The High Water Mark

The Copse of Trees, Cumberland Township, Pennsylvania

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The high-water mark of the Confederacy or high tide of the Confederacy refers to an area on Cemetery Ridge near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, marking the furthest point reached by Confederate forces during Pickett's Charge on July 3, 1863. Similar to a high water mark, the term is a reference to arguably the Confederate Army's best chance of victory during the war.

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The story of The High Water Mark

Free previewStop 8 of Gettysburg Battlefield Driving Tour

A Small Clump of Trees, Made Famous

You're on Cemetery Ridge now, at the place everyone here calls the High Water Mark. If you're parked, look for the low stone wall running along the ridge, lined with monuments. Just beyond it is a small grove of trees, the Copse of Trees, which may be the most famous clump of trees in America.

Here's what happened in front of it. On the afternoon of July 3, 1863, after a massive Confederate artillery barrage that was mostly ineffective, Robert E. Lee sent nearly 12,500 men across almost a mile of open fields toward this ridge. The center of the Union line stood right here. Union guns and infantry opened fire as the lines came on, and more than half of the attackers were killed, wounded or captured.

We call it Pickett's Charge.

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