Union First Corps Headquarters Marker – July 2 & 3

Army and Corps Headquarters Markers

The marker is a 4.5 inch Siege Rifle, sometimes called the 4.5 inch Ordnance Rifle, cast by the Fort Pitt Foundry in Pittsburgh. It was placed in 1913 by the Gettysburg National Military Park Commission.

Monument to Major General John Newton's Headquarters for the First Corps of the Army of the Potomac at Gettysburg

Commanding the Union First Corps at Gettysburg

Major General John Reynolds was the commander of the Union First Corps at the start of the Gettysburg Campaign. But when Major General George Meade took command of the Army of the Potomac three days before the battle he gave Reynolds temporary command of the left wing of the army. Major General Abner Doubleday (West Point class of 1842) was senior division commander and temporarily became First Corps commander. This should have become permanent with the death of Reynolds on July 1. But Meade had no confidence in Doubleday and replaced him by transferring west point classmate Major General John Newton from another corps and giving Newton command of the First Corps.

Text from the marker:

Army of the Potomac,
1st Corps Headquarters,
Major General
John Newton
July 2 & 3, 1863

Location of the marker to the headquarters of Major General John Newton

The headquarters marker for John Newton’s 1st Corps headquarters is south of Gettysburg on the south side of Pleasonton Avenue 100 yards west of Taneytown Road (PA. 134). (39°48’28.0″N 77°13’54.0″W)