Postponed until 2023. Dates TBD
Headquarters: Gettysburg, PA
Led by: Larry Korczyk
Registration Fee: $575.00 Cash or Check – $599.00 Credit Card
Welcome to America’s History’s first tour of the Gettysburg battlefield. We are excited to be able to share this experience. We think we have come up with a unique approach to interpreting the battle using brigade level units to tell the story of what happen on those three crucial days in July 1863. In three days in the field, we will walk and discuss in depth the actions of six famous fighting brigades: three Union brigades and three Confederate brigades. It should be an awesome experience even if you have visited the battlefield in the past.
On Day One of our tour, we’ll be covering ground appropriately associated with the first day of the battle of Gettysburg. We’ll start with a look at the movements and actions of the famed “Iron Brigade.” As one historian has concluded, the Iron Brigade was “Arguably the finest fighting unit of the Army of the Potomac” and “was both feared and respected by the enemy. The men could be easily distinguished by their tall black Hardee hats.” This unique unit, recruited from the Union’s mid-western states, contained five regiments: the 19th Indiana, 24th Michigan, and the 2nd, 6th and 7th Wisconsin commanded by Brig. Gen Solomon Meredith. Their principal fighting occurred on McPherson Ridge, the famed Railroad Cut and Seminary Ridge before ordered to Culp’s Hill at the end of July 1, having sustained approximately 63% casualties. Their division commander, Brig. Gen. James Wadsworth later told Col. Henry Morrow of the 24th Michigan that “the only fault I have with you is that you fought too long, but God only knows what would have become of the Army of the Potomac if you had not held the ground as long as you did.”
After lunch, we will move to another part of the battlefield’s first day of fighting and take a look at Confederate Brig. Gen. Alfred Iverson’s North Carolina Brigade on Oak Hill. Ordered to attack the Union line on Oak Ridge, the 5th, 12th, 20th, and 23rd North Carolina regiments advanced without skirmishers and without their brigade commander who watched his men from behind a fallen chestnut tree. A Pennsylvania soldier observed that “Iverson’s men, with arms at the right shoulder came on in splendid array, keeping step with an almost perfect line.” Marching across Forney’s field, the infantrymen were mowed down like wheat in parade ground rows. The brigade suffered about 65% casualties with the 23rd North Carolina losing 89% of its men. Confederate division commander, Maj. Gen. Robert Rodes reported that Iverson’s men “fought and died like heroes. His dead lay in a distinctly marked line of battle.”
On Day Two we will start with the attack made by the ill-fated Confederate Brig. Gen. William Barksdale on the Federal center as part of Lt. Gen. James Longstreet’s effort to roll up the Union line. Four Mississippi regiments—the 13th, 17th, 18th and 21st—made the July 2 attack. Unfortunately, Confederate coordination of the attack faltered, leaving both flanks of Barksdale’s Brigade uncovered. Nevertheless, the firebrand Mississippi lawyer and former congressman inspired his men to break the Yankee line. Federal guns in the Peach Orchard fell to the Southerners, but to no avail. The 6 PM attack at first gained momentum until almost dark, then faltered. Barksdale himself went down, mortally wounded. The Union line bent but did not break as reinforcements poured in from more Federal brigades. The Mississippians were forced to fall back with almost 50% casualties. One Mississippi private told his diary: “Every man acted the hero.”
After lunch, we’ll move over to Culp’s Hill to see how Union Brig. Gen. George Greene’s brigade handled the threat to Meade’s right flank at the “hook” section of the Army of the Potomac’s famous fish hook line. For years the consequential defense of Culp’s Hill by a brigade of five New York regiments has been overshadowed by other more popular places on the battlefield like Little Round Top, the Wheatfield, Devil’s Den and the Peach Orchard. But Greene’s tactics should not be underrated. His foresight to entrench and rotate his men during the crucial evening hours of July 2 and the early morning of July 3 safeguarded an important position along the Union line. The exploits of the 60th, 78th, 102nd, 137th and 149th New York regiments will be described in detail as we seek to appreciate the critical actions of these soldiers who held back three brigades of Confederate attackers from Maj. Gen. Edward Johnson’s division.
On Day Three we will start with a crucially important unit, as we follow the actions of the Army of the Potomac’s Second Corps Artillery Brigade under command of Captain John Hazard. This brigade suffered the highest losses of any artillery brigade at Gettysburg. It included the 1st New York Light, Battery B/14th New York Battery, 1st Rhode Island Batteries A & B, 1st United States, Battery I and 4th United States, Battery A, a total of 27 guns. The brigade would be reinforced on July 3 with two sections of two guns each from units broken up in the fighting on July2. Hazard’s brigade held the center of Union line of July 3. It had been roughly used by Confederate attacks the previous day. Additionally, Hazard himself was put in the unenviable position of trying to follow conflicting orders from the Army’s chief of artillery, Brig. Gen. Henry Hunt and his own corps commander, Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock. Hazard’s guns were responsible from repulsing Pickett’s Charge which includes the poignant story of Lt. Alonzo Cushing’s defense of the High Water Mark near the Copse of Trees on Cemetery Ridge.
Appropriately, after lunch we’ll conclude the third day of our tour as we follow Confederate Brig. Gen. Lewis Armistead’s Brigade as it attacks the Union center on July 3 as part of Pickett’s Charge. Armistead’s men were all from the Old Dominion: the 9th, 14th, 38th, 53rd and 57th Virginia regiments. Armistead’s story is well-known to students of battle. With canister blistering his ranks, Armistead urged his men forward shouting, “Come on, boys, we must give them the cold steel!” He and about a hundred of his men reached the stone wall on Cemetery Ridge and the Union guns behind it. After reaching one of Cushing’s guns, Armistead was mortally wounded; the remnants of his heroic brigade receded back to Seminary Ridge. It was the High Water Mark for the Confederacy. Similar to the other fighting brigades we have seen on our three days on the battlefield, this brigade sustained approximately 62.7% casualties.
Our licensed battlefield guide for this tour, Larry Korczyk has a top notch reputation. Here’s what one person said about Larry’s skills as a tour leader: “I cannot say enough good things about the experience I had with Larry Korczyk and the tour he conducted of the Gettysburg Battlefield . . . Larry was very knowledgeable on all aspects of the battle and kept my two sons very engaged . . . his attention to detail was astounding. As a retired military officer I have experienced numerous Staff Rides and Tours all over the US and Europe and this was by far the best.”
What’s included: motor coach transportation, three lunches, beverage and snack breaks, a map and materials package, all admissions and gratuities, and the services of an experienced tour leader. Tour participants are responsible for transportation to the headquarters hotel, and securing a room reservation, if necessary. Dinner is on your own. Tour goes out rain or shine. This is a walking and field tour so wear comfortable shoes. Please see our policy page for information about cancellations.
Hotel: We have arranged with the headquarters hotel for a group rate of $139.00 per night plus applicable taxes (double or single occupancy.) Please call the Wyndham Gettysburg Hotel and Conference Center, 95 Presidential Circle, Gettysburg, PA 17325 at 717-339-0020 and ask for the America’s History group rate. This rate will be guaranteed until May 15, so please make your reservations soon.
Our Tour Leader: New Jersey native, Larry Korczyk gave up his day job as a logistics manager in 2013 to be a full-time Gettysburg licensed battlefield guide. He was featured in a Civil War Monitor magazine article depicting the rigorous training and testing that licensed guides go through in order to attain the coveted tour guide badge. He has served as Vice President of the Association of Licensed Battlefield Guides and is a co-author of Top Ten at Gettysburg, published in 2017. He is a long-standing member of the Robert E. Lee Civil War Round Table, and chairman of the James I. Robertson, Jr. Literary Prize for Confederate History.
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