01: 37th Massachusetts Tree

View of Witness Tree 01, a large white oak, rising behind and to the right of the monument to the 37th Massachusetts.

How to Find Witness Tree 01

After you enter Sedgwick Avenue (a one-way road north), the road enters a wooded area about 200 feet past the equestrian statue of General John Sedgwick. The first monument you will then see is that to the 37th Massachusetts, on your right. About 25 feet behind this monument rises a solitary large white oak, Witness Tree 01.

What This Tree Witnessed

On the second day’s fighting, the Union 3rd Corps brigades of Brig. Gen. J.H. Hobart Ward and Col. P. Regis DeTrobriand may have retreated through this area after taking part in the battle for the Wheatfield, before ending up behind these woods near the Taneytown Road.

Witness Tree 01 Statistics

Tree Species: white oak
Circumference 2024: 96”
Diameter: 31.5”
Estimated age: 220 years
Estimated diameter in 1863: 8”

Then-and-Now Comparisons

Two photographs spaced almost two decades apart, both taken by William Tipton, provide the source of both then-and-now comparisons featured below:

Witness Tree 01 just barely found its way into this 1896 photograph by William Tipton. Note the matching boulder “A” at bottom right.

William Tipton returned to Sedgwick Avenue almost two decades to snap this photograph of the 37th Massachusetts monument. Note that the branching of Witness Tree 01 can be seen just below the top of both images.

Other Photographs

Study in color vs. black and white photography.