The Angle

This article is about an area of the Gettysburg battlefield. For other military engagements with similar names, see Bloody Angle (disambiguation). For other uses, see Angle (disambiguation).

The Angle^[3] (Bloody Angle colloq.) is a Gettysburg Battlefield area which includes the 1863 Copse of Trees used as the target landmark for Pickett's Charge, the 1892 monument that marks the high-water mark of the Confederacy, a rock wall,^[4] and several other Battle of Gettysburg monuments.

The Angle Bloody Angle
Historic site
Plaque inscribed "General Armistead and a few Confederate soldiers charged across this wall, reached the Union cannon behind it and were soon overwhelmed"[2]
Coordinates: 39°48′48″N 77°14′11″W
Location	plaque near north end of north-south wall & west end of 80 ft west-east wall

Old veterans clasping hands across the Angle at the 1913 Gettysburg reunion.

History

The area is where approximately 1,500 Confederate Virginians broke through the July 3, 1863, Union line on Cemetery Ridge,^[5] and in 1922, the Marine Expeditionary Force of Camp Harding used The Angle in their reenactment of Pickett's Charge.^[6] The proper noun "Bloody Angle" became common during the battlefield's commemorative era after being used as early as 1893.^[7]

A copy of the Gettysburg Cyclorama was displayed in an 1894 tent at The Angle,^[8] and during reunions in 1887,^[5] 1913 (50th battle anniversary), and 1938 (75th); battle veterans shook hands over the rock wall at The Angle. The nearby field along the Emmitsburg Road was also the site of Gettysburg Battlefield camps after the American Civil War such as Eisenhower's 1918 Camp Colt, the 1938 Army Camp with the Secretary of War's quarters, and a World War II POW stockade.

The Angle is one of the few places named after the battle that is not named for a person (cf. The Loop^[9]). As with Hancock Avenue along the east wall that extends northward, the original route planned for the 1893 Gettysburg Electric Railway was along the west wall of The Angle^[7] that extends southward, and although the trolley line was moved along the Emmitsburg Road, the Gettysburg National Military Park did not acquire the trolley land at The Angle until congressional funding was appropriated in 1917.^[10]

See also

• List of monuments of the Gettysburg Battlefield

References

1. "The Angle". Historical Marker Database.
2. "The Angle". Historical Marker Database.
3. Cope, Emmor (Bvt Lt Col) (1896), The Angle - Cast Iron Site ID Tablet, United States Department of War marker, archived from the original (NPS.gov webpage on List of Classified Structures) on 2011-07-21, retrieved 2011-02-11, 1 of 35 Site ID Tablets by War Dept's ... Designer ... Cope, E. B. ... Painted raised letter and border inscription tablet, 2'1"x1'8". Mounted on fluted post, 3' high.
4. "List of Classified Structures: The Angle Stone Wall, Structure Number WA03". Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved July 6, 2020.
5. "A Gettysburg Reunion" (Google News Archive). The Canaseraga Times. July 8, 1887. Retrieved 2011-02-11. One of the dramatic incidents of the day took place at the bloody angle where 1,500 Virginians broke through the lines held by their hosts, and where the three monuments were dedicated on the 3d (of July 1887).
6. "Traffic Rules on Battlefield" (Google News Archive). The Star and Sentinel. July 1, 1922. Retrieved 2011-01-26.
7. "Vandalism at Gettysburg" (PDF). The New York Times. May 26, 1893. Retrieved 2011-02-11. One photograph which appeared to-day showed the ground in front of the "Bloody Angle." The route of the railroad runs directly in front of the famous stone fence where Pickett's assaulting column was repulsed.
8. Weeks, Jim (2011). Gettysburg: Memory, Market, and an American Shrine. Princeton University Press. p. 79. ISBN 978-0691102719.
9. "Wayback Machine has not archived that URL". www.hscl.cr.nps.gov.^{[permanent dead link]}
10. "Want $30,000 to Purchase Land of trolley Line". Adams County News. January 27, 1917. (headline continues) Congress Gets Measure which would Appropriate Large Amount for that Purpose. Right of Way Desired. National Park Commission Said to Favor Plan to Acquire Battlefield Ground. Beales Presents Bill.