Union Headquarters monuments > Cavalry Corps > 1st Division
A monument and a tablet to the Reserve Brigade, 1st Division, Cavalry Corps are on Emmitsburg Road on the South Cavalry Field.
Monument to the Reserve Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division, Cavalry Corps, Army of the Potomac
Army of the Potomac
Cavalry Corps First Division
Reserve Brigade
Brig. Gen. Wesley Merritt
6th Pennsylvania
1st 2d 5th 6th United States Cavalry
July 1. Engaged in picketing and patrolling the roads through the mountains detachments scouting the country about Hagerstown Cavetown and other points.
July 2. Marched to Emmitsburg Md.
July 3. At noon marched four miles on the road to Gettysburg met Confederate detachments and for more than a mile drove them from stone fences barricades and other positions being engaged four hours and until the operations were brought to a close by heavy rain. The 6th United States under Major S. H. Starr was detached and marched towards Fairfield to intercept a Confederate wagon train supposed to be in that vicinity but encountered a superior force and was compelled to fall back with heavy loss.
Casualties Killed 1 Officer 27 Men Wounded 12 Officers 104 Men Captured or Missing 6 Officers 268 Men Total 418
The monument to Battery K, 1st United States Artillery can be seen in the distance on the left. The monument to the brigade is about 100 feet to the right.
From the tablet
Position of the
Reserve Brigade
First Division Cavalry Corps
1-2-5-6 U.S. Cavalry
and
Battery K 1st U.S. Artillery
Brigadier General Wesley Merritt
Brigadier General Wesley Merritt commanded the brigade at Gettysburg. Merritt (West Point Class of 1860) was from New York. At the beginning of the Civil War he was adjutant of the 2nd United States Cavalry. He served as aide de camp to General Phillip St. George Cooke and adjutant to General Stoneman. Merritt was lightly wounded at Brandy Station. On June 29, 1863 he was promoted from captain to brigadier general and given command of the Reserve Brigade .
Location of the monument to the Reserve Brigade, 1st Division, Cavalry Corps
The monument is south of Gettysburg on the South Cavalry Battlefield. It is on the east side of Emmitsburg Road about 1.2 miles south of the intersection with Confederate Avenue. (39°46’30.7″N 77°15’51.6″W)