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Tuesday Evening “Walks Through History“
Series – 2026
2026 will mark the fifteenth year of Licensed Battlefield Guide-led “Walks Through History” on summer Tuesday evenings. Guides will lead an evening walk each Tuesday evening dedicated to a specific 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, and at times not-so-beautiful, summer evening. Each session is offered for a fee of $35, payable to the Association of Licensed Battlefield Guides.
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 place OR parked in such a way that it does not present a road hazard by partially blocking tour roads. Be aware of traffic flow on two-way roads. At no time should your vehicle be parked on the grass or dirt berm. All four wheels must be on the pavement.
When: Tuesday Evenings throughout the late spring and summer.
Dates: June 2, 9, 16, 23, 30; July 7, 14, 21, 28; August 4, 11, 18, 25.
Time: All programs will run from 5:00 PM until approximately 8:00 PM
Where: Detailed in descriptions. Parking is limited. Abide by park rules and consider car-pooling
Cost: $35 per session.
June 2, 2026 Evening Program
“Louisiana at Gettysburg – Hays’ Brigade” featuring LBG Mike Rupert
The Confederates from Louisiana have a special flare in Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Could they really be the “lowest scrapings of the Mississippi”? Hays’ Tigers are one of “two” Louisiana infantry brigades at Gettysburg. By July 1863 these seasoned soldiers had gained remarkable “fame”. In their dusk attack on Cemetery Hill, chaos will reign, but some make it to the crest amidst the Union cannon. Confederate coordination of attacking Cemetery Hill never occurred and men from Hays’ Tigers and a fellow North Carolina brigade did it alone.
Meeting place: Unity Park on Lefever Street. From there will follow Wainwright Avenue to stop at the base of East Cemetery Hill. Walk up to Union battery locations at the crest. Suggest parking in Soldiers Cemetery Annex lot off Baltimore Street or you could use paid parking in rear of Mr. G’s Ice Cream.
Moderate walking involved including up East Cemetery Hill, about one mile not including walking back to your vehicle.
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June 9, 2026 Evening Program
“How They Met Their Demise” featuring LBG Chris Bagley
Modern medicine today has advanced since the American Civil War, yet men, women and children through the modern age remain and will remain mortal. The knowledge we possess in the modern era can treat many diseases, adding quantity and quality of life to many. Yet understanding disease and its treatment is akin to a foreign language known only to medical professionals. Join Licensed Battlefield Guide Chris Bagley (a retired Registered Nurse of 36 years) on a unique walk to learn about the diseases that were common during the Civil War and earlier. We will learn a little medical jargon and place that into understandable layman’s terms and find out who was affected and the fate of each.
Meeting Place: Lee’s HQ
Stop 1. Lee’s HQ Seminary Ridge. Topic: Robert E Lee
Stop 2. Seminary Ridge Museum (Western side near the Barricade). Topic: John Buford
Stop 3. A.P. Hill’s HQ Marker. Topic: A.P. Hill
Stop 4. Longstreet Equestrian Memorial. Topic Longstreet ‘s Children and Scarlet Fever.
Stop 5. Hancock Wounding Memorial. Topic: Winfield Scott Hancock
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June 16, 2026 Evening Program
“Earnest and Bloody Work – The Defense of West Cemetery Hill” featuring LBG Stu Dempsey
The longest sustained combat of the battle of Gettysburg occurred in front of West Cemetery Hill, fought between Orland Smith’s Federal brigade and the Confederates of Pender’s Division. During nearly every daylight hour of July 2nd and 3rd, elements of these units engaged in deadly firefights for control of a stretch of high ground between Cemetery Hill and Seminary Ridge – a battlefield that was largely lost to development long ago, and is all but forgotten today. Our tour will examine the bitter contest that Col. Abner Perrin called, “The heaviest skirmishing I have ever witnessed.” This tour is limited to a maximum of 25 attendees, per Borough of Gettysburg regulation.
Meeting Place: Gettysburg Heritage Center parking lot (297 Steinwehr Ave).
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June 23, 2026 Evening Program
“Caldwell’s Division Strikes The Wheatfield” featuring LBG Larry Korczyk
On the late afternoon of 2 July, General John Caldwell’s First Division of the 2nd Corps, consisting of the brigade of Colonel Edward Cross, Colonel Patrick Kelly, Colonel John Rutter Brooke, and General Samuel K. Zook, were ordered to a 20-acre wheatfield to reinforce a beleaguered brigade of the Third Corps
and brigades of the Fifth Corps. The ensuing fight would eventually have the First Division drive the Georgians and South Carolinians of General Longstreet’s Corps from the wheatfield only to be in turn driven from the wheat. This battle walk will cover the battle action of the four brigades of Caldwell’s Division in the chaotic and horrific combat in the wheat and surrounding woods.
Meeting Place: 148th PA in the Wheatfield to begin the tour. Park on the right with all four wheels on the asphalt. The walk will be confined to the field and woods and the historic Wheatfield today and involve moderate walking terrain.
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June 30, 2026 Evening Program
“Battlefield Rocks – The Geology of an Indelible Landscape” featuring LBG Britt Isenberg
Traditionally, visitors to the battlefield at Gettysburg have rightfully focused their interests on the events of 1863 or the Eisenhower farmstead. However, that very battlefield landscape holds a uniquely dynamic story that pushes the historical record hundreds of millions of years before the battle occurred. This program will consider Gettysburg’s geological landscape and how it influenced the events of 1863 but also shine a light on the incredible geologic specimens brought to the battlefield by veterans during the commemorative era. We’ll visit Bryozoan fossils, a massive chunk of puddingstone, Jurassic era deposits, and spy the evidence of mountain-building and rifting events that will leave our understanding of volcanic activity shivering. Join us on this experiential odyssey that brings the story of our planet to the forefront of our human experience.
Meeting Place: Little Round Top parking area. Stops:
1. Little Round Top
2. Plum Run Bridge (Park at Wells Monument on South Confederate Avenue)
3. The Devil’s Kitchen on Big Round Top using the trail system (Park at Big Round
Top Parking Lot)
4. 20th Massachusetts Monument (Hancock Avenue)
5. Oak Hill (Peace Light)
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July 7, 2026 Evening Program
“The Suicide Charge of the 1st Minnesota” featuring LBG Ralph Siegel
The charge of the 1st Minnesota Infantry Regiment at Gettysburg has few equals in the annals of American military history. And it is difficult to locate any regimental battle action that has been so well documented with witness accounts. Spend an entire tour on this one charge while hearing the words of the men who fought and fell there. This entire tour is an all-fashioned battle walk with no car-pooling or point-to-point driving.
Meeting Place: Group will park in the Soldiers’ National Cemetery parking lot. Some might park on Hancock Avenue south of Pennsylvania Memorial in order to share rides back to the cemetery lot when the program is over. We will begin on the slope north of Meade HQ (Leister House), then cross Taneytown Road to follow paved paths to Pleasanton Avenue, then up Pleasanton Avenue to the 1 Minnesota State Memorial, and finally down the mowed fenceline path west down to Plum Run.
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July 14, 2026 Evening Program
“Barlow v Gordon: The Fight for Blocher’s Knoll” featuring LBG Therese Orr
Brigadier General Francis Barlow’s XI Corps Division was ordered to the right flank of the Corps. Without orders to do so, Barlow will advance his Division to Blocher’s Knoll. There they will face Brigadier General John Gordon’s Georgia Brigade, Early’s Division, Ewell’s Corps. The XI Corps, known as the
“Flying Dutchmen” after the Battle of Chancellorsville, will be criticized once again after their retreat on July 1. According to Gordon’s OR, however, “The enemy made a most obstinate resistance …”.
Meeting Place: Almshouse Cemetery on Howard Avenue and include a walk to the Josiah Benner farm on Harrisburg Road.
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July 21, 2026 Evening Program
“A Soldier’s General – Lafayette McLaws: ‘He knew when to lead us in, and he always brought us out’” featuring LBG Rob Abbott
Join LBG Rob Abbott as we meet Maj Gen Lafayette McLaws and his Confederate Infantry Division as they do battle on 2 July 1863 at Gettysburg. The walk will focus on the orders development from both General Lee and Lt Gen Longstreet and will follow the four brigade commanders as they execute the attack on the afternoon of 2 July.
Meeting Place: Sherfy Farm (with Foundation permission) There will be three Stops. 1. Sherfy Farm. 2. Rose Farm if it is open and available. If not, Stop 2 will be Semmes Rock on Sickles Ave. Park on the right side with all four wheels on the asphalt. Stop 3 is Weikert Farm Lane. We will park in the gravel north of Little Round top and walk down the Weikert Farm Lane. The walk will be moderate on paved roads, gravel or short grass.
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July 28, 2026 Evening Program
“‘Glory to God! See the Vermonters go at it!’: Stannard’s Brigade at Gettysburg” featuring LBG Bill Trelease
George Stannard’s brigade on Vermonters was one of the most inexperienced units in the Army of the Potomac yet would find themselves in the thick of the fighting on both Just 2 and July 3. The brigade consisted of 5 nine-month regiments that had spent most of their service in the fortifications around Washington until called into the field when Lee moved into Pennsylvania. In fact, their uniforms were so clean that they were mocked by the men in the
Army of the Potomac as the Paper Collar Brigade”. Despite the fact that the men had never been in combat before and were only 3 weeks away from being mustered out of service, they would more than prove their mettle at several
crucial moments in the battle, when they are finally headed back to Vermont, they had earned the full respect on friends and foes alike. Our walk will follow the action of these Vermonters as they engaged in very heavy fighting on both days they were on the field, two days that changed them from inexperienced soldiers into some of the most renowned units at Gettysburg.
Meeting Place: We will meet at the George Meade equestrian statue, and the tour will consist of moderate walking.
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August 4, 2026 Evening Program
“‘I get no respect”: Union Sixth Corps at Gettysburg” featuring LBG Joe Mieczkowski
The claim that the Union VI Corps “did nothing”; at Gettysburg is largely a myth stemming from their late arrival after a grueling 35-mile march, but they were crucial by arriving on July 2nd and July 3rd, providing essential fresh troops, plugging gaps, and serving as a vital strategic reserve. Several individual brigades were in the thickest fighting, making their presence vital for Union morale and overall strength. We will examine the role and actions of General John Sedgwick and his subordinate commanders, who joked about having nothing to do after arriving.
Meeting Place: The former Mulligan MacDuffer mini-golf course parking lot (1360 Baltimore Pike, Gettysburg, PA 17325). There will be three stops: Howe Avenue (park on the right with all four wheels on the pavement}, The Sedgwick Memorial on Sedgwick Ave., and the Shaler Brigade tablet on Slocum Avenue Culps Hill. Moderate walking throughout.
1) Mini golf parking lot on Baltimore Pike
2) Howe Avenue
3) Sedgwick monument
4) Culp’s Hill
5) Cemetery Ridge between U.S. Regulars & Cowan’s monument
August 11, 2026 Evening Program
John H. H. Ward and his brigade anchored the left of the Army of the Potomac line on July 2. Their story is often subsumed into a narrative of 3rd Corps collapse. The performance of Ward and his men is unrecognized, and their contribution to the Union army success is overlooked. We will examine the experience of these men and the active, timely leadership shown by John Ward in the fight for Houck’s Ridge.
Meeting place: Wheatfield turn-out. We will be walking on paved park roads over gently rolling ground along Ayres, Cross, and Sickles Avenues. Stops will be in the Wheatfield, at the intersection of those three avenues, Devil’s Den, and “Regulars Curve” on Ayres Avenue.
August 18, 2026 Evening Program
Captain Charles H. Andrews, 3rd Georgia Infantry Regiment wrote of the July 2nd advance, Wright’s Brigade “wedged into the center of the Federal position.” General Wright “believing himself the master of the northern ridge of Cemetery Hill, fights with desperate energy.” However, the brigade was “rather forsaken than vanquished” and forced to retreat. This 1 mile walk across the same field will look at the possible locations where the “wedge” broke the Federal position and if Wright was the “master of the northern ridge.”
Meeting Place: Just south of the Tennessee monument. I start the tour showing the possible left flank of Wright’s brigade just south of the Tennessee Monument then moving (by car & parking at) Virginia monument (near right flank of Wright’s brigade). We will walk across field on mowed path to Point of Woods then take northern trail to Emmitsburg Road. Stop at the Codori barn then 15th Mass path to Brown’s knoll then to Brown’s Gate.
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August 25, 2026 Evening Program
Captain John Hazard’s II Corp Artillery Brigade found itself caught in the bloody maelstrom that engulfed Cemetery Ridge for two days at Gettysburg. Heavily pressed, and heavily battered, the trefoil gunners fought with a steadfast resolve, suffering 28 men killed, 119 wounded, and three missing during the battle. Learn the history of Arnold’s, Brown’s, Cushing’s, Rorty’s. and Woodruff’s batteries, and of their sacrifices made to achieve ultimate victory on the battlefield
Meeting place: The battle walk will begin on Hancock Avenue at the Battery B, 1st New York Artillery (Rorty) monument, and will end at the Battery I, 1 st U.S.
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