Union monuments at Gettysburg • Rhode Island
The monument to the 2nd Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry Regiment is south of Gettysburg on Sedgwick Avenue. (Sedgwick Avenue tour map) It was dedicated in 1886 by the State of Rhode Island. A position marker on Emmitsburg Road shows the location of the regiment’s skirmish line on July 4th. (Emmitsburg Road at the Codori Farm tour map)
Monument to the 2nd Rhode Island Infantry at Getttysburg
About the monument
The granite monument stands a little over nine feet tall. It is capped with a bronze arrangement of a drum, canteen, cartridge box, bayonet and a laurel crown of victory. The front has an incised Seal of the State of Rhode Island, with a relief of the Greek cross of the Sixth Corps above the base.
The 2nd Rhode Island at Gettysburg
The 2nd Rhode Island was commanded at the Battle of Gettysburg by Colonel Horatio Rogers, Jr., an attorney from Providence. It brought 409 men to the field, losing one killed, five wounded and one missing. The regiment arrived on the field from Manchester, Maryland on the afternoon of July 2 and was posted in reserve on the northeast slope of Little Round Top. On July 3 it was moved to a series of reserve positions on Cemetery Ridge during Pickett’s Charge. While not engaged, the regiment was under artillery fire for much of the time.
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See Colonel Rogers’ Official Report for the 2nd Rhode Island in the Battle of Gettysburg |
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From the monument:
2nd R.I. Volunteers
2nd Brigade 3rd Division Sixth Corps
July 2 & 3, 1863
Location of the monument to the 2nd Rhode Island Infantry at Gettysburg
The monument to Second Rhode Island is on the east side of Sedgwick Avenue 105 yards north of Wheatfield Road. (39°47’44.2″N 77°14’02.8″W)
Position marker for July 4
Marker for the skirmish line of the 2nd Rhode Island on July 4
From the marker:
Skirmish line
2nd R.I. Volunteers
Colonel Horatio Rogers, Jr.
2nd Brigade 3rd Division Sixth Corps
July 4, 1863
Location of the July 4 Position Marker
The position marker for the skirmish line of the 2nd Rhode Island Infantry is on the west side of Emmitsburg Road about 200 yards southwest of the Codori Barn. (39°48’35.4″N 77°14’31.9″W)
See more on the history of the 2nd Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the Civil War