03 04 Soldiers and Sailors of the Confederacy Trees

Witness Trees 03 and 04 can be found standing just off of South Confederate Avenue, halfway between the Monuments to Alabama (to the north) and the Soldiers and Sailors of the Confederacy (to the south). Witness Tree 04 is double-trunked, probably having split into separate stems when it was very young.

How to Find Witness Trees 03 and 04

Halfway between the Alabama Monument to the north, and a pair of cannon and the monument to the Soldiers and Sailors of the Confederacy to the south, stand Witness Trees 03 and 04. You can find them just off the right side of the avenue as you walk or drive south from the Alabama Monument, between the road and the stone wall. Both trees are distinguished by the large bulges at the very base of the trunks on their west sides.

What These Trees Witnessed

At about 4 P.M. on July 2, 1863, Law’s Alabama troops would have begun their charge towards Little Round and Devil’s Den from near these trees. A short time later, Brig. Gen. Henry Benning’s Georgians would have followed perhaps a half-hour later, passing by these trees; the Peach State men would head towards the Triangular Field and Devil’s Den to do their fighting.

Witness Trees 03 and 04 both bulge noticeably on their west sides. This is Tree 04.

Then and Now Comparison

This 1936 National Park Service photo was taken to preserve the repaving of South Confederate Avenue just south of the Alabama State Memorial. Note the old-fashioned steam roller on the left of the of the older image. Both Witness Trees can be identified easily by the bulge that extends away from the road at the base of their trunks.

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