Union monuments at Gettysburg > Michigan
The monument to the 16th Michigan Infantry Regiment is south of Gettysburg on the southwest slope of Little Round Top. (Little Round Top tour map)
About the monument to the 16th Michigan Infantry
The four and a half foot tall monument is of Westerly granite and is perched on a tall boulder at the edge of a steep slope on the south side of Little Round Top. The monument has a design on its cap of a carved relief of a rifle below the Maltese Cross symbol of the Fifth Corps surroundd by laurel leaves. The Michigan State Seal is on a bronze tablet in the center of the front. The monument was dedicated by the State of Michigan on June 12th, 1889.
The 16th Michigan Infantry at the Battle of Gettysburg
The 16th Michigan was commanded at the Battle of Gettysburg by Lieutenant Colonel Norval E. Welch, an attorney from Ann Arbor. The regiment fought on July 2 on the right flank of Vincent’s line on Little Round Top. At the height of the Confederate attack an unknown officer ordered the regiment to fall back toward the summit of the hill, possibly to prevent its open right flank from being overlapped. In the confusion a lieutenant ordered the colors to the rear and a number of men went with them. But the majority of the regiment stayed on. Colonel Vincent hurried over to rally them, receiving his mortal wound. The arrival of the 140th New York secured the flank and the regiment continued to hold the exposed and dangerous position until the end of the battle.
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See Lt. Colonel Welch’s Official Report of the 16th Michigan Infantry in the Gettysburg Campaign.
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Attached to the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, Fifth Corps, Army of the Potomac |  |
Text from the front of the monument
Sixteenth Mich. Inf’ty
3rd Brig. 1st. Div. 5th Corps
From the back of the monument
Mustered in at Detroit, Mich. Sept. 8, 1861.
Mustered out at Jeffersonville, Ind. July 8, 1865.
Total enrollment 2318 offices & men
Killed in action 10 officers, 155 men
Died of wounds 2 officers, 48 men.
Died of disease 128 men. Total 348.
Participated in 52 skirmishes and general engagements from Yorktown, Va. May 4, 1862 to Appomattox, Va., April 9, 1865 and was one of the regiments detailed to receive Lee’s Army with its arms and flags on April 9, 1865.
Regiment held this position during the afternoon and night of July 2, 1863, and assisted in defeating the desperate attempts of the enemy to capture Little Round Top.
Present for duty 17 officers, 339 men total 356. Casualties: 3 officers 20 men killed, 2 officers 32 men wounded, 3 men missing. Total 60.
Location of the monument
The monument to the 16th Michigan is south of Gettysburg on the southwest slope of Little Round Top, 140 feet from the 44th New York Monument. (39°47’27.6″N 77°14’14.8″W)