Tour the Gettysburg battlefield > North • Central • South • E. Cavalry Field
Coster Avenue is on the northeast side of the Borough of Gettysburg. It is a an unpaved pedestrian continuation of Stevens Street east of Hazel Alley.
What happened at Coster Avenue?
On the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg Major General Oliver O.Howard reached the field with his 11th Corps to find General Reynolds dead from a sharpshooter’s bullet, putting him in command of the field. He sent two divisions of his Corps through town to form line on the plains north of town, but kept one division as a reserve on Cemetery Hill. Howard’s line was attacked that afternoon by Major General Richard Ewell’s Confederate Second Corps. Outnumbered and outflanked, the 11th Corps line began to collapse. Howard sent Colonel Charles Coster’s small brigade of four regiments forward to cover their retreat.
Leaving his 73rd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment near the main square, Coster formed his 134th New York Infantry, 154th New York Infantry and 27th Pennsylvania Infantry into position behind wooden fences at John Kuhn’s brickyard. They were quickly attacked by the Confederate brigades of Brigadier General Harry T. Hays (5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th Louisiana Infantry) and Colonel Isaac E. Avery (6th, 21st, and 57th North Carolina Infantry). Outnumbered three to one and outflanked on both sides of their line, Coster’s men put up a short fight before they were overwhelmed. They lost over half their number, half of whom were captured.
Union Headquarters Monument
1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 11th Corps
Regimental Monuments
154th New York Infantry Regiment
27th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment