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Union monuments at Gettysburg > Vermont

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The monument to the 13th Vermont Volunteer Infantry Regiment is south of Gettysburg on Hancock Avenue. (Hancock Avenue Part 3 tour map) Three nearby markers show the regiment’s position on July 3rd as it advanced to attack the flank of Pickett’s Charge.

The 13th Vermont Infantry at Gettysburg

The regiment spent most of its nine month enlistment in the defences of Washington. Its enlistment was almost up when it was suddenly ordered to the Army of the Potomac. After a forced march it joined the First Corps at Gettysburg on the evening of July 1st.

The next day it saw its first taste of battle with a charge to Emmittsburg Road that turned back the Confederate attack and captured guns and prisoners. During Pickett’s Charge on July 3rd it swung out from its position on Cemetery Ridge and tore into the flank of the Confederate attack, capturing hundreds from Kemper’s Virginia Brigade.

Within three weeks the men of the regiment were back in Vermont, once again civilians.

About the monument to the 13th Vermont Infantry

The monument is a 7′ bronze statue of Lieutenant Stephen F. Brown standing on top of a 10′ granite base. Bronze tablets on all four sides of the monument tell the regiment’s story. The statue shows Lieutenant Brown carrying a captured Confederate sword, with the camp hatchet he carried into battle by his right foot. (see story below) The monument was dedicated on October 19, 1899 by the State of Vermont.

Captain John Lonergan of Company A earned the Medal of Honor on July 2nd for “gallantry in the recapture of 4 guns and the capture of 2 additional guns from the enemy; also the capture of a number of prisoners.”

Attached to the 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division, 1st Corps, Army of the Potomac

From the front of the monument

Thirteenth Vermont Volunteer Infantry
1862 – 1863
On this field the right regiment of
Stannard’s Vermont Brigade
Third Brigade Third Division First Corps

July 2. Five companies under Lieut.-Colonel Wm. D. Munson supported Batteries on Cemetery Hill. Near evening the other five companies commanded by Colonel Francis V. Randall charged to the Rogers House on the Emmitsburg Road, captured 83 prisoners and recaptured 4 guns after which they took position here and were soon joined by the five companies from Cemetery Hill.

July 3. In the morning 100 men advanced 45 yards under the fire of sharpshooters and placed a line of rail. When the Confederate column crossed the Emmitsburg Road the regiment advanced to the rail breastworks and opened fire as the Confederates obliqued to their left. The regiment changed front forward on first company advanced 200 yards attacking the Confederate right flank throwing it into confusion and capturing 243 prisoners.

Officers and men engaged 480. Killed and mortally wounded 22, other wounded 80.

13th Vermont Infantry

From the left side of the monument

The regiment volunteered in the summer of 1862 and with 968 officers and men was mustered into service October 10, 1862. The average age of the men being 23 years.

Prior to the Gettysburg campaign it served chiefly picketing a line between Centreville and Occoquan Va. Forty-eight hours after the army passed pursuing the enemy to this field the regiment was ordered to join the First Corps.

Haste was so urgent that an order forbade leaving the ranks for water and after forced marches with all the attendant privations incident thereto and lack of rations by reason of the commissary train being diverted it arrived on the battle field July 1.

Mustered out at Brattleboro Vt. July 21, 1863.

This monument was erected by one hundred and ninety-three of the survivors in 1899.

From the rear of the monument

Francis V. Randall, Captain Second Vermont Infantry, Colonel Thirteenth Vermont Infantry, Colonel Seventeenth Vermont Infantry.

July 2 In the charge Colonel Randall fell with his wounded horse but soon overtook and led the line on foot. July 3; When the Confederates began to yield to the flank attack and his order to cease firing was not heard he rushed in front of his line and by word and gesture made himself understood and thus saved the lives of many foes. He died at Northfield, Vermont, March 1, 1865. In 1893 the survivors of the Thirteenth erected a monument at his grave.

From the right side of the monument

The statue represents Lieutenant Stephen F. Brown Co. K, who arrived on the field without a sword* but seizing a camp hatchet carried it in the battle until he captured a sword from a Confederate officer.Persevering and determined like him were all the men of this regiment of Green Mountain boys.

*On the march to Gettysburg, Brown ordered a guard to stand aside to let his men drink from a well, was placed under arrest and relieved of his sword. The original design for the monument had Brown carrying the hatchet, but when commissioners objected it was replaced with the captured sword and the hatchet placed at his feet.

First Position Marker

From the first position marker:

13th Vt.
F.V. Randall, Colonel
Right of Stannard’s Brigade
1st Position 3d Day
2d 45 yds. in front

The first position marker is 40 feet east of the main monument.

Second Position Marker

From the second position marker:

13th Vt.,
F.V. Randall Colonel
Right of Stannard’s Brigade
2d position 3d day
Next 200 yds to right

The second position marker is 50 yards west from the main monument, on the west side of Hancock Avenue.

Third Position Marker

From the third position marker:

13th Vt.
F.V. Randall, Colonel,
Right of Stannard’s Brigade,
3d Position 3d Day
Struck Pickett’s flank here.

The third position marker is about 220 yards north of the main monument and about 80 yards west of the United States Regulars monument.

Location of the monument to the 13th Vermont Infantry at Gettysburg

The monument to the 13th Vermont Infantry is south of Gettysburg on the east side of Hancock Avenue about 200 yards north of Pleasonton Avenue. (39°48’34.8″N 77°14’10.6″W)