Begin Your Tour

The Cemetery Ridge trail will take approximately 90 minutes to complete and is slightly over one mile in distance. It will take you from the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center to Cemetery Ridge, where the center of the front line of the Union Army of the Potomac was located from the evening of July 1 through July 3, 1863. Heavy fighting occurred along the ridge on July 2, and on July 3, it was the scene of “Pickett’s Charge,” which determined the outcome of the battle.

To begin the tour, exit the Visitor Center through the doors towards Ranger Site #1 & #2 and follow the path marked “Cemetery Ridge Trail” to Meade’s Headquarters. This is about a ten–minute walk.

Tour Stops

The tour stops are not marked by signs. Please use the landmark descriptions and this map for guidance.

Stop 1 - Museum and Visitor Center

To begin the tour, exit the Visitor Center through the doors towards Ranger Site #1 & #2 and follow the path marked “Cemetery Ridge Trail” to Meade’s Headquarters. This is about a ten–minute walk.

Stop 2 - Lydia Leister Farm: Meade's Headquarters

This was the home of the 52-year-old widow Lydia Leister and her four children in 1863. They left the house on July 1 after being warned it was likely there would be fighting in the area. General George G. Meade, commanding the 90,000-man Union Army of the Potomac, established his headquarters here early on July 2 because it was central to all parts of his army’s front lines.

Directions to the next stop: Retrace your steps to the main trail, turn left and follow the path up the slope of Cemetery Ridge. Along the way, you will pass monuments to units assigned as guards or escorts to army headquarters. You will also pass Lydia Leister’s barn. From this view, it is easy to appreciate one reason Cemetery Ridge was an important military position: its reverse slope could cover troops from enemy observation and fire.

Stop 3 - Turnbull's Battery F & K, 3rd US Artillery

These guns represent the position of Lieutenant John G. Turnbull’s Battery F & K, 3rd U.S. Artillery late on the afternoon of July 3.

Before the Confederate infantry advanced during Pickett’s Charge on July 3, nearly 150 Confederate cannon bombarded Cemetery Ridge for almost two hours. Between 80 to 100 Union guns responded, and one of the greatest cannonades of the war ensued.

Directions to next stop: Proceed along the path to your front left, looking for the large equestrian statue.

Stop 4 - General George Meade Equestrian Statue

The equestrian statue of General Meade, mounted on his favorite horse, “Old Baldy,” depicts the “quiet, resourceful commander” of the Army of the Potomac. A West Point graduate and career soldier, Meade was placed in command of the army by President Lincoln only three days before the Battle of Gettysburg. An experienced soldier and highly respected in the army, he was also known for his sometimes explosive temper which earned him the nickname “old snapping turtle.”

Directions to next stop: Follow the path that veers to the left towards a wayside about the Cyclorama Painting, Stop #5

Stop 5 - Cyclorama Focal Point Wayside Exhibit

This wayside exhibit marks the focal point of the Gettysburg Cyclorama Painting. In the spring of 1882, French artist Paul D. Philippoteaux visited the battlefield for the purpose of painting a cyclorama of the Battle of Gettysburg. He picked Pickett’s Charge to be the subject of his battle painting.

Directions to next stop: Follow the path across Hancock Avenue to the west side and make your way to the HIgh Water Mark Monument at the Copse of Trees. Use caution crossing the avenue.

Stop 6 - High Water Mark Monument and Copse of Trees

In the planning for Pickett’s Charge on July 3, the clump, later dubbed the Copse of Trees, was designated as a landmark to guide the attacking troops. In 1887, the iron fence was built to protect the trees from souvenir hunters. None of the trees inside the fence today date to 1863. The High Water Mark of the Rebellion Monument was erected in 1892 to honor the commands of both armies that participated in the July 3 “Longstreet’s Assault,” which today is more popularly known as Pickett’s Charge. The monument was designed by John B. Bachelder, the first historian of the battlefield.

Directions to next stop: Follow the walking trail toward the stone wall to the left of the Copse of Trees, then proceed to Stop 7, the 20th Massahusetts Monument.

Stop 7 - 20th Massachusetts Monument

This line of monuments marks the positions of Union infantry of General John Gibbon’s 2nd Division, 2nd Corps, and General Abner Doubleday’s 3rd Division, 1st Corps, on July 3.

One of the more unique monuments along this line honors the 20th Massachusetts Infantry. The 20th had the nickname “The Harvard Regiment,” because a number of their officers were graduates of Harvard College.

Directions to next stop: Proceed to Stop 8, the 69th Pennsylvania Infantry Monument

Stop 8 - 69th Pennsylvania Monument

This monument to the 69th, which was dedicated in 1887, is unique in that it is the only regimental monument on the field to include markers for each of the ten companies in the regiment. The company markers are connected to each other by a chain to symbolize that the 69th’s line bent, but did not break, during Pickett’s Charge.

Stop 9 - 72nd Pennsylvania Monument

The 72nd Pennsylvania Monument was dedicated on July 4, 1891 and is one of the more evocative monuments on this part of the field. It is also one that was embroiled in controversy. During Pickett’s Charge, the 72nd was initially held in reserve behind Cemetery Ridge.

Directions to next stop: Proceed to the 71st Pennsylvania Infantry Monument located at the Angle, Stop 10.

Stop 10 - The Angle

The stone wall in front of you is the remnant of a wall that was built by the local farmers before the battle and was originally two to three feet high. The soldiers used this wall for protection from enemy fire. This area, encompassed by the wall running south and the wall extending east, became known after the battle as “The Angle.” On July 3, Confederate troops advanced up to the wall in front of the 71st’s monument and drove back the men of the regiment positioned here.

Directions to next stop: To reach Stop 11 walk back to Hancock Avenue and cross to the paved path on the east side of the avenue. Where the path curves to return to the Visitor Center, cross to the paved path running along the west side of Hancock Avenue, beside the stone wall. This part of the Union line was defended by men of Brigadier General Alexander Hays’s 3rd Division, 2nd Corps. They were attacked by men of Generals James J. Pettigrew and Isaac Trimble; soldiers from North Carolina, Mississippi, Tennessee and Alabama. The Confederates failed to penetrate anywhere along Hays’s line.

Follow the path to the white barn and stop there.

Stop 11 - Abraham Brian Farm

This is the Abraham Brian barn and farmhouse. Brian’s property was on the edge of Ziegler’s Grove, an oak grove that covered about 2½ acres in 1863, and served as cover for Battery I, 5th U. S. Artillery, and for elements of Hays’ infantry during the battle.

Brian, his wife Elizabeth, and their five children were not living in the house at the time of the battle. As members of the local African-American community, the family left the Gettysburg area upon news of the Confederate invasion, perhaps joining the exodus to Lancaster County.

This completes your tour.