Battlefield Atlas
American Civil War · 1863 Members only

Gettysburg, 1–3 July 1863

From 1 to 3 July 1863, Lee's second invasion of the North met Meade's Army of the Potomac at the crossroads town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. On the first day the Confederates drove two Union corps through the town onto Cemetery Hill; on the second, Longstreet's assault on the Union left raged through the Wheatfield, Devil's Den and Little Round Top. On the third, Pickett's Charge broke against the Union centre on Cemetery Ridge. With some 51,000 casualties it was the largest battle of the war, and together with the fall of Vicksburg the next day it marked the turning point of the war in the East. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, given at the dedication of the national cemetery that November, became one of the defining statements of American democracy.

Open the interactive map17 stages on modern satellite imagery and terrain, with 3D elevation

This battle is part of the full atlas, open to Patreon members. Free battles include Yorktown, Waterloo, The Alamo, Antietam, Little Bighorn, Belleau Wood, Omaha Beach, Ia Drang.

"A Harvest of Death"
"A Harvest of Death" — Timothy H. O'Sullivan, July 1863 — CC0

The battle, stage by stage

  1. July 1, 7:00 AM

    Buford screens the roads

    Buford's cavalry division pickets the ridges west and north of Gettysburg as Heth's division approaches along the Chambersburg Pike. Red = Confederate, blue = Union.

  2. 10:00 AM

    Heth deploys, the I Corps arrives

    Heth deploys Archer south and Davis north of the pike. Buford's troopers hold McPherson Ridge until Reynolds' I Corps arrives: Cutler's brigade goes in north of the pike, the Iron Brigade toward Herbst Woods.

  3. 10:45 AM

    Archer and Davis attack

    Davis drives Cutler's right back toward Seminary Ridge. South of the pike the Iron Brigade sweeps into Herbst Woods against Archer. General Reynolds is killed at the edge of the woods.

  4. 11:00 AM

    The Railroad Cut

    The Iron Brigade routs Archer's brigade and captures Archer himself. Dawes' 6th Wisconsin, with the 95th New York and 14th Brooklyn, charges Davis's men in the unfinished railroad cut and captures hundreds.

  5. 12:30 PM

    The lull: Ewell and the XI Corps arrive

    Rodes' division deploys on Oak Hill, Pender comes up behind Heth, and Early approaches from the north-east. Howard's XI Corps hurries through town to the plain north of Gettysburg; Steinwehr's division is left on Cemetery Hill.

  6. 2:00–3:00 PM

    Rodes, Heth and Early attack

    Iverson's brigade is shot down almost to a man in front of Oak Ridge. Heth renews the assault on McPherson Ridge (the 26th North Carolina against the Iron Brigade). Early's division smashes Barlow's division on Barlow's Knoll.

  7. 4:00 PM

    The Union line collapses

    Pender carries Seminary Ridge and the XI Corps breaks north of town. Both Union corps stream through the streets to Cemetery Hill, where Howard and Hancock rally them on Steinwehr's reserve.

  8. July 2, 4:00 PM

    Longstreet attacks

    Hood's division steps off from Warfield Ridge against Sickles' III Corps, which has pushed forward to the Peach Orchard and Devil's Den. McLaws' division waits on Hood's left. This stage starts the second day afresh.

  9. 4:30–5:00 PM

    Devil's Den and Little Round Top

    Law's and Robertson's brigades climb Big Round Top and Little Round Top, where Vincent's brigade arrives minutes ahead of them; the 20th Maine holds the far left. Benning and G.T. Anderson drive Ward from Devil's Den and Rose Woods. Weed's brigade reinforces the summit.

  10. 5:30 PM

    The Wheatfield

    Kershaw and Semmes attack across the Rose farm. Caldwell's division of the II Corps (Cross, the Irish Brigade under Kelly, Zook, Brooke) sweeps through the Wheatfield. Barksdale's Mississippians wait opposite the Peach Orchard salient.

  11. 6:00 PM

    The Wheatfield changes hands

    Caldwell pushes the Confederates back into Rose Woods, but Kershaw, Semmes and G.T. Anderson regroup and strike again; the Wheatfield changes hands six times during the evening.

  12. 6:00–7:00 PM

    Barksdale breaks the Peach Orchard

    Barksdale's Mississippians and Wofford's Georgians smash Graham's salient at the Peach Orchard. Anderson's division (Wilcox, Lang, Wright) joins the assault against Humphreys' line on the Emmitsburg Road, which collapses back toward Cemetery Ridge.

  13. 7:00–7:30 PM

    Crisis on Cemetery Ridge

    Wright's Georgians reach the crest near the Copse of Trees before being thrown back. The 1st Minnesota's sacrificial charge (82 percent casualties) stops Wilcox; Willard's brigade drives back Barksdale, who is mortally wounded. Meade's reserves seal the line.

  14. 7:30 PM–dark

    Culp's Hill

    Johnson's division crosses Rock Creek and assaults Culp's Hill. Most of the XII Corps has been sent south; Greene's single New York brigade holds the summit behind breastworks, while Steuart occupies the empty works on the lower hill. At dusk Hays's Louisiana Tigers and Avery's North Carolinians also storm East Cemetery Hill and reach the Union guns before Carroll's brigade, rushed over from Cemetery Ridge, drives them off.

  15. July 3, morning

    Culp's Hill retaken

    After a dawn bombardment the returned XII Corps opens seven hours of fighting. Johnson's reinforced division makes repeated assaults, including the Stonewall Brigade and Steuart's men across Pardee Field; by 11 AM the Union works are retaken.

  16. 3:00 PM

    Pickett's Charge steps off

    After the largest cannonade of the war, about 12,500 men in nine brigades under Pickett, Pettigrew and Trimble advance from Seminary Ridge across some 1,200 m of open ground toward the Union centre on Cemetery Ridge.

  17. 3:20 PM

    The High-Water Mark

    Armistead leads a few hundred men over the stone wall at the Angle. Webb's Philadelphia Brigade, Hall and Harrow close in and Stannard's Vermonters strike the southern flank. The charge collapses with more than half its men lost.

Paintings and photographs

"A Harvest of Death"
"A Harvest of Death" Union dead awaiting burial in the fields near the Rose farm after the second day. Published in Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War (1866), it became one of the defining images of the war. Timothy H. O'Sullivan, July 1863 — CC0 · source
"Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter"
"Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter" A dead Confederate soldier in the rocks of Devil's Den. Gardner's team is now known to have moved the body some 40 yards to compose this photograph. Alexander Gardner, July 1863 — Public domain · source
Gettysburg Cyclorama (Philippoteaux)
Gettysburg Cyclorama (Philippoteaux) Detail of Paul Philippoteaux's 360-degree cyclorama of Pickett's Charge, painted in 1883 and now displayed at the Gettysburg visitor center. The view is from the Union line near the Angle. Paul Philippoteaux, 1883 — Public domain · source
"Hancock at Gettysburg" (Thulstrup)
"Hancock at Gettysburg" (Thulstrup) Thulstrup's painting of General Winfield Scott Hancock riding along the Union line on Cemetery Ridge during Pickett's Charge, 3 July. Thure de Thulstrup for L. Prang & Co., 1887 (restoration by Adam Cuerden) — Public domain · source
Lutheran Theological Seminary
Lutheran Theological Seminary The Seminary building, whose cupola Buford used as a lookout on the morning of 1 July; it became a hospital after the battle. Photographer unknown (Library of Congress), 1863 — Public domain · source
Evergreen Cemetery gate
Evergreen Cemetery gate The gatehouse of Evergreen Cemetery on Cemetery Hill, the anchor of the Union line on 2–3 July. A sign in the town forbade discharging firearms in the cemetery. Photographer unknown (Library of Congress), 1863 — Public domain · source
John Burns of Gettysburg
John Burns of Gettysburg John Burns, a 69-year-old veteran of the War of 1812, took his musket and fought alongside the Iron Brigade in Herbst Woods on 1 July, and was wounded three times. Tyson Brothers, Gettysburg, 1863 — Public domain · source
Union breastworks on Culp's Hill
Union breastworks on Culp's Hill Log breastworks built by Greene's brigade on Culp's Hill on 2 July, which let 1,400 New Yorkers hold off Johnson's division that evening. Photographer unknown (Library of Congress), 1863 — Public domain · source
Little Round Top
Little Round Top Little Round Top shortly after the battle, cleared of timber on its western face. Vincent's brigade, including the 20th Maine, held it against Law's Alabamians on 2 July. Photographer unknown, July 1863 — Public domain · source

Sources and method

Battle of Gettysburg, 1–3 July 1863. Unit positions are traced from Hal Jespersen's phase maps (cwmaps.com, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons), which are based on the Bachelder survey and modern scholarship. Each map was georeferenced to OpenStreetMap roads, farm buildings and streams (typically 10–20 m error).

How to use: pick one entry under "The battle". Entry 0 is 7 AM on July 1; each later entry is the next map. Tall blocks moved since the previous map, flat yellow outlines show where they came from, arrows join them, and low grey blocks are everyone else. Red = Confederate, blue = Union. The second day starts afresh at 4 PM on July 2. Later maps cover only part of the field; outside each map, units stay where the last map that covered them put them.

Block names come from the map labels (brigade level, sometimes regiment). The "Original maps" folder has every source map as an overlay.