Gettysburg S Peach Orchard

The Peach Orchard, Gettysburg, July 2, L863 by John Bigelow, first published in 1910, is a rare manuscript, the original residing in one of the great libraries of the world. This book is a reproduction of that original, which has been scanned and cleaned by state-of-the-art publishing tools for better readability and enhanced appreciation. Restoration Editors' mission is to bring long out of print manuscripts back to life. Some smudges, annotations or unclear text may still exist, due to permanent damage to the original work. We believe the literary significance of the text justifies offering this reproduction, allowing a new generation to appreciate it.

A “fascinating illumination of little-known accounts and personalities” by two experts on the Battle of Gettysburg (Civil War News). The historiography of Gettysburg’s second day is usually dominated by the Union’s successful defense of Little Round Top—but the day’s most influential action occurred nearly one mile west along the Emmitsburg Road, in farmer Joseph Sherfy’s peach orchard. This is the first full-length study of this pivotal action. On July 2, 1863, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee ordered skeptical subordinate Lt. Gen. James Longstreet to launch a massive assault against the Union left flank. The offensive was intended to seize the Peach Orchard and surrounding ground for use as an artillery position to support the ongoing attack. However, Union Maj. Gen. Daniel Sickles, a scheming former congressman from New York, misinterpreted his orders and occupied the orchard first. What followed was some of Gettysburg’s bloodiest and most controversial fighting. General Sickles’s questionable advance forced Longstreet’s artillery and infantry to fight for every inch of ground to Cemetery Ridge. The Confederate attack crushed the Peach Orchard salient and other parts of the Union line, threatening the left flank of Maj. Gen. George Meade’s army. The command decisions made in and around the Sherfy property influenced actions on every part of the battlefield. The occupation of the high ground at the Peach Orchard helped General Lee rationalize ordering the tragic July 3 assault known as Pickett’s Charge. This richly detailed study is based on scores of primary accounts and a deep understanding of the terrain. The authors, both Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guides, combine the military aspects of the fighting with human interest stories, in a balanced treatment of the bloody attack and defense of Gettysburg’s Peach Orchard.

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Excerpt from The Peach Orchard Gettysburg July 2, 1863: Explained by Official Reports and Maps The Peach Orchard is located at the junction of the Emmetsburg and the Wheatfield (or Millertown) roads, and is on a hill or high knoll, with Big and Little Round Tops about a mile on its left and rear. Cemetery Hill is about two miles on its right and rear and two miles on the right of the Round Tops. A low ridge, of gentle inclination on either side, extends over half the distance from Cemetery Hill toward the Round Tops. For the balance of the distance the ridge flattens out into rocky, wooded, low land and is commanded by the elevation at the Peach Orchard in its front. The Peach Orchard Knoll is circled on its southerly and westerly sides by a wooded ridge(1600 yards distant on the south and 700 yards on the west), which was occupied by the Confederate artillery and infantry on July 2nd, 1863. Map one(1) shows the position occupied by the 3rd Corps from the Round Tops to the front of the 2nd Corps on Cemetery Ridge, when the battle opened, and in detail, the regiments (Graham 1st Brig., 1st Div., 3rd Corps) and batteries (Seeley's, Randolph's, Ames', Thompson's, Hart's, Clarke's, Phillips', Bigelow's) at the Peach Orchard. Gen. Humphries Division (2nd Div. 3rd Corps) connected on the right of Graham's Brigade and extended along the Emmetsburg road, towards Gettysburg. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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