Barlow’s Knoll may be the most easily recognized location on the battlefield for those who follow the 17th CVI, but the regiment spent far more time on East Cemetery Hill. It was here that the regiment, broken up badly during the retreat from the fields north of town, regrouped under the command of Major Allen Brady. In an odd twist of fate, Major Brady found himself once more in command of the regiment following the death of Lt. Colonel Fowler.
Today’s visitor needs to use some imagination to picture what this area looked like in July 1863. The area where the 17th was first posted is now parking lot. There are still buildings nearby that were there 150 years ago and there are still bullet marks in them, perhaps some caused by the soldiers of the 17th as they traded shots with Confederate sharpshooters hidden within.
The view from the most likely position of the 17th CVI after being sent to “the right of the line” on July 2, 1863.
The rest of East Cemetery Hill is still there, though, and takes less imagination to picture. Yes, the old Gettysburg High School detracts from it some, and the reconstructed avenue at the base of the hill has changed the line that the 17th moved to later in the day. But…and this only works if the visitor to the 17th CVI monument accepts the fact that it does not mark where the regiment did some real fighting that day…it is still very possible to stand at the fence line and see what the surviving soldiers saw late in the day on July 2nd.
I probably have hundreds of photos that I’ve taken in this area. I’ve walked the Confederate attack route in the heat of summer and walked it in 3 feet of snow (I really don’t understand that one at all). As best as I can tell from old photos, this area looks very much the same as it did then. We all owe a big thank you to the fact that this was the first section of battlefield preserved.
It was here that Captain Henry Burr of Company E got “hunk”, as his comrades stated, for capturing a Confederate soldier by pulling him over the low stone wall to his front. A little payback, I guess, for his own capture at Chancellorsville. It was here that the regiment once again stood firm against the onslaught while other regiments fell back – something not disputed by those who were there, whether from the 17th or not.
My favorite time to head over to East Cemetery Hill is just after sunset as it is getting dark. On a hot summer day, despite the traffic noise and the sounds coming from the various businesses nearby, it is easy to get a feeling of what it may have been like sitting on the hill 150 years ago. Of course, the flashes of light today are only fireflies (and there are many of them here in the summer) and not the flash of muskets. There is something to be said for standing on the same ground that one’s ancestors stood and fought so many years ago or where, as old men, they came to reminisce about what they did and what they saw.
Someone sent me a photo that they had which was taken on the day the monument was dedicated here in 1889. A few years ago we took a photo (of my son) sitting in front of it just as the veterans of 1863 did. We superimposed the new over the old – in a way, a visual representation of what I feel like whenever I’m on that hill.