Confederate Headquarters – Longstreet’s First Corps – Hood’s Division
The monument to Henry’s Artillery Battalion is south of Gettysburg on South Confederate Avenue. (South Confederate Avenue tour map)
Monument to Henry’s Artillery Battalion of Hood’s Division at Gettysburg
From the monument
C. S. A.
Army of Northern Virginia
Longstreet’s Corps Hood’s Division
Henry’s Battalion
Reilly’s Bachman’s Garden’s Latham’s Batteries
Eleven Napoleons
Four 10 Pounder Parrotts
Two 3 Inch Rifles
One 12 Pounder Howitzer
One 6 Pounder Bronze Gun
July 2-3. Occupied this line and took active part in the battle as described on the tablets of the several batteries. The Howitzer the Bronze gun and one 3 inch Rifle were disabled and three captured 10 pounder Parrotts substituted.
July 4. On a line a little west of this until 6 P. M. then withdrew from the field.
Ammunition expended 1500 rounds.
Losses Killed 4 Wounded 23
About Mathis Henry
The battalion was commanded at the Battle of Gettysburg by Major Mathis W. Henry. Henry was born on November 28, 1838, the youngest of 12 children. His parents died before he was 7 and he was raised by a sister. He graduated from West Point in the class of May, 1860, and was assigned to the Regiment of Mounted Riflemen. Henry resigned in August of 1861 to join the Confederacy, becoming a second lieutenant in Stuart’s cavalry. He transferred to the Stuart Horse Artillery, was promoted to captain and became a battery commander in 1862, and in 1863 was promoted to major and assigned to command the artillery battalion for Hood’s Division.
After Gettysburg he went to the Western Theater, where he was Hood’s Chief of Artillery in the Atlanta Campaign. He was captured at Salisbury, North Carolina in April of 1865. After the war Henry moved to Nevada and became a mining engineer, where he died of paralysis on his 39th birthday.
Location of the monument
The monument is south of Gettysburg on the east side of South Confederate Avenue, across from the picnic area. (39°47’16.8″N 77°15’14.2″W)