Monuments to Individuals at Gettysburg


The monument to Reverend Horatio Howell is at the foot of the steps of the Christ Lutheran Church on Chambersburg Street in Gettysburg. It was dedicated in 1889.

Reverend Howell was killed on the afternoon of July 1 as the Union 1st Corps was retreating through the streets of Gettysburg. He was visiting wounded and helping the medical staff in the Christ Lutheran Church, which had been turned into a hospital. According to the most likely story, Reverend Howell was wearing a Union officer’s uniform complete with sword. He was ordered to surrender his weapon by a passing Confederate. Reverend Howell tried to explain that he was a noncombatant and did not need to give up his weapon. But the Confederate, in the middle of an afternoon of intense fighting, was in no mood to argue and shot him dead.

1st Corps Headquarters Flag 1C-2D

Monument to Reverend Horatio Howell at Gettysburg

From the monument

In Memoriam.
Rev. Horatio S. Howell
Chaplain, 90th Penn’a Vols,
was cruelly shot dead on these
church steps on the afternoon of
July 1st 1863.

“He delivereth me from mine enemies;
Yea, thou lightest me up above those that
rise up against me.”
18th Psalms 48th verse.
“He being dead, yet speaketh”
Hebrews 11, 4th.

Our tribute
Survivors Association of the 90th Penn’a Vol’s
and personal friends of the lamented chaplain

Monument to Reverend Horatio Howell at GettysburgHoratio Stockton Howell was born in Trenton, New Jersey in August of 1820. He graduated from the Union Theological Seminary in New York and was ordained in 1846. Howell served in Presbyterian churches in Maryland and Pennsylvania, developing a strong belief in abolition. He joined the 90th Pennsylvania as its chaplain in March of 1862.

Location of the monument to Reverend Horatio Howe at Gettysburg

The monument to Reverend Horatio Howell is in downtown Gettysburg. It is at the foot of the steps of the Christ Lutheran Church on the south side of Chambersburg Street (44 Chambersburg Street) less than one block west of the main square. (39°49’51.0″N 77°13’57.3″W)