BY YORK DAILY RECORD/SUNDAY NEWS STAFF
Paul Shevchuk, a museum specialist with the National Park Service, points to a bullet that became embedded in a tree during the Battle of Gettysburg 148 years ago, Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2011, in Gettysburg, Pa. Bullets were discovered last week while a crew was cutting through the oak tree on Culp's Hill, the site of intense fighting on July 2-3, 1863, Park Superintendent Bob Kirby said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Gettysburg Times, Bill Schwartz)
Park maintenance employees were cutting through a fallen oak tree on Culp’s Hill when the chainsaw struck bullets.
“Culp’s Hill is one of the areas on the Gettysburg battlefield that saw intense fighting in July 1863,” Bob Kirby, superintendent of the park, said. “One hundred years ago it was commonplace to find bullets in Gettysburg trees, but this is a rarity today.”
The discovery was made on Aug. 4, as maintenance employees cut a fallen oak tree that was resting on a boulder next to the Joshua Palmer marker on the east slope of Culp’s Hill summit.
Two sections of the trunk where the bullets were discovered have been moved to the park’s museum collections storage facility, the release states.
As a relic of the Battle of Gettysburg, the tree sections with bullets will be treated to remove insects and mold and then added to the park’s collection.
Because of the steep slope, most of the fallen tree was left in place and will remain there, according to National Park Service officials.
A number of witness trees on the Gettysburg battlefield have been well-known and frequently pointed out for years during battlefield tours, the release states.
In addition, park employees often identify previously unknown Witness Trees during preparatory work for battlefield rehabilitation efforts, a program where the park re-opens historic meadows and farm fields to restore the historic integrity of the 1863 battlefield and to improve the visitors’ understanding of what happened during fighting.
