There are three monuments to the 90th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment on the battlefield of Gettysburg. The “Granite Tree Monument” is on this page. Two other 90th Pennsylvania monuments are shown on Page Two. In addition to the regimental monuments, a monument to the 90th Pennsylvania’s Chaplain Horatio Howell is on Chambersburg Street in Gettysburg.
There is also a monument to the 90th Pennsylvania at Antietam.
About the 90th Pennsylvania at Gettysburg
The 90th Pennsylvania was commanded at the Battle of Gettysburg by Colonel Peter Lyle. He took command of the brigade during the battle, leaving Major Alfred J. Sellers in command of the regiment.
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Major Sellers was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on July 1st when he “voluntarily led the regiment under a withering fire to a position from which the enemy was repulsed.” |
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The Granite Tree Monument
The “Granite Tree Monument” was erected by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1888 northwest of Gettysburg on Oak Ridge along Doubleday Avenue. (39.84436° N, 77.241971° W; Tour map: Doubleday – Robinson Avenues; Google maps to all three monuments).
From the “Granite Tree” monument:
Right of the First Corps
Here fought the 90th Penna. Infantry
on the afternoon of July 1, 1863.
Killed and mortally wounded 11,
wounded 44, captured or missing
39. Total 94, of 208 engaged.
Organized at Phila. Oct. 1, 1861
Mustered out Nov. 26, 1864
90th P.V.
2nd Brig. 2nd Div. First Corps.
Closeup detail from the Granite Tree monument
About the Granite Tree monument
The 90th Pennsylvania Infantry’s Granite Tree monument on Doubleday Avenue at Gettysburg is filled with interesting details.
The beautifully realistic bark of the tree trunk is stripped in areas and splintered on the side from a grazing shot. The trunk itself is shattered at the top, with the cannonball that caused it still embedded in the tree’s heart.
Closeup of the bird’s nest on the Granite Tree monument
But after the ravages of war life goes on. Inches away a mother bird feeds two babies in her nest. Bronze vines grow around the trunk.
And the tree still provides other useful services, holding a soldier’s rifle, bayonet, knapsack and cartridge case.
The knapsack is lettered for the 90th Pennsylvania. Above the bronze shield telling the regiment’s story is a circle formed from the granite of the trunk, the symbol of the Union First Army Corps.
Rear view of the Granite Tree monument
On the rear of the trunk is the seal of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania found on all monuments funded by the state.
Flank marker on Oak Ridge
Nearby, the 90th Pennsylvania’s right flank marker follows the granite tree theme in the form of the stump of a granite sapling.
Go to Page Two – More 90th Pennsylvania monuments at Gettysburg
See more on the history of the 90th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the Civil War