Gettysburg Witness Trees 04 - Pee Dee Artillery

04 – Pee Dee Artillery

How to Find Witness Tree 04

Another giant white oak, Witness Tree 04 stands directly behind the cast iron tablet for the Pee Dee Artillery.

What this Tree Witnessed

According to its tablet, the Pee Dee Artillery arrived here on July 2, 1863, at 4 P.M., and fired southeast towards the Peach Orchard in support of the Confederate attack that launched about that time. On the 3rd, the Pee Dee took part in the artillery bombardment that preceded Pickett’s Charge.

<–go to Witness Tree 03 go to Witness Tree 05 –>

Witness Tree 04 Statistics

Tree Species: white oak
Circumference 2024: 123.5”
Diameter: 39”
Estimated age: 220+ years
Estimated diameter in 1863: 12-15”

Then-and-Now Comparison

In the 1930s, the National Park Service, having taken over the management of Gettysburg National Military Park in 1933, seemingly made a point to create a photographic record of many of the park’s features, including such minor matters as the battlefield’s signage. This 1936 image was taken on West Confederate Avenue, facing north, near the McMillan Woods. Here, a sign on the right side of the road alerted drivers that they were approaching a side road that would take them to the camp of Gettysburg’s Civilian Conservation Corps.

The road still exists today, as does the campground area. Among other activities, these days one of the authorized horse-tour companies makes its home in the former campground during daylight hours.

Witness Tree 04 can be clearly identified in the then-and-now photographic comparison shown at right. A large branch, marked in each image with an asterisk, can be easily matched up to confirm the tree’s identity.

Label “A” marks the tablet for the Pee Dee Artillery, and label “B” identifies the bronze and granite marker for Pegram’s Battalion. The trees marked with an “X” are no longer extant. Witness trees 05 and 08 also make an appearance in both images. Finally, the trees marked with a “C” located on the east side of the stone wall can also be matched up, but they are not witness trees.