GDG- Twentieth Maine's Right Flank

[William Nolan]

While in Gettysburg last weekend we noticed that the left flank marker for the 83rd PA is located near the 83rd's monument which is topped with the statue of the Strong Vincent look-alike.    The 83rd PA's left flank marker is below the Little Round Top park road and nearly at the floor of the shallow valley between the Round Tops.    The right flank marker for the 20th Maine however is located much higher up and above the park road.    I estimated the distance between the 20th Maine's right flank marker and the 83rd PA's left flank marker as about 40-50 yards which seems like too big of a gap.    
 
According to Harry Pfanz, in "Gettysburg The Second Day" (page 212), "The line occupied by Vincent's regiments cannot be defined with certainty.  The Twentieth Maine's original left was probably below the site of its memorial.  The Maine line extended right along the spur, probably behind an irregular line of boulders.   It continued west across the present avenue's right-of-way, where all vestiges of the wartime slope have been removed, to the main hill and the left flank of the Eighty-third Pennsylvania, the next regiment in line."  Pfanz continues, "This line, like that of the Twentieth Maine, was at the base of the slope almost at the saddle's floor." 
 
Well that certainly isn't what I had in mind.   I always imagined the 20th Maine up on higher ground looking down on the thirsty, out-of-breath Confederates.   I can understand why the 20th Maine's left flank marker is where it is, as it was extended and bent back to block the 15th Alabama's flanking attempt.   But it looks as if the 20th's right flank marker is out of place and too high and too far from the 83rd's right flank marker.   I realize that the battle lines were fluid and moved back and forth during the fighting,  but it appears that the 20th's right flank, as it was originally located, should be lower and closer to the 83rd's left than it is, and down below the park road.    Any idea why the 20th's right flank marker is where it is, or is this another case of a veteran guessing where their right flank was, 25 years after the fact?
 
Bill 
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