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Civil War Gettysburg Battlefield Vacation Photographs - High Water Mark - Index of Photos
Photographs of the High Water Mark from our Civil War Vacation at Gettysburg Battlefield, from Family Travel Photos.com

Keywords:family travel photos, vacation, gettysburg battlefield, civil war, Devil's Den, Slaughter Pen, Valley of Death, Triangular Field, Little Round Top, Peach Orchard, Bloody Wheatfield, The Angle, High Water Mark, Copse of Trees, Pickett's Charge, Virginia Monument, Opening in the Trees, Battlefield Memorials, Culps Hill, cemetery hill, Gettysburg National Cemetery, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, Seminary Ridge, Lutheran Theological Seminary, Sachs Bridge, McPherson's Ridge, Boyd's Bears factory, Battle of Gettysburg Diorama, Gettysburg Ghost Tour, Quality Inn at General Lee's Headquarters, Cashtown Inn, national military park

 
 
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PA MD WV Trip July 2009 880
PA MD WV Trip July 2009 881
PA MD WV Trip July 2009 882
PA MD WV Trip July 2009 883
Washington DC Trip June 2009 680
Washington DC Trip June 2009 681
Washington DC Trip June 2009 682

This album has 2064 photos in total.
Album was created 8/5/09 9:11 PM.

The Battle of Gettysburg, fought on July 1–3, 1863, was the battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War and is often consideredas the war's turning point. Fought in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the Battle of Gettysburg saw 165,000 Union and Confederate soldiers clash in a three day battle that resulted in more than 51,000 casualties.

On the third day of the battle, Confederate soldiers in an attack called Pickett's Charge reached the copse of trees near The Angle (a corner in a low stone wall) on Cemetery Ridge; this represented the farthest point north that Robert E. Lee's forces reached during the Civil War. For this reason the copse of trees is often referred to as the High Water Mark of the Confederacy.

Pickett's Charge was a disaster for the Confederate forces and ended Robert E. Lee's plan to move his forces north to Harrisburg Pennsylvania and on to Washington DC. While the Civil War continued on for two more years, the Battle of Gettysburg changed the dynamics of the war and General Lee was never truly on the offensive again.

Today the High Water Mark is surrounded with memorials for various regiments and commanders. The best known is probably the marker for General Armistead, who courageously led his soldiers through the brutal fire from Union soldiers by putting his hat on his sword and yelling "Who is with me?" as he charged forward. He is the only Confederate general to cross the stone wall of the Angle, and he was mortally wounded just after he did so.

The High Water Mark is marked by a small group of trees called the Copse of Trees, which is now protected with a wrought-iron fence. A large memorial pays tribute to all the soldiers, Union and Confederate, who fought at this place.