Union Headquarters monuments > 11th Corps > 2nd Division
The monument to the 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 11th Corps is on the northeast side of Gettysburg on Coster Avenue.
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Attached to the 2nd Division, 11th Corps, Army of the Potomac. |  |
Monument to the 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 11th Corps at Gettysburg
From the monument
Army of the Potomac
Eleventh Corps Second Division
First Brigade
Col. Charles R. Coster
134th 154th New York
27th 73d Pennsylvania Infantry
July 1. Arrived about 2 P. M. and went into position on Cemetery Hill supporting Battery I 1st New York. Skirmishers occupying a church and near by house. Advanced about 3.30 P. M. through the town and faced to the right and intercepted the advance of Brig. Gen. Hays’s and Brig. Gen. Hoke’s Brigades Major Gen. Early’s Division they moving toward town in rear of First Division Eleventh Corps and held them from the line of retreat of that Division to Cemetery Hill. Retired to East Cemetery Hill about 4.30 P. M. and resumed former position on the right of Second Brigade with Third Division on the right.
July 2. In same position during the day under fire of artillery and sharpshooters. At 8 P. M. Brig. Gen. Hays’s Brigade charged the position and was repulsed with heavy loss. The 27th Penna. bore a conspicuous part in repelling this attack. Battery I 1st New York was temporarily captured but was immediately recovered.
July 3. Not actively engaged.
Casualties Killed 3 Officers 53 Men Wounded 8 Officers 220 Men Captured or Missing 12 Officers 301 Men Total 597
Colonel Charles Coster
Colonel Charles Coster of the 134th New York Infantry Regiment commanded the brigade at Gettysburg as senior colonel. Coster was a 26 year old member of a wealthy mercantile family from New York City. Immediately after Fort Sumter he joined the 7th New York State Militia, one of the first regiments to arrive in the defence of Washington. After that 3 month regiment mustered out he enlisted as a lieutenant in the 12th United States Infantry, where he was commended for his actions at Gaines’s Mill.
Coster was appointed colonel of the 134th New York Volunteer Infantry in October of 1862. The regiment was part of Buschbeck’s Brigade, which stood firm and fought well during the collapse of the 11th Corps at Chancellorsville. Coster temporarily took command of the brigade in June of 1863 when Colonel Buschbeck went on leave. After Gettysburg Coster resigned his command, serving as provost marshal in New York.
Location of the monument to the 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 11th Corps
The monument is in Gettysburg on the east side of town. It is on Coster Avenue, which is an unpaved pedestrian extension of E. Stevens Street east of Hazel Alley. (39°50’06.5″N 77°13’40.1″W)