Doyle,

You raise a valid question, and one that I have asked myself following visits to that portion of the field in recent years.

As stated in "A Colonel At Gettysburg and Spotsylvania" by V.D. Brown, Colonel Walter H. Taylor in his "General Lee" says of the first day's battle, "Some of the heaviest losses of the War occurred on the west front that day (first day of Gettysburg)." It is noteworthy also that the seven Federal regiments suffering the heaviest losses at Gettysburg sustained them on July 1st, and six of these were on the west front - Reynolds' Grove and Seminary Hill.

As Colonel Taylor says further, "The results of the battle of the first constituted a far more creditable victory for the Confederate arms, when all the conditions are considered, than can be claimed for the Federals by reason of the failure of the Confederates to carry their works on the third day."

The most nearly impossible victories won on the first were that of the 26th North Carolina regiment in taking Reynold's Grove and that of McGowan's South Carolina brigade (commanded by Perrin at Gettysburg) in capturing Seminary Hill and the Seminary, and thus winning first Confederate entrance into Gettysburg.

I cannot understand why the National Park Service does not explain fully (or virtually at all) the contribution of Perrin's Brigade of South Carolinians to the Confederate success of the first day ... unless as you imply it has to do with lack of funds and lack of access to land due to private ownership.

Mike