Crash after crash came the shot and shell. Great gaps were being made in the lines only to be closed up; and the same steady, move forward; the division was being decimated. Its line was shortening, but as steady as ever, the gallant Armistead still in the lead, his hat working down to the hilt of his sword, the point having gone through it. 6
Just to the west of the Emmitsburg Road opposite the Codori farm, you will see a large orchard that has been replanted by the National Park Service and is intended to represent a Codori orchard that stood here during the battle. However, period maps and photos are not in agreement on whether Codori’s orchard sat west or east of the house in 1863. 7
Charles Loehr, on Kemper’s skirmish line, recalled one of his comrades, M. J. Wingfield (nicknamed “Monk”), turning when about half way across the field, “Where are our reinforcements?” None were “in sight” except Pickett’s brigades “and now subject to a storm of shells, tearing great gaps into the lines.” Monk realized, “We are going to be whipped, see if we don’t.” Those were Monk’s last words as a bullet struck him only minutes later. 8
Joseph Mayo, in General Kemper’s Brigade, recalled that as they approached the Emmitsburg Road, Pickett directed them to keep a proper interval with Garnett. Kemper then went to “see what troops those were coming up behind us,” discovering them to be Armistead’s. “At the same moment I saw a disorderly crowd of men breaking for the rear,” with Pickett and staff officers “vainly trying to stop the rout.” Federal cannon were “double-stocked” and “literally riddling the orchard on the left of the now famous Codori house, through which my regiment and some others passed.” Remarking to a nearby captain that things were “pretty hot,” the captain replied: “It’s redicklous, Colonel; perfectly redicklous. [sic]”9
By now you should greatly appreciate the fact that the ground over which this assault occurred is not flat but is actually rolling with a large number of elevations and swales. Just west of the replanted orchard, there is a large drop that may have allowed Garnett and Armistead’s men one final opportunity to re-form before reaching the Emmitsburg Road.
The Emmitsburg Road in 1863 was an unimproved road and was more narrow and sunken than what you see today. The arrival of Pickett’s Division at the road would have changed the nature of the attack dramatically. The fences and the road itself became obstacles for the attackers to cross under fire. The Virginians now also increasingly moved within range of the Yankees’ rifle muskets. It is roughly 400 yards from the Emmitsburg Road at the Codori farm to the monuments that approximate the Union’s defensive position, and even closer where the road angles to the northeast. Things were about to get even more dangerous for Pickett’s men.
GPS: 39°48’38.86”N, 77°14’25.93”W; Elev. 572 ft.