Union Monuments at Gettysburg > Massachusetts
The monument to the 18th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment is south of Gettysburg in the Rose Woods inside the Loop of Sickles Avenue. (Sickles Ave. at the Rose Woods tour map)
About the monument
The granite monument stands nine feet tall. The Maltese Cross symbol of the Fifth Corps is in relief on the four small angles between the main sides. Four stacked muskets are incised on the rear of the monument. It was dedicated by the State of Massachusetts on October 8, 1885.
The 18th Massachusetts at Gettysburg
The 18th Massachusetts was commanded at the Battle of Gettysburg by Colonel Joseph Hays of Boston. It brought 281 men to the field, losing 1 killed, 23 wounded and 3 missing.
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Attached to the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 5th Corps, Army of the Potomac |  |
From the front of the monument:
18th Mass. Vols.
First Brig. First Div. 5th Corps
Let us have peace
From the right side:
July 2, 1863
From the left side:
Little Round Top
July 3, 1863
See more on the history of the 18th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the Civil War.
Location of the monument
The monument to the 18th Massachusetts is on the inside of the loop of Sickles Avenue in the Rose Woods.
(39°47’50.5″N 77°14’45.3″W)
| Fighting with the 18th Massachusetts: the Civil War memoir of Thomas H. Mann “When eighteen year old Thomas Mann marched off to war from his home in North Wrentham, Massachusetts, in the summer of 1861, he faithfully reflected the perspective of an entire generation. he went, he would say two years later. “purely out of love for adventure and the excitement of this kind of life.” He recognized that war would require energy, enthusiasm, confidence, and perhaps some courage – for those were the qualities needed to ensure the quick restoration of the Union (and no one doubted that outcome in mid-1861.) But he had little concept of the one quality that this war would demand above all others from his and his nation: determination.” |