I read in a book that had this photo, the caption beside it said the sharpshooter was a young boy from Virginia named Andrew J. Hoge. ill leave it up for you to guys to decide. If i remember right, the book was called "The Boys' War" by Jim Murphy.
@01Kdemer All the Confederacy needed to do was win one major battle against the North and they would have entered. You can correct me here, but I think the British were once again going to employ Hessen mercenaries if they did go to war with the North.
When Lincoln got word of the possibility of the British getting involved, I think he wrote to the British "One war at a time please."
OK, couple of points, One, it was Alexander Gardner not Andrew LOL
Second, A vast majority of Confederate Sharpshooters, in the organized sharpshooter battalions of the ANV and AOT were armed with Rifle Muskets or Rifles, and there were not a huge amount of Whitworth, Kerr, or American Target Rifles in the Confederate Army. It is very probable that a CS Sharpshooter would be armed with the weapon in the famous photograph. I reenact as a sharpshooter, so its an area of special interest to me
@hughes1864 Dooh! Andrew? Well spotted. This video has been live for years and no one else spotted my error: corrected today. Thanks for noticing and commenting.
If the Civil War had happened about 20 years earlier, there would have been vastly fewer casualties. Before the rifled musket, soldiers had to use a smoothbore which is only accurate to about 70 yards. With a rifled musket, an average soldier can kill at about 300 yards That's 230 more yards of musket fire that the army has to cover to win.
In the hands of a trained sharp shooter, the rifled musket is a deadly weapon. Soldiers were known to hit man sized targets at ranges exceeding 900 yards.
@coolio666667777 Yes, but there were only about 300 of those ever made, and they were not issued by the army. Officers had to buy them with their own money. Most of the time they were used to defend headquarters.
@SamuelDMorgan Good point. I'm sorry if I am sounding stupid but I am a student learning about the Civil War and I had a question I was oping you could answer. Like, how big of an impact do you think the Gatling Gun made on the war? Thank you for your time!
@VideoHistoryToday : I should learn more about your own civil war. A monarchist -vs- parliament affair I think. These major sectional conflicts usually reverberate through history in ways we are slow to comprehend. Cheers!
@jmw102667 Quite agree. Should know my own history. On a separet thing: I invigilated a history exam yesterday. American Civil Rights movement of the 1950/60's (thats taught in UK as well). Student raised hand with a question. Pointed at a reference in paper about a "BBC news report from 1957". He asked "whats does that mean?" What does BBC mean!?!. He didn't know what the BBC was but was studying American History!!! Doomed I say. We're all doomed...
@zipsrule: Hi & thanks. Ya know, nearly every action produces unintended and unforseen consequences. How much more this is true for a terrible calamity like our war. The states were divided before the war and were probably even more so after the South's defeat. The bitterness and enmity lasted, has lasted, for generations; sparking many movements, some of them noble and some hateful: the Klan, the civil rights movement, even the arcane such as the Baldknobbers from my beloved Ozarks.
@zipsrule: As I was saying, the states were divided prior to the war but the outcome really codified it. After all this time, we still are separated by cultures rooted in sentimentality and self-righteousness; Southern and Northern respectively. It grips our conscience and forces us to evaluate our sympathies. My father-in-law and I regularly argue the minutia of things such as The Cause. We engage and come to new understandings. This is the gift of history.
@VideoHistoryToday probably because there's too many civil wars in England and Britain for you to focus your attention on just one of them. We have just the one civil war.
@ilmaket : Hi there. Sorry for the lateness of my response. I find this facinating. I guess I have little feel for outside perceptions of US history. What is it about our war that interests you? How did you first come to know about it? Is it discussed in Greek schools? Cheers, and Opa! I always wanted to say that!
OMG, pause the video at 1:01, make it full screen, tell me you dont see 2 men standing right in front of the camera...focus and you will see them, omfg
Yes, they often propped rifles with photos of corpses and the famous maybe wasn't killed exactly there but he really was dead. His dick was hanging out uncircumcised and his clothes were mangled. There are a lot of older pics you don't see circulated much these days.
atuly the guy died there not down the hill he was idetifies an a boy in the 3rd al sharpsooters a artilary captin sed thay saw him and thay fierd on him in the other pic his head is turnd and his leag is crushed and in the one betwen the rocks his leg is coverd in large rocks and the muskit is an prop his sharp riffle was picked up by civilions and it is at the museum in gettysburg and in the pic you can see a part af the scope
There are alot of interesting theories on this fellow and where he was found etc. I attended a program on this topic several years ago and was convinced by the speaker wholeheartedly that this was the Sharpshooter reported by 5th Corp Artillerymen firing from this spot on the 2nd Day. There were plenty of reasons, but the major one was the recovery of a Confederate sniper rifle at this location 2 days before this photo was taken. Gardiner posed this musket for effect.
i read on the board at the site that he was moved from behind the road and placed as if he was shot and killed there. He was also a confederate sharpshooter
It was latter proven the man was never killed, he was a union solder who was assisting with caring for the wounded and asked to partake in the fake photo. He was also sen in many other photos
Must admit I have never heard that before. He does appear in several images but I always thought he was dead and was moved by the photographer'assistant. The argument was always where did he die, in the rocks or out in the open.
@VideoHistoryToday I have heard the same thing through many sources, but of course this is a year later. But now they say he was alive. I don't know about the Union Soldier part or not, but he was a photographer's model and posed wherever and however he was told. Look at the other bodies in other pictures. They are blackened and bloated. This man is neither. He shows no wounds and looks like he could get up and walk away, and in fact did.
@Deej1125 i think he WAS actually dead. You're right on the body not being bloated, but if you look carefully at the actuall photograph, it does look like that the soldier is actually missing limbs. I think his left arm and left (maybe even both) leg(s). Because the sleeve and pant legs aren't even filled out at all. But, hell, if you are correct, than, i eat my words.
@mobilechief yeah i was reading something one time about this and there was a photographer who took a lot of pictures at gettysburg to make things seem more dramatic for the photos. Kind of a dickhead thing to do to use dead soldiers as props for his photos...Kind of defeats the purpose to me but i guess it made his pictures famous.
@mobilechief According to the plauqe located at this spot, the soildier was killed on the hill behind where the sharpshooter position is. The soldier was dragged to the sniper area and the photo was taken. It even goes on to explain that the rifle in the photo was not a even sniper rifle but a regular rifle issued to the infantry.
@Rusfi16 lol i live pretty close to gettysburg and I was going to do that one day but there were too many other people. it would have made a good facebook pic...
Its hard to miss the sight. It is directly behind the devils den and in front of the Triangle field. It is on the devils den road as you are going up around devils den passing by triangle field. There is another place near there of interest to. A bolder with a name on it "Noel".
the sharpshooter died on devils den he was draged dowen the hill. how can i tell well in the photo he is not bloted when he is on the den but in the other photo he is bloted
it was at the far left of the field i cant tell u more cause id need a map of the battle field in front of me but yea its at the far left there should be a marker right in front of it
That is Little Round Top directly in the center above the opening in the rocks. If I remember correctly when you're facing the Devil's Den from the pavement down below, walk up the worn path in front of you and when you get to the top take a sharp left and, as I said, if I remember correctly it should be in that general area. It's been a good ten or twelve years since I've been there as a re-enactor. As the man said, the body was placed there. The photographers had a morbid habit of doing that.
yes, it was staged. A photographer thought it would be a great place to take a picture so he dragged a dead body there, and thats the lore on why supposedly cameras dont work in gettysburg becasue spirits are angry
Yea,I kept seeing a spot on all my pictures,found out it was my four year old Grandaughter's fingerprints on my camera lense!She takes a better pic than I !
I remember posing as the sharpshooter in the picture was posed in my uniform. It felt kind of eerie as my picture was taken that a dead man had laid where I was laying.
@GettysburgGhost1863 Though I may re-enact rev war on the US Colonial's side, we still feel a bid "choked up" with a strange sensation of "we are living history" whenever we get to partake in mock battles on real battlefields. We know people died there, but we are not exactly sure of their exact spots. But what you did...I can only imagine the feeling no matter how large or small.
I read in a book that had this photo, the caption beside it said the sharpshooter was a young boy from Virginia named Andrew J. Hoge. ill leave it up for you to guys to decide. If i remember right, the book was called "The Boys' War" by Jim Murphy.
waltknowm 1 month ago
@01Kdemer All the Confederacy needed to do was win one major battle against the North and they would have entered. You can correct me here, but I think the British were once again going to employ Hessen mercenaries if they did go to war with the North.
When Lincoln got word of the possibility of the British getting involved, I think he wrote to the British "One war at a time please."
mrceebees14 2 months ago
OK, couple of points, One, it was Alexander Gardner not Andrew LOL
Second, A vast majority of Confederate Sharpshooters, in the organized sharpshooter battalions of the ANV and AOT were armed with Rifle Muskets or Rifles, and there were not a huge amount of Whitworth, Kerr, or American Target Rifles in the Confederate Army. It is very probable that a CS Sharpshooter would be armed with the weapon in the famous photograph. I reenact as a sharpshooter, so its an area of special interest to me
hughes1864 3 months ago
@hughes1864 Dooh! Andrew? Well spotted. This video has been live for years and no one else spotted my error: corrected today. Thanks for noticing and commenting.
VideoHistoryToday 3 months ago
@hughes1864 You are spot on correct sir.
mrceebees14 2 months ago
If the Civil War had happened about 20 years earlier, there would have been vastly fewer casualties. Before the rifled musket, soldiers had to use a smoothbore which is only accurate to about 70 yards. With a rifled musket, an average soldier can kill at about 300 yards That's 230 more yards of musket fire that the army has to cover to win.
In the hands of a trained sharp shooter, the rifled musket is a deadly weapon. Soldiers were known to hit man sized targets at ranges exceeding 900 yards.
SamuelDMorgan 4 months ago
@SamuelDMorgan So true and you can't forget the Gatling Gun. It could fire around 200 shots per minute.
coolio666667777 3 months ago
@coolio666667777 Yes, but there were only about 300 of those ever made, and they were not issued by the army. Officers had to buy them with their own money. Most of the time they were used to defend headquarters.
SamuelDMorgan 3 months ago
@SamuelDMorgan Good point. I'm sorry if I am sounding stupid but I am a student learning about the Civil War and I had a question I was oping you could answer. Like, how big of an impact do you think the Gatling Gun made on the war? Thank you for your time!
coolio666667777 2 months ago
My children and I are 2nd US Sharpshooters in the Pacific Northwest. We can not wait to get to Gettysburg.
BhamsterWA 5 months ago
Just left Gettysburg today :( I loved it and the history
ThePtga 7 months ago
i hope you know that the picture of the sharpshooter was a stage photo.
janetsarant 7 months ago
i was there :D
SuperYoungmoney96 8 months ago
Very nice comments regarding that historic photo.
zipsrule 9 months ago
So Brits take interest in our civil war?
jmw102667 9 months ago 3
@jmw102667 Some of us do. Unfortunately I know about your Civil War then the one in England...
VideoHistoryToday 9 months ago
@VideoHistoryToday : I should learn more about your own civil war. A monarchist -vs- parliament affair I think. These major sectional conflicts usually reverberate through history in ways we are slow to comprehend. Cheers!
jmw102667 9 months ago
@jmw102667 Quite agree. Should know my own history. On a separet thing: I invigilated a history exam yesterday. American Civil Rights movement of the 1950/60's (thats taught in UK as well). Student raised hand with a question. Pointed at a reference in paper about a "BBC news report from 1957". He asked "whats does that mean?" What does BBC mean!?!. He didn't know what the BBC was but was studying American History!!! Doomed I say. We're all doomed...
VideoHistoryToday 9 months ago
@jmw102667 That is a fairly informed comment. Pehaps you could expand upon your remark.
zipsrule 9 months ago
@zipsrule: Hi & thanks. Ya know, nearly every action produces unintended and unforseen consequences. How much more this is true for a terrible calamity like our war. The states were divided before the war and were probably even more so after the South's defeat. The bitterness and enmity lasted, has lasted, for generations; sparking many movements, some of them noble and some hateful: the Klan, the civil rights movement, even the arcane such as the Baldknobbers from my beloved Ozarks.
jmw102667 9 months ago
@zipsrule: As I was saying, the states were divided prior to the war but the outcome really codified it. After all this time, we still are separated by cultures rooted in sentimentality and self-righteousness; Southern and Northern respectively. It grips our conscience and forces us to evaluate our sympathies. My father-in-law and I regularly argue the minutia of things such as The Cause. We engage and come to new understandings. This is the gift of history.
jmw102667 9 months ago
@VideoHistoryToday probably because there's too many civil wars in England and Britain for you to focus your attention on just one of them. We have just the one civil war.
kozmon0t 8 months ago
@kozmon0t "just the one civil war"...so far...
VideoHistoryToday 8 months ago
@jmw102667 Greeks also!I am greek and i am really interested in your civil war!I have read everything about it!
ilmaket 9 months ago
@ilmaket : Hi there. Sorry for the lateness of my response. I find this facinating. I guess I have little feel for outside perceptions of US history. What is it about our war that interests you? How did you first come to know about it? Is it discussed in Greek schools? Cheers, and Opa! I always wanted to say that!
jmw102667 9 months ago
The stones in the wall are all wrong from the original photo.
reineo 9 months ago
Typical - now we know where Hollywood gets it weird sense of 'history' from
beatlesandbeyond 10 months ago
Enjoy it while you can, pretty soon there will be a Wal-Mart there. Google it, it's alllllll true....
CzechDetectingChap 1 year ago
i only live about 16 miles from this place
Midnightryder7 1 year ago
Actually start playing the video at 55 seconds, watch carefully
bigduey69 1 year ago
OMG, pause the video at 1:01, make it full screen, tell me you dont see 2 men standing right in front of the camera...focus and you will see them, omfg
bigduey69 1 year ago
Devil's Den is scary - I'be been there.
GETTYSBURG… OTHER TIMES – new book.
It is a great read about the famous battle and very different. You can get your copy from my YouTube site (GETTYSBURGbook) or search Amazon or eBay.
Cheers. To all.
GETTYSBURGbook 1 year ago
@GETTYSBURGbook Just ordered the book... Thanks
DigbyCat 1 year ago
Yeah and he was left there by Gardiner. Another photographer came by and photographed his skeletonized remains later.
Skytroop 1 year ago
jim groves gets it right
corvette20091 1 year ago
Yes, they often propped rifles with photos of corpses and the famous maybe wasn't killed exactly there but he really was dead. His dick was hanging out uncircumcised and his clothes were mangled. There are a lot of older pics you don't see circulated much these days.
thoumaturgica 1 year ago
atuly the guy died there not down the hill he was idetifies an a boy in the 3rd al sharpsooters a artilary captin sed thay saw him and thay fierd on him in the other pic his head is turnd and his leag is crushed and in the one betwen the rocks his leg is coverd in large rocks and the muskit is an prop his sharp riffle was picked up by civilions and it is at the museum in gettysburg and in the pic you can see a part af the scope
ussr19411945 1 year ago
There are alot of interesting theories on this fellow and where he was found etc. I attended a program on this topic several years ago and was convinced by the speaker wholeheartedly that this was the Sharpshooter reported by 5th Corp Artillerymen firing from this spot on the 2nd Day. There were plenty of reasons, but the major one was the recovery of a Confederate sniper rifle at this location 2 days before this photo was taken. Gardiner posed this musket for effect.
SageofHistory 1 year ago
i read on the board at the site that he was moved from behind the road and placed as if he was shot and killed there. He was also a confederate sharpshooter
w29bum 1 year ago
It was latter proven the man was never killed, he was a union solder who was assisting with caring for the wounded and asked to partake in the fake photo. He was also sen in many other photos
mobilechief 2 years ago 2
Must admit I have never heard that before. He does appear in several images but I always thought he was dead and was moved by the photographer'assistant. The argument was always where did he die, in the rocks or out in the open.
VideoHistoryToday 2 years ago 2
@VideoHistoryToday I have heard the same thing through many sources, but of course this is a year later. But now they say he was alive. I don't know about the Union Soldier part or not, but he was a photographer's model and posed wherever and however he was told. Look at the other bodies in other pictures. They are blackened and bloated. This man is neither. He shows no wounds and looks like he could get up and walk away, and in fact did.
Deej1125 10 months ago
@Deej1125 i think he WAS actually dead. You're right on the body not being bloated, but if you look carefully at the actuall photograph, it does look like that the soldier is actually missing limbs. I think his left arm and left (maybe even both) leg(s). Because the sleeve and pant legs aren't even filled out at all. But, hell, if you are correct, than, i eat my words.
waltknowm 1 month ago
@mobilechief yeah i was reading something one time about this and there was a photographer who took a lot of pictures at gettysburg to make things seem more dramatic for the photos. Kind of a dickhead thing to do to use dead soldiers as props for his photos...Kind of defeats the purpose to me but i guess it made his pictures famous.
skew06 1 year ago
@mobilechief According to the plauqe located at this spot, the soildier was killed on the hill behind where the sharpshooter position is. The soldier was dragged to the sniper area and the photo was taken. It even goes on to explain that the rifle in the photo was not a even sniper rifle but a regular rifle issued to the infantry.
nephilium67 1 year ago
@nephilium67 i had always heard that
CONOR1861 1 year ago
@mobilechief He WAS dead. They just used the same corpse at like three different locales for dramatic photo effect. *grin*
brnleague99 10 months ago
@mobilechief
^^ This is fact.
IndyRamMan 8 months ago
Its a Johney reb lol, sorry photoshop nice try tho you thought you would of investagated it.
GameCenter2009 2 years ago
Its nice to see the Media took advantage of our fallen soldiers, just like they do today.
boscogump 2 years ago
I layed down there reenacting the dead soldier photo.
Might of been in bad taste but at least I carried out another of my little fantasies.
Rusfi16 2 years ago
Not sure what to make of that...
VideoHistoryToday 2 years ago
@Rusfi16 lol i live pretty close to gettysburg and I was going to do that one day but there were too many other people. it would have made a good facebook pic...
kidkong584 11 months ago
Actually...this soldier was dragged around the battlefield quite a bit. He appears in several photos.
revrod22 2 years ago
Its hard to miss the sight. It is directly behind the devils den and in front of the Triangle field. It is on the devils den road as you are going up around devils den passing by triangle field. There is another place near there of interest to. A bolder with a name on it "Noel".
nc69th 2 years ago
the sharpshooter died on devils den he was draged dowen the hill. how can i tell well in the photo he is not bloted when he is on the den but in the other photo he is bloted
ussr19411945 2 years ago 2
i tryed to find that spot but i coukldnt
sketchlock 2 years ago
it was at the far left of the field i cant tell u more cause id need a map of the battle field in front of me but yea its at the far left there should be a marker right in front of it
Irish8594 2 years ago
That is Little Round Top directly in the center above the opening in the rocks. If I remember correctly when you're facing the Devil's Den from the pavement down below, walk up the worn path in front of you and when you get to the top take a sharp left and, as I said, if I remember correctly it should be in that general area. It's been a good ten or twelve years since I've been there as a re-enactor. As the man said, the body was placed there. The photographers had a morbid habit of doing that.
rackasaurus 2 years ago
yes it is real the photographer draged the body 75feet to the spot
OFC41soccerclub 2 years ago 2
Alexander Gardner, the photographer, was a duplicitous Scotsman and a fraud. It's too bad he didn't take stray bullet during the war.
patsagainstrats 3 years ago 3
i luv gettysburh
sinskater123454 3 years ago
so do i i plan of moving there when im done with collage
Irish8594 2 years ago
the photo was supposed to have been staged
freightshaker007 3 years ago
yes, it was staged. A photographer thought it would be a great place to take a picture so he dragged a dead body there, and thats the lore on why supposedly cameras dont work in gettysburg becasue spirits are angry
V4pwnage 2 years ago 2
naaa i ve been there plenty of times and my camera always works and so did my friends
check out them at "real ghost of gettysburg" by phiobert
OFC41soccerclub 2 years ago
i know wonder how the spirits took it when gardner took there bodies away id just leave them where they got hit and take it
Irish8594 2 years ago
Yea,I kept seeing a spot on all my pictures,found out it was my four year old Grandaughter's fingerprints on my camera lense!She takes a better pic than I !
Hiramab1 2 years ago
i been there before it is really neat and they have a lot of goast walks
popawheelie33 3 years ago
that oak tree is the only living tree that was around during the battle 1:10
ULTIMAT3xGAM3R 3 years ago
i have done that twice lol and getting ready to do that in october
tmillen2155 3 years ago
my dad today tried to take a photo of me posing as the dead soldier and the camera froze up, it was very odd.
MistaShed 3 years ago
very cool
Chubachus 3 years ago
Interesting.
jawjatek 3 years ago
I remember posing as the sharpshooter in the picture was posed in my uniform. It felt kind of eerie as my picture was taken that a dead man had laid where I was laying.
GettysburgGhost1863 4 years ago 5
Same feeling, just did it yesterday. Will make a good picture though.
Flyboy2590 3 years ago
@GettysburgGhost1863 Though I may re-enact rev war on the US Colonial's side, we still feel a bid "choked up" with a strange sensation of "we are living history" whenever we get to partake in mock battles on real battlefields. We know people died there, but we are not exactly sure of their exact spots. But what you did...I can only imagine the feeling no matter how large or small.
soup460 4 months ago