October 21, 2013

Though some of us Gettysburg-lovers like to think we know just about all there is to know about the battlefield, once in awhile a new discovery plunks us soundly back down to earth. That was the case with me and the bleeding tree. A few weeks before my August trip, I read that there is supposedly a witness tree along Reynolds Avenue near General Reynolds’ wounding site (it’s the only woodlot directly along the avenue, and you can’t miss the general’s small white monument high up on a mound) that has a strange feature.

On the first of July 1863, a multitude of bullets from both blue and gray plunked into this hearty witness tree, and they remain there to this day. No one would ever know that fact if not for the stream of rust that actually “bleeds” from the tree bark. I actually thought this was one of the neatest things I saw during this last trip. It really put history into perspective. Sometimes, with all the monuments, renovated farms, and modern roads, we forget that there really are living things on the field that stood there during the battle.

**HONORED TODAY**

PVT. SILAS GORE

Co. I, 141^ST Pennsylvania Infantry

Born May 03, 1829 --- Died July 02, 1863 at age 34

After Pvt. Gore’s life ended at the Peach Orchard during the second day’s fight, his wife Jerusha took up the crucial task of raising their daughter Sarah Alice, who was only two years old. One can only hope and assume that little Sarah was told many stories about the brave soldier she was too young to remember. Pvt. Gore was later buried at Gettysburg National Cemetery. A photo can be found here.


(c) 2013 Skies of Blue and Gray