Culp's Hill: It ain't Mt. Everest, but nobody shoots at you on Everest

One of my favorite parts of a visit to Gettysburg is finding locations that I know little or nothing about. This happens every visit because I look for new locations. The East Cavalry Field was entirely new for me this year and I saw parts of Culp’s Hill for the first time.



A view of Culp's Hill from a spot near Baltimore Street, a short
distance from the Gettysburg Battlefield Park's Visitor's Center.

            Some day I’m going to start taking a new trail up Culp’s Hill each visit because so much happened on the slopes of that hill that it is obvious there is plenty to see. I’ll have to work out a defense against poison ivy (boots, long pants, long-sleeved shirts and gloves seem likely) and I’ll want a hiking companion – common sense precautions everyone should follow – but once those pre-hike arrangements are complete I’ll start climbing.

            What we call Culp’s Hill is, I believe, really a combination of more than one hill. My knowledge of the topography is a bit uncertain. I do know the roadway up to the summit is lush with trees and grass and is packed with large rocks. The hill has a beautiful, harsh environment.

The tree-lined, rugged Culp's Hill area is dotted with monuments and
positions markers.

            The fighting on the hill was severe. The Confederates tried for two days to take the summit, spending the night between those days on a portion of the hill and then attacking again the next day. The Union soldiers who held the hill, protecting the rest of the Army of the Potomac by keeping an important artillery position in Union hands, deserve the same kind of praise thrown at the regiments which held Little Round Top for the bluecoats.

            It was a tough job and they did it.

            In this collection of images are some of the new discoveries, new for me that is, that I made near the summit of Culp’s Hill this summer.

The 66th Ohio Volunteer Infantry monument.

            One of the locations I found this summer is the monument to the 66^th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. It sits just a few steps below the top of the hill, down a clearly marked hiking trail from the parking lot surrounding the observation tower. I went down there hoping to find a shot that illustrates the difficulty the Confederate soldiers experienced while climbing and fighting. Instead, I found this neat monument.

            I noticed the rocky surface descending from the 66^th OVI’s monument, so I carefully stepped down to find a point where I could point up and get an image illustrating the severity of the grade. That’s when I found the marker on the spot where Major J.G. Palmer, of the 66^th Ohio, was mortally wounded. That image, which I used in an earlier blog, shows that marker and the walking trail which continues down the hill.

            I got the image of the rocky distance between the two markers, then had to climb my way back out of there. Making that climb emphasized to me the severity of the angle.

The marker honoring Major J.G. Palmer of the 66th
Ohio Volunteer Infantry.

            It is important to note here that I am convinced every time I stroll around Culp’s Hill, or any place like it, that a nest of venomous snakes is just around the next corner, in a bad mood and waiting for lunch. I fear snakes. Normal humans do. I’m very careful each time I go around the next corner. But even I sometimes wonder why I keep going around those corners.



            Of course, you can find snakes slithering around pretty much anywhere. I remember one a coworker caught working its way through the offices of a radio station where I worked in Corona, California. The radio station snake was a non-killer, according to the co-worker, as was true of the rabbit that ran down the same hallway a few weeks later.



The area between Palmer's marker and
the monument.

            No snake attacks during my stroll through Rose Woods, either. One tree was down across the path, but I was able to walk under it and continue, passing from the Triangular Field toward the Wheat Field. I tried to imagine making the same walk without the benefit of shoes, since about 30 percent of the Army of Northern Virginia was shoeless on any given day during the war.

It will also be interesting to walk the various paths through the fields where the big Confederate attack passed during their attack upon Cemetery Ridge in July 3, 1863. I’ve walked two of those paths now, but there are plenty more.

That’s the thing about Gettysburg, there is always something new to find.

            Thanks for reading.