Confederate Monuments at Gettysburg > State Monuments
The North Carolina monument is southwest of Gettysburg on West Confederate Avenue. (West Confederate Avenue Part 2 tour map) It was dedicated on July 3, 1929.
North Carolina provided 14,147 men to the Army of Northern Virginia at Gettysburg, the second largest state contingent after Virginia. It lost over 6,000 casualties, more than 40% of the men engaged. It is the largest number of casualties at Gettysburg from any Confederate state and represents over one fourth of all Confederate casualties in the battle. (see the States at Gettysburg).
North Carolina is also represented by monuments to the 26th North Carolina and 43rd North Carolina Infantry Regiments.
Monument to the State of North Carolina at Gettysburg
The monument
The monument depicts a wounded officer pointing the way forward to the enemy while a veteran and younger comrade lead a color bearer in the charge. The statue was sculpted by Gutzon Borglum of Mount Rushmore fame, using photographs of Confederate veterans as models. Orren Smith of North Carolina, the model for the color bearer, was the designer of the Confederate national flag.
Nearby is a stone monument containing an inscription and a list of the North Carolina units of the Army of Northern Virginia:
1863
North Carolina
To the eternal glory of the North Carolina
soldiers. Who on this battlefield displayed
heroism unsurpassed sacrificing all in sup-
port of their cause. Their valorous deeds
will be enshrined in the hearts of men long
after these transient memorials have crum-
bled into dust.
Thirty two North Carolina regiments were in
action at Gettysburg July 1,2,3, 1863. One Con-
federate soldier in every four who fell here
was a North Carolinian.
This tablet erected by the North Carolina Division United Daughters of the Confederacy.
Inscription on the back of the statue
Location of the North Carolina monument at Gettysburg
The State of North Carolina monument is south of Gettysburg on the east side of West Confederate Avenue about 0.8 mile south of Fairfield Road. West Confederate Avenue is one way southbound at this point. (39°49’06.1″N 77°14’50.0″W)