STOP 3. OAK RIDGE.
(Please face eastward toward the monuments on the plain.)
When Rodes’ Confederate troops reached Oak Hill at 1 o’clock, Union troops on McPherson Ridge, as well as reserves, were shifted hurriedly to this ground. The Union troops, posted back of the stone wall, faced the Confederate charge from the west and north. Tenaciously holding this ground through repeated Confederate attacks, the Union men were finally forced to give way. Howard’s Union corps had arrived earlier in the plain north of Gettysburg (see monuments to the east) but his command was soon shattered by a Confederate force arriving from the northeast on the Harrisburg Road (near flagpole, a mile eastward). As the Union troops north of Gettysburg retreated, the men on this ridge became isolated and withdrew to Cemetery Hill, south of the town.
The large white building on this side of Gettysburg is “Old Dorm” at Gettysburg College, used as a hospital during the battle. Beyond the town is Culp’s Hill (see the observation tower), and in the right background is Cemetery Hill.