Guide to the Billy Yank Trail
One segment of the five-part Gettysburg Historic Trails medal
Embedded Files
Scouts who visit Gettysburg have the option to complete 5 segments of the Gettysburg Historic Trail to earn 5 patches and a medal.
We recommend that you buy the guidebook/pamphlet in the Gettysburg museum but be warned that the instructions are frequently "unclear at best"... Note that the map at the back of the pamphlet is for the National Parks Service audio tour, which is a different route to the rest of the pamphlet. There is also a map on AllTrails.com but they skipped the most confusing section (the Peach Orchard to Devil's Den).
When Crew755 and Troop1032 visited, we made the following guide to the Billy Yank Trail for others to use. If someone else can make a similar guide for the Johnny Reb Trail, we'd love to host it for you!
For use on the trail, you might like to print this page ahead of time. Also, load Pokemon Go on your phone, as most monuments are shown in the game.
Overall view of the Billy Yank Trail
Before you begin... set expectations!
You might have some additional family members with your group, so if you have done NYLT or WoodBadge, recognize that you are in the Forming/Storming stages of team development. We highly recommend that you start by setting expectations and aligning on how you will approach this trail.
First, this is a ten mile trek and should be expected to take at least SIX hours. (I'd say 6 to 7 hours).
Second, decide whether you are going to rush the trail, or stop to look at landmarks and review "what happened here" as you get to notable locations. If you have some members who want to do something else after the trail, resolve now what everyone's time-expectations are.
Third, ensure that each person starts with two full Nalgenes (64 fl oz) of water. Remember that the signs of dehydration are getting irritable and cold. Your non-scouts are at even more risk of not brining enough water, so this is probably something you'd want to address before even leaving your home city.
If a driving-member of your crew does not plan to do the hike, you can plan to meet the crew at Little Big Top for more water and snacks (or for some people to bail, if they are finding it too challenging).
Start at the NW Corner of Parking Lot 3 to the Gettysburg Museum. Lot 3 puts you at the head of the trail, plus it's larger and has more open parking spaces.
Identify your Crew Leader, Navigator(s), etc. While we encourage you to let the scouts navigate, recognize that they will probably appreciate some adult mentoring at the more confusing sections.
Crossing route 134. This is a busy road. Don't cross it crocodile fashion; instead have everyone line up along the road, a few feet from it. Identify a left guard and a right guard (probably adults). They call "Clear on the left" then "Clear on the right" (decide who will call first) and then the left guard loudly calls "All Cross" when it's clear in both directions. Now the entire unit can cross at once and spend less time in the hazard. Left guard calls "Guards in" when everyone is across. See the Hiking MB pamphlet for more info.
If you have non-scouts, you might need to work with them a little, to get them to adopt the above practice.
Notice that the GPS trails in the picture above show both our outbound and our return trails, which is a little confusing. At this point, you just want to cross the road and continue west (note the red arrows).
We were just following the instructions in the pamphlet at this point.
The pamphlet refers to a berm -- that is a raised bank of earth and rocks. You can see that this would provide cover to a Union soldier who was lying down.
The State of Pennsylvania Monument is definitely worth the time to take group pictures in front of. You can also go up and take panoramic pictures of the battlefield, etc.
As we recall, the street names are not positioned close to the intersection of Hancock and United States Ave, so pay attention when you pass the Corby monument and then the Weikert Farm is pretty clear.
The turn from United States Ave to Sickles Ave is quite clear. Follow Sickles to the next intersection, then go west to the Peach Orchard. Check out some history as there was heavy fighting back-and-forth at the Peach Orchard and Wheatfield, as the Confederates tried to push east on Day 2.
After the Peach Orchard, double-back eastwards along Wheatfield Rd. I remember it being unclear when to turn, so just keep going until you reach another section of Sickles Rd. It's something like 500 yards from the Peach Orchard, so you can always pace it out.
Notice that the trail goes along the inside edge of the Wheatfield, not on Sickles Rd itself, at this point. I think there were 4000 casualties in the Wheatfield.
After the Wheatfield, you're back on Sickles Ave again. Follow it along until you come to a road on the right.
The pamphlet gives you little help at this point.
This is DeTrobriand Ave but there are no street signs for a long distance. The pamphlet refers to the monument to the 110th Pennsylvania Infantry (circled, above) but that monument is a few hundred yards from the intersection. You can use Pokemon Go to confirm the location of the 110th monument.
Take DeTrobriand and follow it until you see a hiking trail to the left (about 100 yards after the 110th monument). It will take you into the woods. Follow this trail for a while and you'll come out near the Devil's Den.
The scouts will want to climb and explore the rocks around Devil's Den. Before they all disperse:
1) Check how much everyone has been drinking (they should have finished their first Nalgene by now). Don't ask "Have you been drinking enough?" because you never learn anything useful (dehydrated people always say "Yes", regardless). Instead ask the quantity they have drunk.
2) Set a time for how long they have to explore here (twenty minutes?) or it's like herding cats to get everyone back together.
3) Remind them of the Buddy System and any climbing-related safety rules you want them to employ.
4) Devil's Den is named for a cave in the area. We didn't find it but maybe you can!
Getting up to Little Round Top is pretty obvious, due to the commanding views it has of the area. Just pay attention to heading south on Sykes Ave when you leave. (You can see that we went north for a while, until we checked a compass)
You come off Sykes Ave and follow a footpath to reach the monument to the 20th Maine (who held the south-end of the Union Line). It looks like I was getting GPS-drift in the hills at this point so just assume we followed the path and roads.
Notice that you take the footpath south to Wright Ave, then follow it briefly (25 yds) east, to S.Confederate Ave and you turn left to continue south-west. It's easy to get turned around here, so just pay attention to your compass directions and street signs.
Restroom (porta-potty) and diversion to Big Round Top. Just decide ahead of time who wants to go up, who wants to stay, and remember to retain the Buddy System and Two-Deep-Leadership at all times. Consider going up in two groups, if that would help.
Recognize that if some of your party doesn't go up, this will be the third long stop in quick succession (Devil's Den and Little Round Top being the first two), in case you have some hikers who are getting antsy.
Also, when you get to the top, it's covered in trees (which is why Little Round Top was strategically significant but Big Round Top wasn't). So by all means go, to satisfy yourself that you did everything, but know that there isn't a view from the summit.
So far, you have been walking the Billy Yank (Union) Lines... you're now about to move to eastwards and enter the Confederate-held (Johnny Reb) territory. The 5 mile Johnny Reb trail is another segment of the trail medal, for another day.
After the trail to Big Round Top, follow S. Confederate Ave until a trail bears off at an angle of 30 degrees. The pamphlet refers to a monument but fails to note that it's 100 yards off the road! You can see that I went too far and had to double-back after our Navigator performed excellent reconnaissance and identified the large white monument as the one we wanted.
From here on, it's pretty much open fields and simple directions. Just note that you want SW.Confederate Ave, which is the second road that you cross.
Take care crossing the fast-moving Emmitsburg Rd.
If you still have the energy, the Longstreet Observation Tower gives an excellent view of the Union Lines from the Confederate jumping-off point (the woods to the west of SW.Confederate Ave). Now consider marching across that open ground in Pickett's Charge.
Keep going north until you reach the Virginia Monument. Follow the path eastwards on to the open fields.
Now you're hiking along Pickett's Charge. Remind the scouts how open it is and all those guns (and many more) that you saw along the road near the beginning (Hancock Ave) would be shooting at you the entire time that you cross.
When you reach The Angle, that was the highwater mark of the Confederate progress. Soon after, you reach Hancock Ave again. We walked north but should have just crossed Hancock Ave and taken the path to the two white buildings (General Meade's headquarters) just west of Hunt Ave. See the satellite view below.
Note that the lower blue track was your original outbound track. If you backtrack along that route, it's the correct return path also.
And... you're back!
We hope that you enjoyed the Billy Yank Trail trek and found our notes useful. If you have ideas to improve them, please let us know (on the Contact Us page), because feedback is a gift.
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