Peach Orchard
Encyclopedia
The Peach Orchard is a Gettysburg Battlefield
site at the southeast corner of the north-south Emmitsburg Road intersection with the Wheatfield Road
. The site includes replacement peach trees and is demarcated by Birney Avenue on the east and south that provides access to various memorials regarding the "momentous attacks and counterattacks in…the orchard on the afternoon of July 2, 1863."
, the "The Peach Orchard Salient" military position of the Army of the Potomac
had been established from the "angle of the Peach Orchard" both northward along the Emmitsburg Rd and, for the "Wheatfield Road line", eastward. Union positions in the orchard prior to the July 2 military engagements included the 68th Pennsylvania Infantry on the west side at the south point of Graham's Emmitsburg Rd line, the 3rd Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment
on the orchard's south (downhill) side near the Emmitsburg Rd, and on the north side of the orchard along the south side of the east-west road, Thompson's cannons and, closer to the Emmitsburg Rd, Ames' cannons.
Military engagements: Peach Orchard combat during July 2's McLaws' Assault
began with Union artillery in the orchard counterfiring on Confederate artillery, which reduced Ames' supply of Union cannon ammunition. When Kershaw's and Semmes Confederate brigades assaulted eastward over the Emmitsburg Rd and across the slope south of the orchard, "Ames had all of his spherical case [ammunition] carried to his left section, Lt. James B. Hazelton's," to fire on the infantry, while Ames' "center and right sections continued their counterbattery fire with shot." With the Confederate left flank to the south exposed to the orchard's Union forces, the cannon and infantry in the "Peach Orchard were able to rake Kershaw's lines severely" and "hundreds of the bravest and best men of Carolina fell" (Kershaw).
As Union officer Watson's guns fired a last volley of canister at the Carolinians, the 2nd New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry advanced southward into "the Peach Orchard to save the [Watson] guns…crowding between the limbers and guns, reformed, and emerged at the orchard's southwest corner, its right extending to the Emmitsburg Road." "The Second opened fire on the South Carolinians in its front, the Second Battalion and the Eighth Regiment. The South Carolinians' attack stalled, and they fell back to the bottom of the slope 150 or so yards from the orchard's edge. Bailey then shifted the Second's line to the rear of some fence rails that were piled along the side of the orchard where a fence had been."
When Barksdale's and Wofford's Confederate brigades charged from the west directly into the Peach Orchard, Wofford's men dealt with the defenders of the orchard. Graham's Union brigade, with the 3rd MN & 3rd MI, "held the peach orchard until nearly dusk"; and the 21st Mississippi Infantry Regiment
passed through the Peach Orchard toward Bigelow's 9th Massachusetts Battery farther east (which by that time, General "McGilvery had dismissed it with a “limber up and get out”, and "the 9th was the last to leave the Wheatfield Road line").
The 2nd NH entered the Battle of Gettysburg
with 353 soldiers. In under three hours, 47 were killed, 136 wounded and 36 men went missing; of the 24 officers, only three were not killed or wounded.
Gettysburg Battlefield
The Gettysburg Battlefield is the area of the July 1–3, 1863, military engagements of the Battle of Gettysburg within and around the borough of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Locations of military engagements extend from the 4 acre site of the first shot & at on the west of the borough, to East...
site at the southeast corner of the north-south Emmitsburg Road intersection with the Wheatfield Road
Wheatfield Road
The Wheatfield Road is a Gettysburg Battlefield crossroad from the Peach Orchard east-southeastward along the north side of The Wheatfield , north of the Valley of Death, and over the north foot of Little Round Top...
. The site includes replacement peach trees and is demarcated by Birney Avenue on the east and south that provides access to various memorials regarding the "momentous attacks and counterattacks in…the orchard on the afternoon of July 2, 1863."
Geography
The Peach Orchard is on a hornfel along the northwest edge of the local geologic diabase sheethttp://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/topogeo/pub/openfile/pdfs/of06_02.pdf and at the "angle of the Peach Orchard" formed by the vertex of 2 low ridges: "one from Devil's Den, the other along the Emmitsburg road." The orchard drains southward to Rose Run, a Plum Run tributary via the Rose Woods, and the orchard tract has a modern north-south embankment along the Emmitsburg road to the west of which a drainage depression separates the orchard from Warfield Ridge.History
By 1858 on the southeast corner of the crossroads, the Peach Orchard had been planted by Reverend Joseph Sherfy, who had a homestead to the north on the opposite (west) side of the Emmitsburg Road. On the Battle of Gettysburg, Second DayBattle of Gettysburg, Second Day
The Battle of Gettysburg, Second Day was an attempt by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee to capitalize on his first day's success. He launched the Army of Northern Virginia in multiple Gettsyburg Battlefield attacks on the flanks of the Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Maj. Gen. George G...
, the "The Peach Orchard Salient" military position of the Army of the Potomac
Army of the Potomac
The Army of the Potomac was the major Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War.-History:The Army of the Potomac was created in 1861, but was then only the size of a corps . Its nucleus was called the Army of Northeastern Virginia, under Brig. Gen...
had been established from the "angle of the Peach Orchard" both northward along the Emmitsburg Rd and, for the "Wheatfield Road line", eastward. Union positions in the orchard prior to the July 2 military engagements included the 68th Pennsylvania Infantry on the west side at the south point of Graham's Emmitsburg Rd line, the 3rd Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment
3rd Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment
The 3rd Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment was mustered in at Augusta, Maine for three year's service on June 4, 1861 and were mustered out on June 28, 1864. Veterans who had re-enlisted and those recruits still liable to serve were transferred to 17th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment.-Casualties...
on the orchard's south (downhill) side near the Emmitsburg Rd, and on the north side of the orchard along the south side of the east-west road, Thompson's cannons and, closer to the Emmitsburg Rd, Ames' cannons.
Military engagements: Peach Orchard combat during July 2's McLaws' Assault
McLaws' Assault
McLaws' Assault was a Battle of Gettysburg, Second Day, military engagement of infantry and artillery at the Stony Hill McLaws' Assault was a Battle of Gettysburg, Second Day, military engagement of infantry and artillery at the Stony Hill McLaws' Assault was a Battle of Gettysburg, Second Day,...
began with Union artillery in the orchard counterfiring on Confederate artillery, which reduced Ames' supply of Union cannon ammunition. When Kershaw's and Semmes Confederate brigades assaulted eastward over the Emmitsburg Rd and across the slope south of the orchard, "Ames had all of his spherical case [ammunition] carried to his left section, Lt. James B. Hazelton's," to fire on the infantry, while Ames' "center and right sections continued their counterbattery fire with shot." With the Confederate left flank to the south exposed to the orchard's Union forces, the cannon and infantry in the "Peach Orchard were able to rake Kershaw's lines severely" and "hundreds of the bravest and best men of Carolina fell" (Kershaw).
As Union officer Watson's guns fired a last volley of canister at the Carolinians, the 2nd New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry advanced southward into "the Peach Orchard to save the [Watson] guns…crowding between the limbers and guns, reformed, and emerged at the orchard's southwest corner, its right extending to the Emmitsburg Road." "The Second opened fire on the South Carolinians in its front, the Second Battalion and the Eighth Regiment. The South Carolinians' attack stalled, and they fell back to the bottom of the slope 150 or so yards from the orchard's edge. Bailey then shifted the Second's line to the rear of some fence rails that were piled along the side of the orchard where a fence had been."
When Barksdale's and Wofford's Confederate brigades charged from the west directly into the Peach Orchard, Wofford's men dealt with the defenders of the orchard. Graham's Union brigade, with the 3rd MN & 3rd MI, "held the peach orchard until nearly dusk"; and the 21st Mississippi Infantry Regiment
21st Mississippi Infantry Regiment
The 21st Regiment, Mississippi Infantry was a Confederate infantry regiment from Mississippi in the American Civil War. The regiment was involved in several well documented battles including the battles of Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and Chickamauga....
passed through the Peach Orchard toward Bigelow's 9th Massachusetts Battery farther east (which by that time, General "McGilvery had dismissed it with a “limber up and get out”, and "the 9th was the last to leave the Wheatfield Road line").
The 2nd NH entered the Battle of Gettysburg
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg , was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War, it is often described as the war's turning point. Union Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac...
with 353 soldiers. In under three hours, 47 were killed, 136 wounded and 36 men went missing; of the 24 officers, only three were not killed or wounded.