Gettysburg Then & Now: Forbes Rock (and a look at God Tree)

THEN: In this cropped version of Mathew Brady's photo of "Forbes Rock," his assistant sits
 on a boulder in the foreground. (Library of Congress)

NOW: View shot by your blogger on April 17, 2021.

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Last weekend, Civil War Times editor Dana Shoaf, director of photography Melissa Winn and I were wowed by an up-close look of Forbes Rock, among the most famous boulders on a battlefield studded with them. I was in Gettysburg to report for a column in Civil War Times on the rehabilitation of Culp's Hill. As part of that effort, trees and brush have been cleared around Forbes Rock.

The "God Tree," a witness tree on Culp's Hill, 
near Forbes Rock.

In mid-July 1863, Forbes Rock was photographed by Mathew Brady, who was captivated by the area’s battle-riddled landscape. Above, check out the cropped version of Brady’s image and my present-day view. It's not a spot-on then & now, but it's respectable. (Here's another Brady Culp's Hill photograph, from behind U.S. Army breastworks, on my Then & Now blog -- thanks to the clearance of trees and brush, it's much easier to see the scene today than when I took the "Now" image in 2016.)  

The battle-scarred tree in the foreground of the 1863 Forbes Rock image is long gone, but there are other witness trees on Culp’s Hill -- including the "God Tree," which more than 100 years ago someone filled with concrete and rebar in a misguided preservation effort. "Horrible," Jason Martz, our National Park Service guide, told us.

In the 1863 image, a Brady assistant sat on a boulder in the foreground. He gives us a good sense of the size of the massive boulder, used by Confederates for cover from withering fire from the U.S. Army postioned behind breastworks. Is that the “Brady boulder” in the present-day view? Hmmm, if so, it looks different than it appeared in 1863. Weigh in, photo nerds.  

The massive boulder was named for wartime battle sketch artist Edwin Forbes, who created a view of the July 2, 1863, attack here from the Confederates' perspective. 

Great news: The National Park Service soon may have a trail for visitors to this off-the-beaten path spot. 

Edwin Forbes' depiction of Confederates' attack at Culp's Hill on evening of July 2, 1863.
(Library of Congress)

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