Reynolds Monument Tree #03

How to Find This Witness Tree

 

Figure 1: Witness Tree 03 stands about 100 feet to the northwest of the Reynolds Death Monument at Reynolds Grove on Reynolds Avenue! This tree is distinguished by the numerous knots covering its bark, the result of the loss of numerous branches over two centuries.

Stand about 10-15 feet in front of the Reynolds Death Monument. Take a couple of steps to the left, and look beyond the monument and into the woods. About 80 feet into the tree line, you will see this Witness Tree.


Witness Tree #03

Lt. Col. George H. Stevens (2nd WI) Witness Tree

Tree Species: white oak
Circumference 2022: 81”
Diameter: 25.8”
Calculated Average Growth Rate: 9.0 years / inch diameter
Estimated age: 200-220 years
Estimated diameter in 1863: 7-8”
GPS: 39.83457 N, 77.25115 W

 

Lt. Col. George H. Stevens, 2nd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, mortally wounded at Gettysburg.

There are several candidates for witness tree status amongst the white oaks that stand tall in the woods behind the Reynolds Monument, to the right of the footpath as you enter Herbst Woods heading west. The one identified in Figure 1 above was discovered in a very small photograph of the monument – about an inch and a half tall – published in a 1909 Gettysburg picture album featuring the photographs of J.I. Mumper.

The tree in the 1909 picture is a sure match with the tree in the modern image, thanks to the subtle but distinct S-curve of the tree which can be discerned in both the 1909 and 2022 photographs.

The ratio of the diameters of the tree from 1909 to 2022 is conservatively about 0.50. The average growth rate of this tree over the last 113 years works out to be about 9 years to grow one inch of diameter. Assuming a similar growth rate in its early years, we calculate the tree’s age to be easily over 200 years old, perhaps as old as 220-230 years in age. Its diameter in 1863 would have been in the neighborhood of 7-8″.

Why is the 1909 image so blurry? Because it originally appeared in a collage of monument photographs, each measuring but 1-square-inch! This is the original page as it appeared in 1909’s Historic Views of Gettysburg.

This Witness Tree is named for Lt. Col. George H. Stevens of the 2nd Wisconsin, the highest-ranked Wisconsin officer to die as a result of wounds sustained in the fight at Herbst Woods. Born in New York City in 1831, Stevens joined the National Guard as a teenager; in 1852, he went to Australia for three years. On his return, he moved to Wisconsin, where he engaged in business, and in the winter of 1858-9, organized a militia unit known as the “Citizens’ Guard”, which, when war broke out with the south, became Company A on the 2nd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, of which he was elected captain.

Stevens served admirably throughout the first two years of the war. He was promoted to major in August 1862, then to lieutenant colonel in early 1863. Stevens was severely wounded during the initial charge on July 1, 1863, of the Iron Brigade in their efforts to expel Archer’s Brigade from Herbst Woods. Dying on the 5th, Stevens was initially buried in Evergreen Cemetery. His obituary states that it was intended to remove his body at some point to his home state, but he was instead reinterred in Gettysburg National Cemetery, his final resting place. (3)

Further details of Stevens’ life and military career can be found in this tribute from the pen of Tom Elmore.

(3) Details of this article (except for the last note on his being buried in Gettysburg) were adapted from what appears to be an obituary written of Stevens in a Wisconsin newspaper. which is reproduced in the Second Wisconsin website. Retrieved June 2, 2023.