Veterans, Monuments and Memory
An Introduction to the Monumentation of Gettysburg
Hallowed Ground Magazine, 150th Anniversary Gettysburg
“Now, the several States that stood as one in that high cause come
Veterans, Monuments and Memory
An Introduction to the Monumentation of Gettysburg
Hallowed Ground Magazine, 150th Anniversary Gettysburg
“Now, the several States that stood as one in that high cause come here in their own name,--in the noblest sphere of their State rights,--to ratify and confirm this action of their delegates; to set these monuments as seals to their own great deeds, and new testament of life…. But these monuments are not to commemorate the dead alone. Death was but the divine acceptance of life freely offered by every one. Service was the central fact. That fact, and that truth, these monuments commemorate.”
— Joshua L. Chamberlain, October 3, 1889
Thanks to the charisma of the unit’s wartime commander and his eloquence at the dedication ceremony — plus a heroic portrayal in the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Killer Angels — the 20th Maine Monument has become among the most visited at Gettysburg. But is just one of the more than 1,300 markers of all sizes and shapes dot the battlefield, many placed by the veterans themselves. Through their symbolism and placement, these plaques, sculptures and stones tell us much about the men who fought at Gettysburg.
Two dramatically different sculptures compete for the title of Gettysburg’s first monument, but both are located within the original confines of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery. The cornerstone of the massive Soldiers National Monument — standing 60 feet high and replete with marble statues representing War, History, Peace and Plenty, topped by the “Genius of Liberty” — was laid on July 4, 1865, but not completed until August 1869. Meanwhile, in 1867, the survivors of the 1st Minnesota Infantry, which suffered 82 percent casualties on July 2, dedicated a small marble urn, still planted with flowers today, to their fallen comrades. The first monument to an individual was a bronze sculpture of Maj. Gen. John F. Reynolds, dedicated in 1872. In 1878 the first two memorial markers appeared outside the cemetery — on Little Round Top commemorating the mortal wounding of Col. Strong Vincent and near the Wheatfield marking honoring the death of Col. Fred Taylor. The first unit to receive a monument on the site where it fought was the 2nd Massachusetts, which led a daring charge across Spangler Meadow near Culp’s Hill.
By May 1887, no fewer than 90 monuments to regiments and batteries had been placed on the battlefield — including those to all 30 Massachusetts units engaged — each one approved individually for design and location by the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association (GBMA). To impose organization to the process, the Association developed the so-called Line of Battle Rule, dictating that monuments would be erected along the line held by the relevant brigade, with those of units that subsequently occupied the same ground staggered to the rear at regular intervals. Units were also to place simple stone markers, at least two feet tall, indicating their left and right flanks. The process was not without controversy: final placement of the sculptural monument to the 72nd Pennsylvania Infantry — the Philadelphia Fire Zouaves — was decided by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
These early monumentation efforts, as well as the GBMA’s acquisition of land at key battlefield locations, were often driven by veterans groups but financed through direct appropriations from state governments, meaning that the presence of the U.S. Regular Army units and even the Army of Northern Virginia was virtually ignored. Moreover, since the Confederacy had fought an offensive engagement, the Line of Battle Rule, meant that any markers erected would likely be far from where a unit performed heroic deeds or suffered heavy casualties. Further, a lack of Southern desire to commemorate a stinging defeat was coupled with outright hostility toward the idea from within the GBMA. On the battle’s 25th anniversary, only two markers alluded to the presence of Southern troops: a plaque near the Angle commemorating Brig. Gen. Lewis Armistead’s farthest advance during Pickett’s Charge (1887) and the 2nd Maryland Infantry monument on Culp's Hill (1884).
It was only after Congress approved the creation of Gettysburg National Military Park in 1895, and the War Department’s absorption of the land held by the GBMA, that protection and commemoration of the battle’s full scope truly began. Using its power of condemnation, the federal government began acquiring land associated with Confederate positions. Next, the War Department began the process of identifying the location of all Southern units on the field, a process that had largely been completed for the Army of the Potomac using funds allocated by states to the GBMA. By 1921, the War Department had completed the daunting task “[of] plac[ing] the principal tablet or monument of each command at the position occupied by the command in the main line of battle, and to mark the several important posi