Death of a Gettysburg witness

The National Park Service says one of the few remaining "witness trees" to the Battle of Gettysburg has cracked in a storm and fell.

The massive honey locust tree fell Thursday evening in a storm that produced rain, hail and wind gusts. It stood on Cemetery Hill, 150 feet from the platform on which President Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address.

Park maintenance officials will assess what to do with what remains of the tree.

Park historian John Heiser said he knows of only three other witness trees that still stand in the heart of the battlefield.