Union Headquarters monuments > 11th Corps > 2nd Division
The monument to the 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, 11th Corps is south of Gettysburg on Taneytown Road, across from the National Cemetery. (National Cemetery tour map)
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Monument to the 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, 11th Corps at Gettysburg
From the monument
Army of the Potomac
Eleventh Corps Second Division
Second Brigade
Col. Orland Smith
33d Massachusetts 136th New York
55th 73d Ohio Infantry
July 1. Arrived at 2 P. M. and went into position on Cemetery Hill in line behind stone walls along Emmitsburg and Taneytown Roads facing northwest and supporting Battery I 1st New York. The 33d Mass. was detached during the battle and placed on the right of the Corps under the command of Brig. Gen. A. Ames. The 136th New York was on the extreme left of the Corps connecting on its right with the 55th and 73d Ohio
July 2. Sharpshooting was kept up all day by the Union troops from stone walls and by the Confederates from houses in the town with considerable loss.
July 3. Sharp skirmishing continued with artillery firing from Confederate batteries east of the town.
Casualties Killed 51 Men Wounded 5 Officers 273 Men Captured or Missing 2 Officers 17 Men Total 348
Colonel Orland Smith
Colonel Orland Smith commanded the brigade at Gettysburg. Smith was born in Lewiston, Maine and went into the raolroad business. At the start of the Civil War he was living in Chillicothe, Ohio working as a railroad official and commanding a local militia company. He became colonel of the 73rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment in November of 1861. It fought at McDowell, Cross Keys and Second Bull Run. Smith took command of the brigade as senior colonel in October of 1862 after the regiment became part of the 11th Corps and was assigned to the Defences of Washington. He returned to regimental command before the Battle of Chancellorsville when Francis Barlow was given command of the brigade, but returned to brigade command when Barlow was promoted to division command before Gettysburg.
Smith continued to command the brigade after it was sent to the western theater. He led a successful nighttime bayonet charge at the Battle of Wauhatchie that General Grant praised as “one of the most daring feats of arms of the war.” After the regiment reenlisted as veterans in January of 1864 the brigade was disbanded in the army reorganization. Smith resigned shortly after and return to his career in railroading.
Location of the monument
The monument is on the south side of Gettysburg on the west side of Taneytown Road, across from the National Cemetery.