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Civil War

US HQ 11-1st Division Barlow(w) / Ames

Cumberland Township, Adams County, Pennsylvania

Marker Inscription

Army of the Potomac Eleventh Corps First Division Brig. Gen. Francis C. Barlow Brig. Gen. Adelbert Ames First Brigade Col. Leopold Von Gilsa Second Brigade Brig. Gen. Adelbert Ames Col. Andrew L. Harris

The Story

This tablet marks the headquarters of the Eleventh Corps' First Division at Gettysburg, led by Brigadier General Francis C. Barlow until he was severely wounded, after which Brigadier General Adelbert Ames took command. On July 1, 1863, the division held the far right of the Union line on the rising ground north of town — a spot still known as Barlow's Knoll — where its brigades under Leopold von Gilsa, Ames, and Andrew L. Harris were overrun by a Confederate flanking attack. The survivors fell back through Gettysburg to Cemetery Hill.

Why it matters

The collapse of Barlow's exposed line on the first day shows how the day's hard fighting north of town shaped the Union's ultimate stand on the heights that won the battle.

The story behind this marker

AI context

The era

In early July 1863 the Civil War came to southern Pennsylvania. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia had marched north, and the Union's Army of the Potomac moved to intercept it. The two armies met at Gettysburg, and the first day's fighting rolled across the fields north and west of the town.

The far right of the Union line that day rested on the rising ground north of Gettysburg, in what is now Cumberland Township. It was an exposed position — open, elevated, and dangerously easy for an enemy to work around. Holding it fell to the First Division of the Eleventh Corps.

This tablet marks that division's headquarters. In the language of a battlefield, a headquarters marker is where the decisions were made and the orders flowed from — the nerve center of a body of several thousand men strung across the surrounding fields.

People & events

The division was led by Brigadier General Francis C. Barlow, a young and famously aggressive commander. On July 1 he pushed his line forward onto the high ground here, a spot that has carried his name ever since: Barlow's Knoll. The position looked strong, but it was exposed, and it invited exactly the kind of attack that came.

When Barlow was severely wounded and carried from the field, command passed to Brigadier General Adelbert Ames. Beneath them, the brigades were led by Colonel Leopold von Gilsa and by Ames and Colonel Andrew L. Harris — the names carved into this tablet, each one a man responsible for hundreds of soldiers on a collapsing line.

The Confederate attack struck the exposed flank hard and rolled it up. The division was overwhelmed and forced back through the town. What had been an ordered line dissolved into a fighting retreat, with the survivors streaming south toward the heights.

Its place in the American story

The story of this ground is the story of a costly first day that nonetheless shaped a victory. The line here broke, but the retreat carried the survivors to Cemetery Hill — the strong high ground south of town that the whole army would defend over the next two days.

That is the paradox worth carrying away: the hard, losing fight on this exposed knoll helped drive the Union onto the very heights that let it win the battle. Ground lost here was, in a sense, the price of the ground held later.

The names on this tablet also reflect the character of the men who did the fighting. Commanders like von Gilsa led soldiers drawn heavily from immigrant communities, and their stand and sacrifice on this flank became part of the larger national struggle to preserve the Union.

If you visit

Stand at this spot and notice the lay of the land. The rising ground that gave the position its appeal is easy to see — and so is the problem, because you can also see how open the flank was, with little to stop an enemy sweeping around it.

A headquarters tablet like this rewards a careful reading of the names. Each is a real person who bore command here on a terrible afternoon: Barlow, wounded; Ames, stepping up; von Gilsa and Harris holding brigades together as the line gave way.

On a battlefield tour, take this in as part of the first day's northern fighting, then drive the route of the retreat south to Cemetery Hill. Following that path in order turns the day into a coherent story — an exposed line overwhelmed here, and a stronger stand made on the heights that decided everything.

Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.

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Related people

  • · Francis C. Barlow
  • · Adelbert Ames
  • · Leopold von Gilsa
  • · Andrew L. Harris

Related events

  • · Battle of Gettysburg
  • · First day at Gettysburg

Themes & tags

Civil WarMonument

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