Cemetery Hill is a landform on the Gettysburg Battlefield that was the scene of fighting each day of the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1 - 3, 1863). The northernmost part of the Army of the Potomac defensive "fish-hook" line, the hill is gently sloped and provided a site for American Civil War artillery (cf. the heavily wooded, adjacent Culp's Hill).PlanCemetery Hill overlooks the main downtown area of Gettysburg from the south, at 503 feet above sea level, 80 feet above the town center, about 100 feet above Winebrenner's Run at its base. Its crest extends in a southwest-northeast direction for about. A shallow saddle on the crest about from its northeast slope is the point where the Baltimore Pike crosses the hill and separates East Cemetery Hill from the remainder. The slopes to the north and west rise gradually; on East Cemetery Hill, the rise is steeper. The hill is crossed by the Baltimore Pike and the Emmitsburg Road, with the Taneytown Road between them.HistoryThe 1858 south boundary for the Gettysburg borough extended southeast from the Emmitsburg Road to the Cemetery Hill summit on the Taneytown Rd, then northeast across the Baltimore Pike summit to the hill's base, then northward to Winebrenner Run. On the south slope of Cemetery Hill (originally named Raffensperger's Hill, after farmer Peter Raffensperger, who owned over 6acre on the eastern slope) is the 1854 Evergreen Cemetery and its 1855 gatehouse used as a headquarters during the battle.
