A Confederate attack was directed against this hill on July 2 in conjunction with the assault on East Cemetery Hill. Because of the steep incline and the strength of the Union positions here at the crest, the Confederate force shifted southward across Rock Creek for a flank attack. Most of the Union troops had been ordered earlier to the defense of the Wheatfield and Peach Orchard. The Confederates, meeting with little resistance, took possession of the Union earthworks on the south slope of this hill. Before a Confederate attack developed against this position on the following morning, the Union force had returned. After fighting throughout the forenoon of July 3, they forced the Confederates out of the Union defense works. The Union brigade commanded by General Greene retained this position throughout the battle of July 2 and 3.
STOP 14. SPANGLER’S SPRING.
Failing to take possession of Culp’s Hill on the evening of July 2, Johnson’s Confederate force shifted southward across Rock Creek and attacked the Union position on the hill north of this spring. The defense works here had been vacated an hour earlier when most of the troops were called to help defend the Union line in the Wheatfield and Peach Orchard. The Confederates then took possession of the Union works. The Union forces, having returned during the night, opened fire at dawn on July 3 with artillery and infantry. Confederate troops who were posted in the Union works and in rear of the stone wall on the hill to the north made a determined stand. After hard fighting, which ended only at noon, the Union force succeeded in driving the Confederates out of these works and eastward beyond striking range.
The Park
In 1895, the battlefield was established by act of Congress as Gettysburg National Military Park. In that year, the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association, which had been founded April 30, 1864, for the purpose of commemorating “the great deeds of valor, endurance, and noble self-sacrifice, and to perpetuate the memory of the heroes, and the signal events which render these battlegrounds illustrious,” transferred its holdings of 600 acres of land, 17 miles of avenues, and 320 monuments and markers to the Federal Government. Under the jurisdiction of the War Department until 1933, the park was transferred in that year to the Department of the Interior to be administered by the National Park Service. Today, the park consists of 2,554.82 acres of land and 26 miles of paved roads.
The fields over which the battles were fought cover about 16,000 acres and include the town of Gettysburg. A total of 2,390 monuments, tablets, and markers have been erected over the years to indicate the positions where infantry, artillery, and cavalry units fought. Of the 354 Union and 272 Confederate cannon engaged or held in reserve during the battle, 233 Federal and 182 Confederate are located on the field in the approximate position of the batteries during the battle.
Anniversary Reunions of the Civil War Veterans
The great interest of veterans and the public alike in the Gettysburg battlefield has been reflected over the years in three outstanding anniversary celebrations. Dominant in the observance of the 25th anniversary in 1888 were the veterans themselves, who returned to encamp on familiar ground. It was on this occasion that a large number of regimental monuments, erected by survivors of regiments or by States, were dedicated. Again, in 1913, on the 50th anniversary, even though the ranks were gradually thinning, the reunion brought thousands of veterans back to the battlefield. Perhaps the most impressive tribute to the surviving veterans occurred July 1-4, 1938, on the occasion of the observance of the 75th anniversary of the battle and the last reunion of the men who wore the blue and the gray. Although 94 years was the average age of those attending, 1,845 veterans, out of a total of about 8,000 then living, returned for the encampment. It was on this occasion that the Eternal Light Peace Memorial was dedicated.
How to Reach the Park
Gettysburg National Military Park and National Cemetery are accessible by highway over U. S. No. 30 from the east and west, U. S. No. 15 from the north and south; U. S. No. 140 from Baltimore, Md.; State No. 34 from Carlisle, Pa.; and State No. 116 from Hagerstown, Md., and Hanover, Pa. Greyhound Bus Lines operate over U. S. Nos. 30 and 140; the Blue Ridge Lines over U. S. No. 15 from the south; and the Gettysburg-Harrisburg Bus Line over U. S. No. 15 from Harrisburg.