Gettysburg Address Engraved Plaque
Our Gettysburg Address plaque is laser engraved using wood from an oak tree harvested from the area known as the High-watermark of the Confederacy or High Tide of the Confederacy. It refers to an area on Cemetery Ridge marking the farthest point reached by Confederate forces during Pickett's Charge on the last day of the Battle of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863.
General Robert E. Lee of the Confederate States Army ordered an attack on the Union Army center, located on Cemetery Ridge. This oensive maneuver called for almost 12,500 men to march over 1,000 yards (900 m) of dangerously open terrain. Preceded by a massive but mostly ineective Confederate artillery barrage, the march across open elds toward the Union lines became known as Pickett's Charge; Maj. Gen. George Pickett was one of three division commanders under the command of Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, but his name has been popularly associated with the assault. Union guns and infantry on Cemetery Ridge opened re on the advancing men, inicting a 50% casualty rate on the Confederate ranks. One of Pickett's brigade commanders was Brig. Gen. Lewis Armistead. His men were able to breach the Union lines in just one place, a bend in the wall that has become known as "the Angle". This gap in the Union line was hastily closed, with any Confederate soldiers who had breached it being quickly captured or killed, including Armistead
This wood is from a battlefield tree, one that was harvested in the decades after the battle.
Size is approximately 10.5" x 10.5" and may vary slightly due to the width of the rough planks available from this Battlefield Tree.
Gettysburg Sentinels crafts products using reclaimed wood from the honey locust that once stood in the National Military Cemetery at Gettysburg and believed to be near where President Abraham Lincoln delivered his address.
While documented to be a Witness Tree in the decades following the Battle of Gettysburg and the Gettysburg Address, its age has been recently drawn into question after the removal of the tree in August 2022. The growth rings seem to determine that the tree may be three to five years younger than previously believed.
All of our products include documentation related to the tree.