01 Rogers House Tree

How to Find Witness Tree 01

At the site of the Rogers House on the Emmitsburg Road, there stands a trip of Kentucky Coffee Trees. Witness Tree 01 is the center tree. There is not enough evidence to make a judgment either way as to whether the left-hand tree (which is larger in circumference than Tree 01) is a witness tree; and the evidence is pretty conclusive that the right-hand tree is not.

During the battle, the Rogers house stood where Sickles Avenue today intersects the Emmitsburg Road. Today the site is guarded by three large Kentucky coffee trees. The center one is a witness tree, the outer ones likely not.

What This Tree Witnessed

In the afternoon of July 2, 1863, when 3rd Corps commander General Daniel Sickles ordered his troops to occupy a line extending from Devil’s Den onto the Emmitsburg Road, the men of Brig. Gen. Joeph Carr’s brigade was placed near the Rogers House on the Emmitsburg Road. As Lee’s attack developed that evening, Carr’s men were approached by Confederate Col. David Lang’s all-Florida brigade, which passed by the Rogers House, and soon after helped drive the Union troops off of the Emmitsburg Road.

On July 3, during Pickett’s Charge, the Virginians of Brig. Gen. James Kemper’s Brigade passed by the Rogers House before being slaughtered to the west ofits objective, Cemetery Ridge.

Witness Tree 01

This is the only Kentucky Coffee Tree in our catalogue of photographically-confirmed witness trees. There are actually three Kentucky Coffee Trees at the Rogers House site, but only the middle one can be confirmed to be a witness tree. There is another set of this species in front of the Red Patch House on West Confederate Avenue, but there are no known photographs that can be used to estimate their age.

Witness Tree 01 Statistics

Tree Species: Kentucky Coffee Tree
Circumference 2024: 108”
Diameter: 34.5”
Estimated age: 200-220 years
Estimated diameter in 1863: 6-9”

Then-and Now-Comparisons

Here is a very odd photograph in the GNMP collection – a very crooked image of the reunion of the 3rd Corps at the frame house standing in 1913 at the site of the Rogers House. Witness Tree 01 once again can be seen to have been a quite large tree by that year. (Historical photo courtesy of NPS, GNMP, Museum collection, Gett #41135, 5E-4988).

During the 50th anniversary commemoration and reunion of veterans of the Battle of Gettysburg, General Daniel Sickles (label “A”) held court at the site of the Rogers House (the original Rogers House, a log cabin, had been torn down and replaced by the frame house shown in the 1913 photograph not many years after the Civil War). As can be seen in the photographic comparison, Witness Tree 01 has only doubled in diameter in the past 111 years. Tree B on the far right was rather thin in 1913, suggesting it sprouted in the late 19th century. Having lost a leg a half-century earlier on July 2, 1863, General Sickles rests comfortably on a seat, while most every other veteran of the 3rd Corps stands around him. (This 1913 photograph appeared in a 1910s book on the 50th anniversary of the battle).

Here is another interesting – and unique – view of the Kentucky Coffee trees growing at the site of the Rogers House. This image was taken from the field on the west side of the Emmitsburg Road, facing east. The road itself is just barely visible in the 1957 image. This photo is too recent to be able to use it to determine whether trees A and B might be witness trees. The frame house (label “A”) was torn down just a year or so after this photograph was taken, as it was not the original Rogers House. The statue “D” at right is of division commander Brig. Gen. Anderw Humphreys. (Historical photo courtesy of NPS, GNMP, Museum collection, Gett #41135, 11I-0117).