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Sunday Afternoon Battlefield Programs
Series – 2021
During our COVID19 shut-down / slow-down in 2020 ALBG commenced a series of battlefield programs on Sunday afternoons inspired by the success of the popular Tuesday evening walks. On these beautiful fall afternoons a Licensed Battlefield Guides will lead a program focusing on a specific battle-related topic. These are ideal for those who desire a more in-depth look at one aspect of the Battle of Gettysburg, or for those simply looking for something to do on a beautiful fall afternoon. Each session is offered for a fee of $35, payable to the Association of Licensed Battlefield Guides. In keeping with the NPS issued- COVID 19 provisions requested group size will be strictly limited and social distancing will be required. At this time masks will be required while on National Park lands.
Note: Under the provisions of our Commercial Use Authorization permit with the Gettysburg National Military Park, we are required to have on file that you have read and agreed to the provisions detailed in the Acknowledgement of Risks form. Should you wish to register for any of the programs detailed below you will have to agree you have read and understood this form before you will be taken to the payment site.
Please car-pool whenever possible and make sure to obey all National Park regulations regarding parking in the National Park. At all times make sure your car is parked in a legal parking placing and does not present a road hazard by partially blockng tour roads. At no time should your vehicle be parked on the grass.
When: Sunday Afternoons throughout the Fall of 2021
Dates: Sundays from September 5th through the first Sunday in November
Time: All programs will run from 2:00 PM until approximately 5:00 PM
Where: Detailed below. Parking is limited. Abide by park rules and consider car-pooling
Cost: $35 per session.
September 5, 2021 – Afternoon Program
“Often Remembered in Passing, But There is Often More to the Story” featuring LBG Chuck Burkell
Between the Corby Memorial and “The Angle”, Guests who visit Gettysburg within a standard tour often do not have the opportunity to receive in-depth interpretation with accompanying stories on so many important events (and the memorials which mark these positions) from Licensed Battlefield Guides. This walk will include both battle and post-war information regarding such individuals, units, and their accompanying memorials to include Fr. Corby; the 1st Minnesota Regiment; Pennsylvania Soldiers; Stannard’s Vermont Brigade; the 20th Massachusetts Regiment; the 42nd New York Regiment; Wright’s Confederate Brigade – US Regular’s Monument; and the “Copse of Trees/HIgh Water Mark Memorial”. Total walking distance approximately 1 mile on mostly fairly-level grass or pavement. The presentation will involve one (parking) stop with an estimated total number of 12-15 cars parked.
Meeting Place: US Regular’s Memorial on Hancock Avenue. Park on Hancock Avenue at the US Regulars Monument
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September 12, 2021 – Afternoon Program
“Divided Delaware!” featuring LBG Mary Turk-Meena
One of the divided border states – part slave, part free. Different from the other border states, Delaware never seriously considered leaving the Union; instead mustering in some of the earliest Union regiments. These early Delaware regiments contributed to the victory at Gettysburg as well as the Union efforts throughout the war. We’ll focus our time on the field on the 1st Delaware Infantry and 2nd Delaware Infantry, where they fought in some of the most pivotal spots on the battlefield, the Wheatfield, at the Bliss farm and along Cemetery Ridge. We’ll also examine the efforts of three Delawareans who were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions at Gettysburg. There were, of course, some from Delaware who fought for and served the Confederates. We’ll talk about their actions at Gettysburg and beyond as well.
Meeting Place: Wheatfield (park along Sickles Avenue near the Wheatfield wayside), walk to the 2nd Delaware monument on Brooke Avenue then drive to the National Cemetery parking lot for a visit to the 1st Delaware monument along Cemetery Ridge and the Delaware State Monument near the National Cemetery parking lot.
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September 19, 2021 – Afternoon Program
“Generals Killed at Gettysburg” featuring LBG Joe Mieczkowski
More Generals were killed at Gettysburg than any other Civil War battle. People ask, “What if Stonewall had been at Gettysburg?” As students of the Civil War, we should ask, “What if any of the eleven Generals killed at Gettysburg had been in subsequent battles?” Join LBG Joe Mieczkowski in a discussion of the men who led their soldiers into combat and paid the ultimate price. We will discuss who these soldiers were, where they were killed and the circumstances surrounding their death. The loss of combat leadership would reverberate for months thereafter. This tour will be not be difficult, mostly on grass or pavement. A folding stool would be helpful.
Meeting Place: Reynolds Death Marker. There will be four stops: Reynolds Ave; Mississippi Monument; The “D” shaped field (1st VT Cavalry monument on S.
Confederate Ave.); The Angle (Hancock Avenue)
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September 26, 2021 – Afternoon Program
“Confederate Artillery Leadership at Gettysburg” featuring LBG Rob Abbott
The only Confederate artillery personality most people know is Edward Porter Alexander, “ How old are you son?” Confederate artillery seems to be the noisy window dressing for the battle. Who are these men? Exactly what are they
doing? Join LBG Rob Abbott as we explore the senior Confederate Artillery leadership, the Army and Corps Chiefs of Artillery, and the battalion commanders. We will also discuss artillery tactics, challenges, and logistics. Finally, we will point out some unique types of cannon and showcase a few individual batteries.
Meeting Place: Oak Hill by the Carter’s Battalion tablet. Second stop will be by the Virginia State Monument on West Confederate Avenue and the third and final stop will be the “Longstreet” War Department Tower on West Confederate Avenue. The walk will be easy, mostly on fairly-level grass or pavement.
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October 3, 2021 – Afternoon Program
“… if practicable” Richard Ewell’s Decisions the Afternoon of the First Day featuring LBG Ed Suplee
At the end of the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, Maj. Gen. Richard Ewell made two arguably controversial decisions and decided NOT to attack either Cemetery Hill or Culp’s Hill. We will examine these two decisions based on the information Ewell and Lee had when each of these decisions were made. What were the tactical elements that went into each decision? Were the decisions sound? What alternatives did Ewell and Lee have that late afternoon of the First
Day? This will be a car caravan tour.
Meeting Place: Oak Hill in front of the Eternal Light Peace Memorial
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October 10, 2021 – Afternoon Program
Maryland On Culp’s Hill: “Loyal Sons versus True Sons” – Did They Actually Fire on One Another? featuring LBG Steve Slaughter
Join LBG Steve Slaughter, a true and loyal Marylander, as we present and explore the facts and fictions of Maryland units on Culp’s Hill. Discussions will include the participation, action and monuments of three Maryland Union units and one Maryland Confederate unit; Maryland’s Loyal Sons and Maryland’s True Sons. Tour participants will actually retrace the steps of Confederate Marylanders and make a charge down the slopes of Pardee Field towards Union lines. The tour will conclude with a presentation at the Maryland State Monument, the only one of its kind on the Battlefield. Moderate road walking and one field walk.
Meeting Place: Park along Geary Avenue and walk to Spangler’s Spring
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October 17, 2021 – Afternoon Program
The 11th New Jersey Volunteers – “I tell you we are going to have a fight” featuring LBG Bill Trelease
The 11th New Jersey arrived at Gettysburg with 275 men after experiencing the blood bath of Chancellorsville. Part of Carr’s 3rd Corps brigade they will be placed in a critical position along the Emmitsburg Road on the afternoon of July 2, 1863. Here they will come under attack by both Barksdale Mississippi Brigade and Wilcox Alabamians, two of the toughest units in the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. By the end of the day, the 11th will have suffered over 50% casualties, a figure that included almost every officer on the field, yet somehow managed to successfully get itself out of an extremely precarious position. We will follow the story of the 11th from its formation in Trenton, New Jersey in August of 1862 and the events that brought it to this fateful field and its experience in the desperate combat that followed. The tour will involve some modest walking.
Meeting Place: Corner of Sickles and United States Avenue
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October 24, 2021 – Afternoon Program
“A Splendid Brigade” Three Days with Perrin’s South Carolinians featuring LBG Stuart Dempsey
The soldiers of McGowan’s Brigade – led at Gettysburg by Col. Abner Perrin – had amassed an enviable reputation on a half-dozen battlefields prior to the summer of 1863; man for man, no finer outfit graced the Army of Northern Virginia’s order of battle. On the verdant fields of Pennsylvania, they would meet the enemy again in a test as terrible as any they had previously experienced, and again they would prove their mettle. Join me as we get to know the men of this hard-fighting brigade and follow in their footsteps, not only in their famous July 1 assault on Seminary Ridge, but also in their lesser-known experiences on July 2-3, as they engaged doughty opponents in deadly combat on the fields west of Cemetery Hill, an action Col. Perrin described as “the heaviest skirmishing I have ever witnessed.” Stands will be made at five places: near the Reynold’s Death Marker; the base of Seminary Ridge near the “rail barricade” site; a point immediately south of the Seminary Ridge museum; along West Confederate Avenue near the Perrin brigade tablet; and Long Lane at Rec Park where the program will end.
Meeting Point: The Reynolds Death Monument, South Reynolds Avenue. Park along South Reynolds Avenue (please park on road only, not grass); alternatively, to avoid a longer walk back to your vehicle you might park along
Springs Avenue near the Seminary. A solely walking tour, approximately 2.1 miles round trip, mostly on roads but with some uneven ground.
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October 31, 2021 – Afternoon Program
Gunfight at the Peach Orchard featuring LBG Ralph Siegel
As in many artillery fights of the war, during Gettysburg’s great “cannonade” before Pickett’s Charge, the guns were too distant to target each other. But on July 2nd at the Peach Orchard, the Union guns of Randolph and McGilvery, and the Confederate guns of Alexander, moved quite by accident within direct-fire range of each other in what may have been the largest close-action artillery fight of the entire war. A New Jersey battery would fire more rounds in four hours than any other battery on any other day. A gunner in a Georgia battery would report: “The firing was the most rapid I have ever witnessed, and the earth literally vibrated under the continuous roar.”
Meeting Place: Guests should park by the Louisiana Memorial and prepare for moderate walking of about 1.5 miles along the Longstreet Tower Woods along Warfield Ridge and then out to the Peach Orchard.
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November 7, 2021 – Afternoon Program
“Plowshares to Swords:” The John S. Forney Farm featuring LBG Jasan Hileman
A comprehensive look at the John S. Forney farm within the Gettysburg National Military Park. Situated along the Mummasburg Road just north of town, the property becomes a collision point of contending armies on July 1. Like many of the ‘battlefield farms’, it’s history before and after the battle are largely forgotten. Journey back in time as LBG Jasan Hileman reviews the story of the family, land, buildings and eventual preservation.
Meeting Place: Eternal Light Peace Memorial. We will stop on Buford Ave at the 17PA Cav Monument and on Doubleday Ave near 88PA Monument.
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