Landscape Photos of Rose Woods, Gettysburg

In 1863, George Rose owned property on the east side of Emmitsburg Road, adjacent and northwest of Devil’s Den. Rose’s wheatfield became known as The Wheatfield, where historians count about 6,000 battlefield casualties on that field of chest-high wheat on July 2. On the same day, in the lesser known Rose Woods, Union Col. John R. Brooke’s brigade of men from Connecticut, Delaware, New York, and Pennsylvania fought to thwart the attack of Brig. Gen. Joseph B. Kershaw’s brigade of South Carolinians. Rather than describe the battle, this article introduces several photos of Rose Woods and comments briefly about the fighting there on July 2, 1863.

For battle maps that identify the Rose farm, you may want to visit the American Battlefield Trust at these links:

Gettysburg—The Wheatfield and Peach Orchard, July 2, 1863, 5:45–6:30 P.M.

Gettysburg—The Wheatfield and Peach Orchard, July 2, 1863, 6:30–7:00 P.M.

Or to read Civil War Cycling’s short but very dense summary of the Battle of Gettysburg Day 2, click here and look under the Detailed Summary for “Back and Forth in The Wheatfield and Rose Woods.”