to the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center in 2022! From the Centennial of the Civil War and the complicated legacy of Robert E. Lee, to the creation of the novel The Killer Angels and the evolution of the Gettysburg battlefield, these free hour-long lectures will explore and illuminate the people, places, and continuing legacies of the American Civil War.
Winter Lectures are held at 1:30 pm on weekends in the Ford Education Center at Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center. Attendance is free and on a first come, first serve basis.
For those unable to attend in person, all Winter Lectures will be live streamed on the Gettysburg National Military Park YouTube channel.
This. I walked from the NC monument to the confederate high water mark several years ago. There comes a point where you, having walked the better part of a mile in the heat, find yourself walking up a slope staring into the muzzles of cannons. It was intimidating without the long rows of guys with muskets. Stone balls indeed.
I pasted the following content Contributed by RJ Holland:
Has anyone visited the Gettysburg Battlefield? How was your experience? Is it true that the field feels "electric?"
"I visited Gettysburg twice. Once when I was twelve, my family went on a road trip through the US. We visited Gettysburg. I was just a kid then so Gettysburg was a place where Civil War soldiers fought in battles. That’s about all I knew about however, it started my interest in that war, a life long interest. Walking the different battlefield areas with my older fourteen year old sisters and parents it was just a fun time learning a little about the war. I remember visiting a shop and asking Dad if I could get a Civil War cap or kepi. He bought me a blue one and a grey one and also a canteen. The caps made back in those days were far better than the cheap ones sold today. I still have the blue one but the grey one and the plastic canteen are lost to history.
Flash forward to 2006. My wife and I went on a road trip to Gettysburg. I was in a different frame of mind here. I had read many books on the US Civil War and had been collecting Civil War uniforms and headgear for years. Not the weapons but clothing and personal items. The different styles and colours of uniforms worn by Civil War soldiers is astounding.
So we walked and all we could think of was how many died here and the vicious battles that took place. We visited every site while we were there because on that visit, I knew all the sites. I stood at Devil’s Den where that famous photo of the dead Confederate soldier laid and we walked the cornfield where all those Union bodies laid in another photo. The shirts were pulled up on many of them because they looked to see where they were hit before they died.
But the most powerful walk was on the field that Pickett’s Charge took place. I knew that before their tragic march across that field that some waited behind the trees. We stood there for awhile because I could only imagine how those soldiers felt while they waited. It would be a gut wrenching fear while waiting. Believe me, the worst feeling for a soldier is waiting to move up into combat.
As my wife and I began to walk across the field my mind went back to what they must have seen and felt. I saw the fence in the distance they had to cross over and could feel my stomach start to get that cold, icy feeling I got a long time ago. I felt my wife grab my arm. She was crying. She knew all about Pickett’s Charge from me and all the tragic deaths that occurred on that field hit her. She said it was just such a powerfully sad feeling. I put my arm around her as we walked.
When we got close to the end of the walk I remember what I had read in a book about the charge when the canister was fired from the cannon at close range. “And when the canister was fired from the cannons, lines of men when up in a red spray.”
So on that last visit to Gettysburg, it was a visit of awe, sadness, interest as I visited the museums and saw the places I had seen in books there in front of me.
We visited the cemetery. So many grave markers marked UNKNOWN.
After, we drove the route south that the Confederates had took back home after the battle and we had lunch in Maryland.
Those who talk about the glory of war have never experienced it. There is no glory in war.
Unfortunately it is still going on. Humans will never learn.
Below a Confederate lies at Devil’s Den shown then and now."
C
Comments by some of his followers:
When I was 12 my class went on a field trip to Gettysburg. When we were walking I was with two of my girlfriends from class. When we stopped at the area where the confederate army camped all three of us saw a confederate unit drilling. They were kind of out of focus but it was a foggy morning. When we got back to our bus we reveled at what we saw. The tour guide on our bus looked shocked, there weren’t any reenactment used at Gettysburg. The main office verified it. Not common but we were told that from time to time some like us come along and can see the soldiers. They are there.
I lived in Harrisburg, PA and have toured the Gettysburg battlefield(s) a few times. One of the “rudest" awakenings I had was on one hot, humid early July day at Devil's Den and the Roundtops. I was wearing a tee-shirt and shorts (and a lot younger than I am now) and struggled to climb one of the Roundtops. That was WITHOUT wearing a uniform or carrying a rifle
I went there with my folks on a bus tour after HS. Of course knew a bit about it by then. The National Park Service guide filled in more details. Walking up Pickett's Charge I got queasy, had to stop and bend over. I started having dry heaves. Later the guide apologized. She said they hope people get an emotional reaction to the carnage and was sorry mine was so strong.
The brutal calculus of frontal assaults was to walk to the edge of musket range and then run towards the defenders. With muzzle-loading muskets, a defender could fire about three rounds before the attackers reached his position. The attackers would face three volleys. Dumb luck decided who lived and who died.
Many of the defenders, however, had breech-loading cartridge rifles. Once Picket’s men began their run, they faced seven volleys. It was still a close affair. A handful of Picket’s men reached Union lines prompting a brief panic.
I visited Gettysburg in 1974. I viewed the site of Picket’s charge from the Union position. The men were not just running towards a defended position. They were running uphill, with no cover, over shear rocks. These poor souls were fighting for a lost cause but their courage must be acknowledged.
Follow up report on my hike. Did the entire 11 Miles of the Billy Yank Trail from All Trails. It is not well marked so I followed it on the app. Started out at the visitor center and made our way over to the Hunt Ave and Taneytown Road. Made a right on the path to the Soldiers National Cemetery Parking lot which eventually led us to Hancock Ave at Brian Farm. Form there is went across the field of Pickets Charge(or thereabouts) to the big Virginia Monument on the other side. We did stop to read many monuments and signs along the way. Made a left on W Confederate Ave and took that all the way Snyder Farm, then walked a farm lane past Slyder Farm to S Confederate Ave. Made a wrong turn and ended up going behind Big Round Top to get to Little Round top. Down Little Round top from the big monument straight down to across the street from Devils Den. Trail tooks us thru Rose Woods to DeTrobriand Ave up Stony Hill to Sickles Ave, to Wheatfield, right on Sickles and right on United States Way past the Trostle Farm with the canon ball hole in it. Back down Hancock to where we started. Great relaxing hike and great weather. Sometimes I felt like there were too many memorials there. However, it makes you think about all the people that died there. All in all a good hike and thanks for all the tips. Ended up at Appalachian Brewing for recovery food and drink.
Buddy of mine owns the only house on the national park land/battlefield that is still privately owned. He is retired military and now teaches at the Army War College. He is also a tour guide for the battlefield. Dude knows his battle of gettysburg and civil war history inside and out. I remember that when we were in 9th grade US History class his class project was he did a re-creation of the entire battlefield on this huge 8x8 ft board. Had the hills, streams, troop movements. It was cool. If you watch the History Channel, he was featured as one of the experts in both the Grant and Lincoln documentaries.
I have not been there in a long time but I highly recommend it Very humbling experience that wil leave you somber
I saw that lighted map on a field trip in 6th grade. Very cool.
fwiw I think they have sold the electric map on Ebay to somebody in Harrisburg or Carlisle.
I was wondering. I took my kids out there a few years ago and was telling them about the map, but when I was looking online to find out where it was, I couldn’t find it. This explains it. Thanks.
The electric map is at the Hanover Heritage and Conference Center, 22 Carlisle St, Hanover, PA 17331
(4) Gettysburg Electric Map in Hanover, PA | Facebook
(4) Gettysburg Electric Map in Hanover, PA | Facebook
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