A Tree that Witnessed Gettysburg: Confederate Avenue

[@AmericanBattlefieldTrust]

Learn more about witness trees on our website! www.battlefields.org/learn/head-tilting-history/witness-trees

[@marksandor2830]

As an arborist, visiting Gettysburg, I’ve thought of this while there. Great vid.

[@Straydogger]

Been to Gettysburg many times. And I'll be going back again this coming summer. Fascinating place.

[@terryeustice5399]

Very nice narrative on the witness trees! Thanks for sharing!

[@dirtwhisperer658]

We went to visit my uncle when I was a kid in the Stafford VA area. There was a lot of Civil War battlefields in that location. I remember him showing us railroad tracks that were heated and wrapped around trees back during the war......but were now IN the trees and up in the air. It was very surprising to see that.

[@jayhemfindsyou]

Civil War history central! I live in Culpeper, VA just 30 miles west of Fredericksburg, VA. So much history here. My office overlooks the Brandy Station battlefield, largest Calvary battle of the entire war! "Fleetwood Hill". I take my lunch to the historic site often to think about and honor these men, long ago.

[@dadsongs]

So good! Another example of ABT doing what it does best: Preserve. Educate. Inspire.

[@233monte]

A couple of years ago one of the witness trees near Reynolds woods was being cut down. They were just cutting it up and putting it into a chipper. My kids and I grabbed some pieces and made them into ornaments 😁

[@savanahmclary4465]

Good idea!

[@bobfrapples1208]

I wonder if there was any ordnance in that tree. Small shell fragments or rounds?

[@adriaanboogaard8571]

A interesting way of looking for points of view on a battle Feild. Good video. I enjoyed it

[@jimmyjames9752]

SAVE OUR BATTLEFIELDS AMERICA 🇺🇸

[@Ralphie5023]

They would have seen these NUTZ !

[@proantagonist5042]

America doesn’t exist anymore just the corporations

[@calebjames7444]

I had a thought the other day about antebellum homes and the wood used for them. Those trees could have witnessed the American Revolution, then existed as a house through the Civil War.

[@beverlymichaels96]

I drive by this tree on the way to work - amazing!

[@andreamarin4296]

I have always thought “I wonder what these trees have seen” when visiting historical places like this! Glad I am not alone in my thoughts on this!

[@Ralphie5023]

They would have seen these NUTZ !

[@JeffreyGlover65]

Listen to "Sticks That Made Thunder" by the Steeldrivers. About a battle witnessed from a tree's viewpoint. Sung by Chris Stapleton

[@forgottenfilmchannel1194]

This was great. Love that there are others that think"if this tree could talk". I'm in Peterssburg Va, in the town of Colonial Heights is the Violet Bank house which has the cucumber tree. That tree has seen it all, is anyone is in this area 100% worth checking out!

[@stevesnellgrove1518]

I’m sure if it could it sheds a tear each day .God bless these great Americans on both sides!

[@martindriver6026]

I saw some trees on seminary ridge that have metal tags on them. I am assuming they are witness trees and our taged for Identity purposes??? They deserve a hug.

[@peterl.9535]

Actually no one knows who put the metal tags on the trees, or when they were put on, or for what purpose. This includes the folks at the GNMP. This is one of those internet myths.

[@olivia-nelson]

The citizen-soldiers who fought for the Confederacy personified the best qualities of America. The preservation of liberty and freedom was the motivating factor in the South’s decision to fight the Second American Revolution. The tenacity with which Confederate soldiers fought underscored their belief in the rights guaranteed by the Constitution. These attributes are the underpinning of our democratic society and represent the foundation on which this nation was built.

[@rebelsoul5980]

Well said and agree 100%! Although These United States were not established as a Democracy, These United States were established as a Constitutional Republic under sovereign Nation States. In fact our founding father's warned of the dangers of a Democracy. Ideologically this is what shifted after the war, These United States turned into The United States under a Federal Nationalized Democracy that was built on Lincolns centralized Federal Government. Sorry for the rant and God bless

[@shotpusher]

Two great comments!❤

[@JHulse29]

​@@rebelsoul5980 they also turned into a free country, as slavery was ended after the war

[@panzerlieb]

⁠​⁠​⁠@@JHulse29”slavery was ended after the war” Was it? Or was it just replaced by a different kind of slavery?

[@JHulse29]

@@panzerlieb slavery was ended. Equality is still downloading

[@cal30m1]

I was expecting you to tell us how old the tree is, how tall was that tree in 1863, how tall is it now, when was that tree first earmarked as being special.

[@dustyak79]

I’m kinda wondering if it’s a marketing ploy. The trees really didn’t look that old. Sometimes trees can be big like that around 45 years.

[@Suppercamper]

Very nice guys. Sad times in our history but good came out of it.

[@terryderush2657]

Did it really 🤔

[@savanahmclary4465]

Terry DeRush I agree!

[@godscommandmentsaretruthis2837]

Very interesting, thanks for sharing this.

[@williameltringham7559]

My great great grandfather was there at only 15 years old. I still have a lot of family and relatives in Pennsylvania.

[@mort8143]

Thanks from Australia.

[@terrillschneider3778]

Thanks I appreciate that story and I love Gettysburg

[@earthsucks9555]

This was really interesting Great quick video

[@Tomatohater64]

How many confirmed witness trees are at Gettysburg?

[@AmericanBattlefieldTrust]

It’s unknown and debated. 10-15 is my number. GA

[@Tomatohater64]

@@AmericanBattlefieldTrust 10-15 sounds realistic. With the passage of almost 160 years, I figured it couldn't be much more than 10. Thank you.

[@jimjessie2704]

@@Tomatohater64 there are much older trees than that around the u.s.-one liveoak on blackbeard island in ga.was said to be pre columbus and some redwood maybe even older

[@OcotilloTom]

I have been to the battlefield several times as both a visitor and as a reenactor. We have taken our Steen's 3 inch ordnance rifle like the one behind the narrator for reenactments and living history events there. The battery we portrayed, The Norfolk Light Artillery Blues (Grandy's Battery) CSA was on this line under those trees. I have a leaf fallen from one of the witness trees over Grandy's position framed with a description of Pickets Charge. I have walked the charge route along with several hundred re-enactors from Confederate Ave. to the Stone Wall and the "copse of trees". I'll never forget any of that. At the time of the Gettysburg battle my GGGrandfather and an uncle were fighting 1000 miles away at Vicksburg with Co. H, 33rd. Miss. Infantry CSA. Both were wounded and captured.

[@buck1978]

Another great video well done

[@v8cool231]

I love stuff that still bare the scars from old battles. Where I live theres a church nearby , and the door still has a musket ball hole in it from where the church and Manor house was sieged during the English civil war. Theres shallow shot marks to on the church wall as well . Shame the Manor house was totally destroyed. I find it amazing that even after around 400 years, the scars of those days still remain.

[@geraldwilson681]

I have driven on old Route 30 through the battlefield sites into the town of Gettysburg and it's haunting, especially at night. Try it sometime.🇺🇸

[@danschaefer6038]

What a “tree-mendous” piece of history!

[@REVNUMANEWBERN]

GGF William Andrew Reid 45th N.C. Infantry wounded July 3rd, taken captive to Point Lookout, lived through war a long life died 15 May 1921 (aged 81), he lost 2 brothers in the war

[@denniswhite166]

When your GGF died my father was one year old. He died in 1996. I am 69 years old.

[@McNair39thNC]

had a relative named Steven A Walker that was also in the 45th NC. He was wounded and spent time at Camp Letterman and the rest of the war A POW in Baltimore. Company H from Reidsville NC

[@REVNUMANEWBERN]

@@McNair39thNC Mine Co. C after the war he lived raised children & died in Reidsville & buried there, his 2 brothers who died during the war is buried in Guiliford Co. outside of Greensboro NC, two complete family lines STOPPED due to the war.

[@gstone42]

Well done TY!

[@OLDMAN-se3yg]

Check out a song by The Steeldrivers called Sticks that make thunder. Its about trees watching a civil war battle.

[@mandograssable]

I have been posting the video on this site. Absolute great song.

[@richardpowell7214]

When I went Through Gatlinburg a few years back. I would often think about : If the trees could talk. Bullet holes, cannon ball scraps, etc. When I would walk on the grounds looking and thinking of that historical battlefield. Could I be standing on a spot where a brave soldier from either side. Gotten hurt or gave the ultimate sacrifice. Possibly a General giving orders to his brave soldiers. Well, it just made me think. Love History! A VA. Native. From Danville, Va. The LAST CAPITOL OF THE CONFEDERACY!

[@savanahmclary4465]

Anything Virginia!

[@michaelbarnett2527]

There wasn’t a battle in Gatlinburg as far as I know …🤷🏼‍♂️

[@jeffreyknight3884]

Great footage, thank you..

[@backachershomestead]

I often wonder what is destroyed or found when they log out some of the old growth around our area.

[@bruceowen3889]

Thank you for this video. I am very interested in the witness tree idea. It would have been more informative, however, if the position of the trees being talked about were indicated on the battlefield graphics that were shown. That would have helped me imagine better the concept of what the trees would have witnessed.

[@dudeaciousmonstrosity7650]

Wow. If that tree could talk, it would tell tales of the many limbs that were lost.

[@dawnbowra8885]

Those trees would have been weeping for the human loss. They can’t unsee…

[@Drackleyrva]

Amazing! I thought about the trees on my first trip to Gettysburg a few years ago. I'm going back later this year. Are there any visible marks, like bullet holes, on the trees?

[@AmericanBattlefieldTrust]

I can't say for sure, but there are buildings in the town with bullet holes from the battle. Check out the "Town of Gettysburg" portion of our Gettysburg Driving Tour for more: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hJfNlICtndqcjZI

[@ATINKERER]

@@AmericanBattlefieldTrust I'd like to see a metal detector used to see if any bullets are in that tree, and others. If any were detected, maybe a portable x-ray machine could be used to see what direction the bullets were coming from, and maybe even weather they were fired by north or south. This would give additional insight into what happened there beyond the written accounts.

[@georgemartin5980]

@@ATINKERER I was thinking the same thing, but they probably wouldn't want the public to know, because you know someone would go and damage an irreplaceable witness tree for an illegal relic.

[@georgemartin5980]

D Rackley, it wouldn't be likely to see any actual marks after all this time. To see something else Civil War tree related, look into the Scythe Tree in Waterloo, NY. The history is that a young man volunteered for service, hung his scythe in the tree, and told his parents he would pick it up when he returned. He never did, and the scythe remained. The tree is nearly completely grown over the scythe, with just the tip sticking out. It would be hard to even see now if they didn't highlight the spot.

[@old300texan5]

@ATINKERER It's been so long, if there were lead balls in the tree, I wonder how far up the tree they would be now, since the tree would've grown a lot.

[@gxios]

Properties in Sharpsburg, MD with "witness trees" sell for higher prices than adjacent properties that don't have them. Odd perhaps, but true.

[@tracyd1233]

Trees are wonderful beings.

[@ISCDesignArchitect]

wonderful history

[@tooter1able]

Dr. Black, how can we identify the witness trees? Really enjoy your programming here. Thank you ((T. Bender)

[@Khomann]

The trees are often identified by size, location, and apparent battle scars. Once there is a good candidate, I'm sure a core sample can be taken to confirm the age. Any tree that is older than 160 years old would have been around at the time of the battle in 1863. There are also photos from around the time of the battle, or even decades after, that can be compared to the trees that are around today

[@christophergowin1767]

At Gettysburg, they are marked with a brass tag. Some you can find the tag immediately, others you have to look closely.

[@heygetoffmylawn1572]

Very interesting. How big would the trees have been since they wouldn’t be the same size as they are today? How about witness “buildings”, since there are still hundreds of them still standing during and after the battle? Many housed the dead and dying as their occupants tended to the wounds of battle.

[@AmericanBattlefieldTrust]

Yes!

[@peterl.9535]

Photo comparisons, and ring patterns on previously cut or fallen white oaks, suggest that the various white oak witness trees on West confederate Avenue were likely in the range of 2-12 inches in diameter, and 20 feet tall to the full 60 feet or so that they generally reach.

[@kretz130]

Interesting, but talk about the tree a little bit. What type of tree is it? What is the trees estimated age? How big is it now? How big would it have been then? Are there bullets imbedded in it?

[@mandograssable]

My brother and I just sold 100 acres to the Battlefield Trust. I have found bullets in downed hard pine there and always cut them out with a chainsaw and make a plaque out of them. Of course, the property can never be hunted again now.

[@johndubose1395]

and the relic hunting hobby will be exterminated

[@mandograssable]

@@johndubose1395 It was either that or it was going to be a housing development. We have a couple hundred more acres of battlefield property. Plenty to hunt.

[@johndubose1395]

@@mandograssable that's good to hear. I myself support the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation with donations and every time they protect a property I can no longer hunt there. Its a two edged sword for us.

[@johndubose1395]

how can I contact you privately ?

[@mandograssable]

@@johndubose1395 I have no idea as I don't do social media, no Facebook. If you you want to put your email on here that's fine but I don't want to put mine on here.

[@mafia461]

🤔💭Dustin Hoffman @1:55 ?

[@jeffreylc]

Exactly my first reaction!!! Was going to post it but you beat me to it. Well done.

[@mafia461]

@@jeffreylc Great minds think alike lol 😉

[@shawnlakits340]

Burnside bridge at Antietam ha a tree that has seen hundreds of bullets.

[@georgeedward1226]

Fascinating stuff.

[@hkhjg1734]

amazing video, really wish you had asked for an interview

[@AmericanBattlefieldTrust]

😂 We couldn't get in contact with their agent.

[@alonsocushing2263]

How are witness trees identified and do we know how many there are at Gettysburg?

[@AmericanBattlefieldTrust]

Largely by photos over the years. Written accounts too. Core samples are another option but the parks don’t do that systematically

[@alonsocushing2263]

@@AmericanBattlefieldTrust Thank you.

[@thefpvlife7785]

And who's to say trees cannot see or hear in there own special way?

[@suebecker9972]

Makes you wonder how many of those trees still have bullets or shrapnel buried in them.

[@allanburt5250]

Amazing 👏

[@MrPlopy1]

Nice video Daryl!

[@Alphaskeptic]

We went on a tour of the battlefield in the 1980's. As we were walking around, a young boy picked a musket ball out of a rotten tree in the Devil's Den.

[@jamesnixon1875]

Thanks for the info. What is the name of the sound, it's so beautiful.

[@Dstew57A]

Amazing no shells embedded in the tree

[@allthingsharbor]

My grandfather owned a company in Atlanta that had a witness tree to the Battle of Atlanta in front of it. There was a cannonball inside the tree. When my mother was a child, one could stick one's hand into a cavity on the tree and feel the cannonball. By the time I came around, one had to use a wooden chopstick or similar to tap it through a small crack. Sadly the tree was cut down for the construction of the Edgewood Candler Park Marta station.

[@barrydoohan5920]

At what point does the video address the Pender Witness Tree in the context of Pender’s wounding? This is one of the most famous witness trees on the battlefield and aside from a video of the tree its history is ignored. Interesting that Pender’s gravestone has an incorrect date of death. Pender hung on until July 18, 1863 - not July 3 as the marker indicates.

[@REVNUMANEWBERN]

LOVE the troop placement media

[@tomahawktom7595]

I wonder if they have ever run metal detectors over the outside of those trees

[@mandograssable]

I run my metal detector over old dead downed hard pine. I have found musket balls lodged in them. I cut a section out of the tree with the bullet exposed and make a plaque out of it. Great trophy.

[@tomjones2202]

How many witness trees have been identified at Gettysburg? Does anyone know? I would also ask how is the age of the tree determined? There can't be many left.

[@peterl.9535]

About 100 trees have been photographically confirmed so far, but there are many hundreds more. By going out onto the battlefield and exactly reproducing an old photograph of a tree, you can estimate the rate of growth of the diameter of the tree, and then back calculate its approximate date of birth. If there is at least a good 20-30 years cushion, then one can state with 99% certainty that a given tree was standing in 1863.

[@dougcoates4283]

I look at trees in a similar way. Someone very long was by this tree

[@Brett33]

And some dogs probably lifted their legs on that tree many times .

[@doncraig6864]

let me guess: the tree heard General Hancock "Barking" out orders?

[@tommoyer3302]

I always wondered if the wheat on the Wheatfield was already harvested or was it still a standing crop because july 1st thru the 3rd would be harvest time

[@AmericanBattlefieldTrust]

It was still standing chest high until trampled on July 2

[@tommoyer3302]

@@AmericanBattlefieldTrust thanks 👍

[@greg7129]

This makes me think of the Steeldrivers song named " Sticks That Made Thunder " It is a tree telling its account of watching and listening to a civil war battle. If you have never heard it, it is for sure worth a listen.

[@Fcmusic70]

One of the pictures looked exactly like Dustin Hoffman incarnate, or is it just me out of bound😂😂😂

[@johnphillipstevensen3490]

How old are those trees now in 2023?

[@francisebbecke2727]

My great grand father, also named Francis Ebbecke, did not make it there until July 3rd, just in time to stand down Picket's charge. He had joined the Pennsylvania militia to avoid the war which was going on in Virginia. No way the war could make it to Pennsylvania!

[@josephbingham1255]

Interesting video. Surviving witness trees of Gettysburg. Be sure type in "Helen Dortch Longstree B-29" Gen. James Longstreet CSA's widow who lived long enough to be a Rosie the riveter on B-29s. Here in California we have trees thousands of years old. Old enough to have witnessed Native Americans then the coming of the countries of Spain, Mexico, then the USA. They would have also seen according to CBS News March 30, 2021 "Immigration propelled whites into minority status for the first time since 1860." 1860 to 2001 = a mere 141 years. A sliver of time. What things our trees witnessed if they could talk.

[@jamesmartin3431]

It's not the leaving of Liverpool that grievs me but my darling when I think of you. Dublin Trad music great tune!!!

[@dev...5150]

Sticks That Made Thunder... The Steeldrivers...

[@briandenison2325]

Kind of hard to see or hear anything without eyes and ears no?

[@skpjoecoursegold366]

and how old were you tree when you saw allllllllll this?

[@marvmattison5248]

Was that an oak? I'm watching on a cellphone

[@kenkindrick4227]

Except trees don't see. Or hear. But I get the analogy.

[@FJBriben]

That tree must be a thousand feet tall

[@HalfWarrior]

This makes me think of ‘Tree Song’; a good song by Dylan Wheeler.

[@Kevin-xi6ts]

More than likely that tree “ saw” lots of soldiers relieving themselves on its trunk.

[@terrytysinger8769]

How long before the dream group starts talking about removing all of this as well

[@christophergowin1767]

There are so few left. Witness trees give you an entirely different perspective.

[@McNair39thNC]

There are quite a few more than you might think! There are several more right next to the Pender tree that are also witness trees.

[@mikeelder6298]

Has anyone ever taken a metal detector and scanned the tree?

[@stevenjohnson8507]

Show the photograph of the tree then, and now. WTF?

[@bonarmenninger3131]

What kind of tree is it?

[@pamountains2]

Most of the older trees there are White Oak.

[@nathankelly7259]

Yes, looks like a white oak to me

[@larrylinn1221]

Is anybody getting anything on those battlefields with metal detectors?

[@peterl.9535]

Completely illegal to that.

[@kenweis7913]

That tree would've been a sapling no bigger than a wrist and 20 feet tall back then, trust me

[@yepiratesworkshop7997]

I wonder if a metal detector would pick up many "hits" of lead shot that hit that tree during the battle.

[@CapAnson12345]

Oh I doubt that. Trees don't have eyes.

[@kevinhothan7328]

The tree should have just said I'm leaving

[@bigsarge2085]

✌

[@rayjames6096]

And they would have had soldiers hiding behind them.

[@PSMCR69]

The sad truth is that corpses were littered all around until they were properly buried

[@jumpmaster82nd.]

...Willikers...

[@markt7291]

Move out the way I can’t tree. 😂

[@bvyup2112]

haha this seems pretty nuts but kind of cool when you think of it.

[@Damacles9]

What are the plans for witness trees if they fall down?

[@mandograssable]

When the witness tree that Stonewall Jackson had his prayer under after his win at Port Republic Va finally fell over, they collected the wood from it, made pencils, and sold them as souvenirs.

[@wallacegrommet3479]

Sorry, trees cannot see, hear or feel anything.

[@worldtraveler84]

Tree during the battle: WTF is going on!!!

[@AngryHateMusic]

Find a big rock and let's do it again.

[@AmericanBattlefieldTrust]

Already produced!

[@kennkid9912]

Frankly it doesnt look old enuf to have been there at the time. One at the end might be. I imagine most of the trees in the line of fire died from bullet damage. My target trees have all died from that.

[@ronboerste1813]

I wonder if there's any bullet's stuck from the past in them tree's🤔