October 28, 2017 Trip to Neill (Lost) Ave in Gettysburg
The first field trip of the year (2017-2018 Campaign) took us to Neill (Lost) Ave. in Gettysburg. The tour started in the parking lot on the Baltimore Pike with Dean Shultz, property owner and personal guide, using a large map to explain the battle in general and handing out personal maps of the property. As we left the parking lot and crossed Baltimore St., Dean pointed out some building and their significance like the saw mill, and the house used as a hospital with a small field adjacent to it, used temporarily as a grave yard. At the end of the field is a dried up well that soldiers used. That brought us to Dean's house which was a log cabin built about 1760, and owned by Peter Baker in 1863. The house has blood stains on the upstairs floor, a marker on the front of the house designating it a "Manor of Maske" and a bench on the porch that Dean said many soldiers sat on. We then moved to his barn which he explained the siding boards were not original because the boards were removed to be used as coffins.
Dean had been educating us for twenty minutes just to get to the point where I thought the tour would start. Sometimes we would walk about 50 to 100 feet and he would stop and explain about cattle grazing in a wooded area, or where soldiers had temporarily been buried, or demonstrate dowsing or how the wind mill's purpose was power to move water uphill to water crops.
Now we were approaching Neill Ave. which is considered "pristine" because it's appearance is like it was in 1863, not paved like all other avenues in Gettysburg and the original wall that the two adversaries fought over. The main reason for this, it's on private property. He explained how Gen. Neill sent the 7th ME and the 43d NY to the stone wall at the crest of the hill to move the 2nd Va. away from the stone wall to protect the Baltimore Pike. Gen. Neill then went to get the 49th NY and 61st PA and put each on it's flanks. Neill's other unit, the 77th NY was guarding Powers Hill. Dean talked about the 4 monuments to the union units of Neill's Brigade. The last monument on the hill was the 61st Pa and the last unit in line in the Army of the Potomac. Just past the 61st monument is CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE
