Reynolds Monument Tree #04
How to Find This Witness Trees
Figure 1: The two chest-bumping trees to the rear and left of the Reynolds Death Monument are both witness trees; the one on the left is now dead. The white oak on the right probably stood around 30-40 feet tall on July 1, 1863, and had a diameter of about 4″. The 1897 image was by William Tipton.
From about 10 feet away, directly face the Reynolds Death Monument. Then take several steps to the right. As you turn towards the monument, look up and beyond it into the woods. About 80 feet away, up in the crowns of the trees, look for what appear to be two trees first curving towards, then away from, each other, as they rise.
The right-hand tree is our living white oak witness tree. The tree on the left, a hickory, was a witness tree too, but it is dead.
The National Park Service will not likely take this down, since it would not be a danger to anyone if it were to fall.
Witness Tree #04
Colonel Henry A. Morrow (24th MI) Witness Tree
Witness Tree 04 is very difficult to pick out in the dead of summer, when all the trees are dressed in their finest greenery. The top of the Morrow tree can be seen in the upper background, directly above and just slightly to the left of the Reynolds Death Monument.
Tree Species: white oak
Circumference 2022: 63”
Diameter: 20”
Calculated Average Growth Rate: 9.9 years / inch diameter
Estimated age: 195-200 years
Estimated diameter in 1863: 4”
GPS: 39.83430 N, 77.25120 W
If you look at the composite photograph which comprises Figure 1 above, you can clearly see, to the left and far rear of the Reynolds Death Monument, two tall trees which appear to be bumping chests 40 feet above the ground. Both of these trees were standing during the battle, although the one to the left is now dead; hence, we only count the living white oak tree, the right-hand tree, as a current witness tree. This is Witness Tree #1
Col. Henry A. Morrow, 24th Michigan Volunteer Infantry (1829-1891).
The older photograph is by William Tipton, and dates from c. 1897.
Our white oak is a very slow growing tree, its diameter only 20″ across. The ratio of the diameters from 1897 to 2022 is about 0.37. This corresponds to a very slow growth rate of almost 10 years to grow an inch of diameter. Our calculations suggest the tree first sprouted in the 1820’s, providing enough cushion to state with 99% confidence that it is a witness tree. Its diameter during the battle was probably around 4″.
This tree is named after Colonel Henry A. Morrow, commander of the 24th Michigan on the first day of the battle. Born in Virginia in 1829, Morrow was educated in Washington, DC, and volunteered for the army at the outbreak of war with Mexico, where he received his first combat experience; he was only 17 years old. After the war, Morrow moved to Michigan, became a lawyer, married, and had a son. In June 1862, after President Lincoln issued a call for additional volunteers, Morrow helped raise what would become the 24th Michigan Volunteer Infantry, whose men elected Morrow to be their commander.
Here is another photograph taken of the Reynolds Monument, showing the same two chest-bumping trees in the rear and just to the left of the monument. This image appeared in an 1897 picture book of Gettysburg.
The 24th, which was assigned to the Iron Brigade of the Army of the Potomac, saw limited action until the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863, after which the troops finally received the brigade’s symbol, the black hats. During the battle in Herbst Woods, so many color bearers were shot down that Morrow himself at point carried the regiment’s banner. During the regiment’s retreat to Seminary Ridge, Morrow was wounded in the head, and, his injury bleeding freely, was sent to the rear. (1)
Morrow was unfortunately captured by Confederate troops during his ride back into town. Interestingly, Wills was treated by a Confederate surgeon in the Wills House. When Lee’s army evacuated, they left Morrow behind. (2)
After recuperating from his wound, Morrow led the 24th for the remainder of the war, getting wounded again at the Wilderness and at Petersburg. The career soldier remained in the army after war’s end, ultimately receiving command of the 21st U.S. Infantry, a position which he still held when he died in Hot Springs, AK, in 1891. Morrow’s remains were buried in Niles, MI.
Further details of Henry Morrow’s life and experience at Gettysburg can be found here and here;