Little Round Top: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Gettysburg National Military Park

Killion, Jeffrey

Little Round Top is in the southeastern corner of Gettysburg National Military Park, located in the rolling hills of south-central Pennsylvania. The park preserves the site of the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg, the Gettysburg National Cemetery, and approximately 1,830 commemorative monuments, markers, tablets, and statuary erected by Civil War veterans and citizens. Over three days, July 1 to 3, 1863, intense fighting in the fields and woods at the outskirts of the small town of Gettysburg became the “High Water Mark of the Confederacy,” when the Union victory halted Confederate Major General Robert E. Lee’s ambitious advance into the Northern states. With over 51,000 soldiers killed, wounded, captured, or missing, Gettysburg was a turning point in the war that prompted President Abraham Lincoln to pen his renowned “Gettysburg Address,” delivered on November 19, 1863 at the dedication of the cemetery, then known as the Soldiers’ National Cemetery. Significant sites on the battlefield began to be preserved almost immediately after the 1863 battle, and in 1895 the park came under federal ownership. Administered by the National Park Service (NPS) since 1933, the park now incorporates 6,032 acres of land across which the battle, its aftermath, and commemoration occurred. One of the most significant actions of the Battle of Gettysburg was the battle for Little Round Top, which began in the late afternoon of July 2, 1863 and ended in the evening of the same day. Realizing the strategic importance of Little Round Top, Union General Gouverneur K. Warren called for troops to defend the top of the hill. Regiments from Maine, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts arrived at the summit to defend against Confederate regiments from Alabama and Texas. The rough and steep sides of Little Round Top proved to be a substantial obstacle during the Confederate advance, allowing the Union wounded to use the reverse, or eastern, wooded slope of the hill for cover from Confederate artillery. The hill’s boulder-strewn slopes also provided Union infantry ample materials to build stone breastworks during the night of July 2 and morning of July 3, and successfully hold their line and secure Little Round Top. The general appearance of Little Round Top has changed little since the battle. Terrain leading up to the summit is still steep and rocky, densely forested in some areas and covered with grasses and shrubs in others. The 122-acre Little Round Top project area includes monuments and markers, defensive works, and stone fences, as well as the area around the Round Top Schoolhouse. Wheatfield Road, one of the oldest roads in the park, and several historic commemorative-era avenues track through the site and provide access to a parking area and a network of paths at the summit. The excellent and wide-ranging observations from the summit make Little Round Top one of the most popular destinations in the park. The site is featured on the park’s self-guided auto tour (Stop #8) that takes visitors to sixteen locations tracing the three-day Battle of Gettysburg in chronological order.

Little Round Top: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Gettysburg National Military Park

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