Glasgow man speaks for the trees that witnessed Battle of Gettysburg

Greg Gober wants you to know about the trees at Gettysburg.

These trees have a direct connection to the past. They are silent links to the battle.

Among the tens of thousands of trees on the battlefield are some that were present, living at the time of the battle, July 1,2,3 1863. Living witnesses.

"They're the only things that are alive that we can associate with the battle," Gober said. "It's amazing to me, it's special to me."

And he says there are hundreds of them.

Perhaps 1,500 or maybe as many 2,000, he estimates.

Few thought so just decades ago. Now, he's getting people to see it his way, even if he still has doubters.

Gober, 55, of Glasgow, calls it a hobby — to identify these witness trees, and to protect them. Some people go hunting or fishing, he said. He goes to Gettysburg.

To see him on the field, though, preaching the importance of these trees, it is more fit to say it is his calling.

These oaks, hickories and poplars, Gober said, "took the hail storm of bullets, the cries of the wounded, the battle cries. The energy here, they were a part of it."

"Just like we have certain key events like Pearl Harbor, 9/11, Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle of the Civil War, the bloodiest battle on North American soil, ever," Gober said. "So it is up there as one of the major events of the United States ever in its history."

The trees were there then, and remain today. That's what fascinates Gober.

Seeing Gettysburg trees as survivors

On a recent warm June Saturday afternoon on the battlefield of the first day of fighting, Gober lead a group of 10 adherents on a hours-long tour of witness trees, expounding on the evidence that lead to the conclusion that the trees preceded the battle. He may have outlasted the tour participants, but Gober was still ready to show a visitor more trees he thought to be witnesses. The sun was setting, and Gober had a more than two hour drive back to Delaware, but he wasn't done.

He paused at a large white oak, one of several he'd point out along a path. Most white oaks that are around 86 inches in circumference prove to be as old or a little shy of the battle in age, he said. "You measure that one, I measured it before, and it's like 95 inches," Gober said.

A typical witness tree isn't typical in Gober's eyes, it's a survivor. "It survived storms over the last almost  200 years, it survived logging, it survived fires, it survived the battlefield, it's survived pests, disease."

And, he said, they've survived the National Park Service, which he said has only recently started to take the preservation of these trees more seriously. He's not shy in his criticism of the park in how it handles witness trees.

Some might call him the witness tree whisper, except Greg Gober doesn't whisper when it comes to these trees.

"Every time the National Park Service at Gettysburg heads a project, a witness tree gets cut down," Gober said. "Every single project back to the 2000s they've destroyed witness trees."

'The godfather' of the field

Witness trees have been a draw for Gober since 2009 when he first started making his frequent visits to the field to search for them.

Gober's Facebook group ( 'Exploring Gettysburg Witness trees and Connections to the past and present') has been his primary pulpit for his sermons. There are more than 28,000 members in the group. One of them, Peter Lukacs, has branched off in his own extensive study of witness trees. He calls Gober the "godfather" of the field.

Gober and Lukacs pore over photographs made in the decades after the battle, when veterans returned to the field to place monuments marking their duty and sacrifice. Other photos show roads being built or other aspects of the early battlefield. And they captured the trees that can still be seen today.

"These photographs have been around for 120 years or more and no one noticed it before," Lukacs said. "It all started with him; if not for him no one would have known about these trees."

Lukacs, who leads a separate large Facebook page ( The Witness Trees and Artillery of Gettysburg ) and volunteers with the park service, avoids Gober's more direct approach to advocating for protecting the trees. But he admires Gober's passion and dedication.

Lukacs points to the newly unveiled Little Round Top restoration at Gettysburg as evidence of one way Gober has had an impact. On the eve of the  $12.9 million project's commencement, Gober realized a number of witness trees were in jeopardy. He rallied support. Because of him, a dozen trees that were present at the battle were saved when the park service rerouted plans, Lukacs said.

"None of it would have happened if it weren't for Greg. It's a huge victory," Lukacs said. "From there the park has recognized that there are hundreds and hundreds of witness trees, it's really uncountable."

Identifying the trees: Part science, part intuition, part detective work

Gober said his interest in witness trees was in turn sparked by the now inactive web page Gettysburg Daily which featured battle history and often took a critical look at park service stewardship of the field.

But Gober said he's seen the change in new administration at the park.

"I use to call and have arguments: 'I know what I am talking about, look at the photographs from the 1880s, if I have the resources as a civilian, you should, too.' " Gober said, recounting exchanges with park officials.

"'This idiot from Delaware,' how do they get rid of me,' Gober said he imagines calls with the park service ending. "Now, they'll listen to me, they'll listen to Peter."

Identifying witness trees is part science, part intuition, part detective work.

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The right photos sometimes make the job easier.

"If you look at many of those photos from the mid-1880s to the early-1900s, some of these photos contain in the background or, for instance, if the tree is right behind a monument, the tree is right there and you can make a very accurate estimation."

Measurements can be an aid, but growth rates can vary.

"It's proving it, not just saying, 'Hey, that look's old,' " Gober said. "Because, hell, a lot of these trees look old. And some look young and they are old. It's a mixed bag of things. There is a scientific method. If you know what species tree they are, where they are growing, out in the open, in the woods — are they quick growers? Slow growers?"

Gober said that, generations ago, park overseers protected trees that were thought to be witnesses. Tags and lightning arrestor cables were placed in likely witnesses, though there is no record what exactly prompted the efforts. Today, those tags or evidence of those cables or other attempts to stabilize trees is a good indication of their aged status.

"I'm not a professional arborist, a licensed battlefield guide. I don't even set foot in the visitor's center. I have a Facebook group, I send emails, I talk to people and people see me on the battlefield," said Gober, whose career is a fire alarm installation and service technician.

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"It's makes me feel like, 'Wow, if I can do this, anybody can get involved at the grassroots level of something they love, something important not just to me but to the history of our American battlefields and culture.' "

"It's up to us to carry on the information to the future generation so it doesn't get lost again like it did prior to the current day," Gober said. "Back about 20, 30 years ago, no one had a clue about anything other than a few trees that were known and passed down by word of mouth."

"Most of these trees are still pretty healthy and still going strong," Gober said. "It's amazing to me, it's special to me."

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Glasgow man speaks for the trees that witnessed Battle of Gettysburg