Union monuments at Gettysburg > Pennsylvania > Cavalry
The monument to the 18th Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry Regiment is south of Gettysburg on South Confederate Avenue. (Bushman Hill & Slyder Farm tour map) The State of Pennsylvania dedicated the monument in 1889.
Monument to the 18th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment at Gettysburg
Lieutenant Colonel William Penn Brinton commanded the 18th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment at the Battle of Gettysburg. On the afternoon of July 3 at the conclusion of Pickett’s Charge it was ordered to support the charge of the 1st Vermont Cavalry against the 1st Texas Infantry. The attack was unsuccessful, the 1st Vermont Cavalry was badly cut up, and Brigadier General Elon Farnsworth was killed.
From the front of the monument
18th Pennsylvania Cavalry
1st Brigade, 3d Division
Cavalry Corps
Army of the Potomac
From the rear of the monument
The Regiment participated in the cavalry fights
at Hanover June 30th and Hunterstown July 2d
1863. On July 3d occupied this position, and in
the afternoon charged with the brigade upon the
enemy’s infantry behind the stone wall to the north
of this point on the outer edge of the woods.
Present at Gettysburg 599 officers and men.
Killed 2 men, wounded 4 men
Captured or missing 8 men.
Mustered in August, December 1862. Consolidated
with the 22d Pennsylvania Cavalry July 24th 1865,
forming the 3d Provisional Pennsylvania Cavalry,
which was mustered out October 31st, 1865.
Participated with the armies of the Potomac and
Shenandoah in 51 battles, and out of a total
enrollment of 2020, lost in killed, died, wounded and
prisoners 668, of whom 131 died in the
hands of the enemy while prisoners of war.
Location of the monument to the 18th Pennsylvania Cavalry at Gettysburg
The monument to the 18th Pennsylvania Cavalry is south of Gettysburg on South Confederate Avenue. It is about 150 feet to the southeast of the avenue just after it curves to the east and into the woods. A trail which crosses the avenue at a small parking area about 0.65 mile from Emmittsburg Road leads to the monument. (39°47’05.1″N 77°14’58.6″W)
See more on the history of the 18th Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry Regiment in the Civil War