Union Headquarters monuments > 1st Corps

Attached to the 1st Corps, Army of the Potomac The 1st Division flag is the corps symbol, a circle, in red on a white background.

The monument to the 1st Division of the 1st Corps is west of Gettysburg on North Reynolds Avenue. (North Reynolds Avenue tour map) The division was commanded by Brigadier General James Samuel Wadsworth, a wealthy landowner and politician from upstate New York. There is a monument to General Wadsworth on the Gettysburg Battlefield on Reynolds Avenue north of the Railroad Cut. There is another monument to General Wadsworth on the Wilderness Battlefield near Fredericksburg, Virginia, where Wadsworth was mortally wounded on May 6, 1864.

Read General Wadsworth’s Official Report for the First Division in the Battle of Gettysburg

The view looks east at the monument to the 1st Division, 1st Corps. Chambersburg Road is on the right of the photo. The road was the main route to Gettysburg for much of the Confederate Army, and General Robert E. Lee made his headquarters on July 2 and 3 on the ridge behind the monument. The buildings on the ridgeline to the right in the distance is the Lutheran Theological Seminary.

From the monument

Army of the Potomac
First Corps
First Division
Brig. General James S. Wadsworth

First Brigade Brig. Gen. Solomon Meredith
Col. Wm. W. Robinson
Second Brigade Brig. General Lysander Cutler

July 1. Arrived at 10 A. M. the first Union Infantry on the field. Formed across Chambersburg Pike relieving First Division Cavalry Corps and was immediately attacked by Archer’s and Davis’s Brigades Heth’s Confederate Division which was repulsed with heavy losses. At 2 P. M. both sides having been heavily reinforced the fighting was renewed with great energy. The two brigades fighting separately where most needed. At 4 P. M. the Confederates having advanced in superior numbers and enveloping both flanks the Division retired by order of the general commanding to Cemetery Hill and went into position on north side of Culps Hill.

July 2 & 3. Entrenched on Culp’s Hill and repulsed attacks made in the evening of second and morning of third.

Casualties Killed 19 Officers 280 Men Wounded 98 Officers 1131 Men Captured or Missing 15 Officers 612 Men Total 2155

Union Brigadier General James S. Wadsworth

Location of the monument to the 1st Division at Gettysburg

The monument to the 1st Division of the 1st Corps of the Army of the Potomac is northwest of Gettysburg on the east side of Reynolds Avenue about 40 yards north of Chambersburg Road. (39°50’12.6″N 77°14’55.4″W)