1920s Culp's Hill Battlefield Vintage Stereoview of Cemetery Ridge - American Civil War - 1863 Battle of Gettysburg - Keystone Real Photo View

Collectibles : Photographic : Stereoview : Civil War : Gettysburg : Culp's Hill : Real Photo : Vintage

 

This vintage Keystone stereoview, shows Culp's Hill as it appeared to the Union soldiers defending Cemetery Ridge, as Confederate troops attacked uphill from the left during the 3-day July 1863 Battle of Gettysburg in southeastern Pennsylvania. Culp's Hill was a key battlefield terrain feature that anchored the Union flank - at the point of the Union "fishhook" line of defense during the Civil War's "turning point" battle. Overlooking downtown Gettysburg from the southeast, Culp's Hill consists of two rounded peaks, separated by a narrow saddle, the higher of which is 508 feet above sea level, heavily wooded, and with a steep slope east to Rock Creek, 150 feet below.

The hill was named for its owner, local farmer Henry Culp, whose nephew John Wesley Culp had joined the 2nd Virginia Infantry (part of the famous "Stonewall's brigade") of the Confederate States Army, and was killed in the fighting on his family property on the second day of fighting on July 3rd. Wesley's brother William, a Union soldier, survived the war.

After the battle, Culp's Hill was a prime tourist attraction, first because it was close to the town and second, because it was heavily wooded and the extreme firepower had taken a very visible toll on the trees, some of which were completely sheared off. It was over twenty years before the scars of battle faded and nature reclaimed the breastworks.

View comes from the Helen D. Moseley National Stereoscopic Association collection.

PHOTO NOTE: These sepia tone photo images are exceptionally crisp and sharp - the actual images are MUCH sharper through a stereoviewer than they appear in the scanned images. Light soiling and fine surface scratches are not noticeable through the viewer. And the stereoscopic effect is exceptional in this extraordinary view. You feel like you are right there on the battlefield!

Item ID: 27-0432A