140 Places Every Guide Should Know

by Fred Hawthorne

Heth Tree | Gibbon Tree | Only '63 Tree in the National Cemetery

Thousands of trees of various shapes and sizes undoubtedly grew within the confines of the 25 square miles or so of battle area in 1863.  Like the humans who fought amidst the hills and woodlots in which they grew, some of these were killed by shot and shell ripping through them...reports in the Culp's Hill area talking of trees dying of 'lead poisoning' several years afterwards.  Some trees continued to grow covering up scars of the battle and indeed lead and iron fragments and sometimes entire artillery shells.  Of course some lucky tress probably escaped the storm of projectiles entirely unscathed.  Over the years some of these trees became attractions on their own...notably the afore-mentioned "Culp's Hill ones which are remembered today in photographs, and the one in the Sherfy yard with the artillery shell projecting out of it.

When the War Department took over the park in the 1890's sufficient time had elapsed to make such noticable battle veterans perhaps rare enough that steps were taken to protect them from the effects of Gettysburg's frequent and violent lightning strikes. Lightning arresters - rods grounded by large cables, were installed in a number of trees around the field.  Over the years almost all of these cables have been cut off or come detached from the grounding system so they play little role in protecting their charges today but looking carefully they can still be seen.  Common sense tells you that the old commissioners were not experimenting with a way to protect all Civil War era trees as at that time there certainly would have been hundreds of them.  Why certain trees were singled out for such extraordinary efforts at protection stem from specific battle-era references or, as park historian Kathy Harrison once speculated, the presence of known unexploded shells.

As I write this column I am looking at a pen set on my desk carved from wood taken from one of the famous battle-trees...the "Reynold's Oak." Standing at the eastern edge of Herbst's Woods, this giant survived man's whirling fury only to succumb to nature's more than a century and a quarter later. I had the good fortune of serving as vice-president and president of the Gettysburg Civil War Roundtable at the time and quote from the explanatory brochure packaged with each set:

Major General John Fulton Reynolds was shot shortly after 10 a.m. on July 1st 1863 while urging the Iron Brigade into the western edge of the Herbst's woods on McPherson's Ridge at Gettysburg. When the general was shot he fell from his horse. The general's staff will later have the spot where he fell marked with a monument. The location of that spot of ground was under a white oak tree. An enlisted man, Charles Veil, who served as Reynold's orderly, returned to the Gettysburg battlefield to show the Reynold's family where the general was killed. While at Gettysburg the winter following the battle, Veil marked the white oak tree by carving an "R" in the tree. The tree remained in position for 124 years and became known as the "Reynold's Tree." In the summer of 1987 a tornado moving east from Herr's ridge through the Herbst woods uprooted the "Reynold's Tree."

The Gettysburg Civil War Round Table requested the Gettysburg National Military Park to allow them to remove the tree and dispose of the tree for preservation and restoration of the GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) post at Gettysburg; this being one of the oldest historic structures in the town of Gettysburg. All pieces of the tree will be marked, branded as authenticated, and registered upon distribution.

It was ironic indeed that the veterans of Skelly Post 9, GAR were primarily responsible for the large marker now placed to mark the spot where "Reynolds fell." Many years later the original 'marker' - the white oak tree's death - would mean the preservation of at least the facade of the old church which had become their meeting house. Curiously, the tree pointed out by Veil as the death site stood some forty yards east of the later marker. Either the bullet that struck the general packed quite a kick or we can assume one or the other of the sites is in error. I like to think that perhaps both are accurate believing men of any sense would have carried the fallen Reynold's to the nearest safe haven - a large, nearby white oak for instance.

At any rate, at an early date certain trees were singled out for attention not just because of their relationship with certain officers and events but simply due to the visible damage done to them. All of us are familiar with the photographs of the shattered trees on Culp's Hill. Some, certainly, have seen the photograph of the shell lodged for years in the tree at the Sherfy house. These remain now, sadly, just in photographs.

In the 1890's "War Department-era" the battlefield commissioners began to install lightning suppression systems in some of the larger trees around the field. Essentially this consisted of lightning rods grounded through the use of large steel cables. Over the years these cables have been cut or come detached from the ground yet still remain. Certainly by 1900 Civil War-era trees were not scarce so one asks the question why were these singled out for special attention? The answer, it appears, lies in the unique history of these particular trees of which the "Reynold's Oak" was one. We'll now look at the three on our list:

"Heth Tree." This is another large white oak tree in Herbst's woods about 250 to 300 yards west of the old "Reynold's Tree" site. According to park records General Heth returned to the field "around 1900 and pointed out the tree." It is located near the spot where the general received his famous "hit around the hatband" wound that knocked him senseless for the next several days. As you drive on Stone Avenue approaching the woods, look just beyond the "Burn's Portrait Statue" and you'll see the tree noticeably leaning towards the east and directly beside the worm fence. A close inspection will show remnants of the old lightning arresting system. General Heth always believed the shot that winged him was fired by someone at the McPherson Barn and you get a real nice view of the barn from the tree.

"Only '63 Tree in the National Cemetery" Enter the National Cemetery from the Taneytown Road entrance and walk east past the Rostrum. Almost straight ahead of you, beside the Evergreen Cemetery fence, you will see this hearty old veteran. Compared to many of the larger post-war varieties planted as part of the original landscaping, this tree, a honey locust, doesn't appear anything out of the ordinary but I've often wondered if it could talk what tales it would tell us.

"Gibbon Tree" This is a walnut tree and is probably the only original tree still standing on the center of the Union defensive position. Legend has it that this tree is where General John Gibbon was wounded while watching the preliminaries to the Confederate advance on July 3. As you drive north on Hancock Avenue, the tree is the gnarly-looking one on the left as the line of Union entrenchments passes to the west side of the road just past the 13th Vermont Monument. Of all the trees mentioned today, this is the one that appears most likely to be on its last legs.

These were the only trees entered in the list of "140" not because they were the most important but merely as representative of historic trees (after all it was Wayne and I who developed the list and I won't say we had rational reasons why some things were put on and others were not.) For the sake of posterity, here are some other candidates for the "historic tree" list:

"Pender Tree" I cannot state with any certainty exactly which tree this is as there are at least three and possibly four potential candidates in the correct location. Dorsey Pender was mortally wounded by shell fire on the late afternoon of July 2nd near one of the trees in the eastern edge of McMillan Woods. There are several white oak trees here among the batteries, which have remnants of lightning arrester systems. One is probably at or near the site of Pender's wounding, the others no doubt contain known unexploded shells from Union counterbattery fire. I have my suspicions which one is the correct "Pender tree" but until I get some conclusive proof, I'll keep that to myself.

"Baltimore Street Sycamores" Park records record the presence of two Sycamore trees lining Baltimore Street which were there in 1863. There are actually three, two located on the property at Lefevre and Baltimore known as "Twin Sycamores" (across from the Farnsworth House), the other sits on school district property a short distance eastward. All three were probably quite large during the battle and certainly towered over President Lincoln as he rode to and from the ceremonies at the National Cemetery in November of 1863.

"Sickles HQ Tree" Perhaps the most impressive of all the surviving trees on the fields, this Swamp Oak Tree sits across United States Avenue from the Trostle Barn and probably was the reason Sickles HQ staff chose it. It certainly was a visible point located directly behind all major third corps positions. This tree appears in a drawing done by Charles Reed, bugler of the 9th Massachusetts.

"Devil' Den Tree" Although I don't know if this one has a lightning arrester in it the large oak at the top of Devil's Den (where Sickles Avenue makes a sharp left turn near Smith's battery) is undoubtedly of Civil War age. It begins to rival in size that of Sickles mentioned earlier.

Culp's Hill Area - Wooded during the battle and the scene of extremely heavy firing, Culp's Hill contains quite a few candidates for inclusion on this list. Most of the prominent ones appear also to be white oaks and from the intensity of the fire must certainly still contain lead from the battle. One near the summit and the tower appears to have a lightning system in it.

So the next time you drive around the battlefield say hello to these old veterans. There are others, not listed here, which you will find on your travels. Get out and examine them carefully and you may discover, far up in the branches and leaves, remnants of those lightning systems installed nearly a century ago.