Union monuments at Gettysburg > Pennsylvania > Infantry
The monument to the 81st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment is south of Gettysburg in The Wheatfield. (Ayers Avenue – Wheatfield tour map) It was dedicated in 1889 by the State of Pennsylvania.
Monument to the 81st Pennsylvania Infantry at Gettysburg
The regiment’s commander, Colonel Henry B. McKeen, was temporarily transferred to the 148th Pennsylvania Infantry on June 30 to fill in for its sick colonel. Lieutenant Colonel Amos Stroh commanded the regiment during the Battle of Gettysburg and for some time afterward, as Colonel McKeen took over brigade command after the death of Colonel Cross on July 2.
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Attached to the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 2nd Corps, Army of the Potomac |  |
From the front of the monument:
81st Penna. Infantry.
1st Brig. 1st Div. 2d Corps
Fought on this line in the afternoon of July 2nd
Present at Gettysburg 175 officers and men
Killed and died of wounds 9 men
Wounded 5 officers and 40 men
Captured or missing 8 men
Total Loss 62
From the right side of the monument:
Total enrollment 1620
Killed and died of wounds 17 officers and 187 men
Wounded 44 officers and 516 men
Captured or missing 3 officers and 130 men
Total Loss 1050
From the left side of the monument:
Recruited in Philadelphia Carbon and
Luzerne Counties.
Mustered in August 6 to October 27 1861.
Re-enlisted December 23, 1863.
Mustered out June 29 1865.
From the rear of the monument:
Yorktown, Fair Oaks, Peach Orchard, Savage’s Station, White Oak Swamp, Glendale, Malvern Hill, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Bristoe Station, Kelly’s Ford, Mine Run, Wilderness, Spotsylvania, North Anna, Totopotomoy, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Strawberry Plains, Deep Bottom, Reams Station, Petersburg (Squirrel Level Road), White Oak Road, Sutherland Station, Amelia Court House, Farmville (Cumberland Church), Appomattox
See more on the history of the 81st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the Civil War
Location of the monument to the 81st Pennsylvania Infantry at Gettysburg
The monument to the 81st Pennsylvania is south of Gettysburg in The Wheatfield, about 70 yards west of Ayers Avenue and about 165 yards south of Wheatfield Road. (39°47’47.8″N 77°14’31.1″W)