Union monuments at Gettysburg > Pennsylvania > Infantry
The monument to the 96th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment is south of Gettysburg on Wheatfield Road.(Crawford Ave. & J. Weickert Farm tour map) It was dedicated in 1888 by the State of Pennsylvania.
The 96th Pennsylvania was commanded at the Battle of Gettysburg by Major William H. Lessig. It brought 356 men to the field and lost 1 man wounded. The regiment arrived with the 6th Corps on the afternoon of the 2nd and was moved up to reinforce the Union line as Longstreet’s attack was ending. It spent much of the rest of the battle holding the line while lying in the muddy low ground around Plum Creek. The monument remembers this with a carved footprint in the “mud” next to the prone soldier, only visible from above the monument.
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Attached to the 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 6th Corps, Army of the Potomac |  |
From the right (north) side monument:
Position of the 96th Regt. Penna. Volunteers,
2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 6th Corps
from 5 p.m. of the 2nd until the morning
of the 5th of July 1863.
Rear view of the monument
From the left side (facing Wheatfield road):
Organized at and mustered in at Pottsville,
Schuylkill County Penna. September 28, 1861.
Mustered out at Hestonville West Philadelphia
Penna, October 21 1864.
Top view of the monument showing the ‘muddy footprint’ carved in the stone
See more on the history of the 96th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the Civil War
Location of the monument to the 96th Pennsylvania Infantry at Gettysburg
The monument to the 96th Pennsylvania is south of Gettysburg on the north side of Wheatfield Road about 80 yards east of Crawford Avenue. (39°47’45.9″N 77°14’15.7″W)