November 5, 2024 – Roadkill Crossing

Earlier this fall, my wife and I visited Gettysburg National Military Park with friends from Australia. We used the National Park Service’s free self-guided app to tour the sacred grounds at this tipping point of the American Civil War.

Interestingly, our Auzzie friends were most taken by the 1,300 monuments on the battlefields and beyond. On the other hand, I was amazed at the number of farmsteads overrun by Union and Confederate troops, and often both, as the battles raged. The Park Service has done a magnificent job of restoring them, and that restoration continues today.

Many of the farms where the fighting took place were small by today’s standards, often 50-80 acres. Of course, the buildings from other farms have long disappeared.

The McPherson Farm

The replica fences and the sorghum fields created a feeling of authenticity.

The Codori farm saw heavy fighting on July 2 and was at the at the center of Picket’s Charge on July 3, 1864.

The Phillip Snyder farm. Note the location of the outhouse. Big Round Top is the most prominent hill in the background.

The Bushman farmstead. Note Little Round Top above the farmhouse.

Tree angles of the Trostle farm.

The Klingel farm on the east side of Emmitsburg Road.

The Sherfy farm on Emmitsburg Road. The 50-acre farm included the Peach Orchard, Big and Little Round Top, and Devil’s Den. The original barn burned during the battle.