Cemetery Hill
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Cemetery Hill is a key terrain feature in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, overlooking the main downtown area from the south, at 503 feet above sea level, a gentle 80-foot slope above the town. It is the northernmost extent of Cemetery Ridge.
During the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1–3, 1863, Cemetery Hill was a critical part of the Union army defensive line, the curved portion of what is described as the "fish-hook" line. There were three important characteristics to the hill. First, its gentle slope made it excellent defensive ground against the infantry tactics of the era. Second, it was an outstanding artillery platform with good fields of fire (unlike the neighboring Culp's Hill, which was heavily wooded), dominating wide swaths of the town and other parts of the battlefield. Third, and most importantly, it was a concentration point for three major roads that led south: Emmitsburg Road, Taneytown Road, and the Baltimore Pike. These roads were critical for keeping the Union army supplied and for blocking any Confederate advance on Baltimore or Washington, D.C.
Cemetery Hill played a prominent part in the first two days of the battle. On July 1, it was a refuge for retreating Union troops of the I Corps and XI Corps who were overwhelmed by Confederate assaults from the west and north. One of the great controversies of the battle was the failure of Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell to attack and capture Cemetery Hill. On July 2, Ewell's division commanded by Maj. Gen. Jubal A. Early attacked East Cemetery Hill, but was repulsed. Maj. Gen. Robert E. Rodes's division was to launch a coordinated attack on the western slope of the hill, but it failed to get started. On July 3, there was no explicit attack on Cemetery Hill; the primary Confederate attacks were on Culp's Hill and on the lower portion of Cemetery Ridge. Union artillery maintained defensive fire from the hill.
However, some historians maintain that Robert E. Lee's ultimate objective for the assaults by Lt. Gen. James Longstreet on July 2 and July 3 (Pickett's Charge) was to take Cemetery Hill by rolling the Union left flank up Cemetery Ridge.
Before the battle, Cemetery Hill was the site of Evergreen Cemetery, a civilian burial ground. It was joined afterwards by the adjacent Gettysburg National Cemetery, which was dedicated by Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. The hill is also the current location of the U.S. National Park Service Visitors' Center for the Gettysburg National Military Park.
References
- Harman, Troy D., Lee's Real Plan at Gettysburg, Stackpole Books, 2003, ISBN 0811700542.
See also
External links
- National Park Service description (http://www.nps.gov/gett/getttour/tstops/tstd2-18.htm)