August 03, 2016

** This blog published Mondays and Wednesdays **

 

This photo was taken from the area of the Railroad Cut along McPherson’s Ridge. Visible are the small stone guide station and Route 30/Chambersburg Pike/Lincoln Highway (take your pick!). A line of wooden fencing can also be seen. The tree-line in the background is McPherson’s/Herbst/Reynold’s Woods (see the pattern with multiple monikers?) where the 26^TH North Carolina of Pettigrew’s Brigade and the 24^TH Michigan of the Iron Brigade dueled to the death on the afternoon of July 1^ST. Gen. John Reynolds’ statue is visible to the left of the center tree, while Gen. John Buford’s statue can be seen to the right, contrasted against the guide station’s dark roof.

**HONORED TODAY**

CPL. BENJAMIN OLIVER HAMBLET

CO. A, 2^ND United States Sharpshooters

Born 1840 --- Died July 30, 1863 at age 23

Cpl. Hamblet, a resident of Minnesota, enlisted in October 1861. He was described as being 5’11¾ inches tall, with blue eyes and brown hair. A farmer by trade, he was mortally wounded in the left thigh at Gettysburg and later buried in the National Cemetery. His stone says “Hamlet” instead of “Hamblet.”

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