Humphreys and the 11th Massachusetts - Gettysburg

Monuments to Union Brigadier General Andrew Humphreys and the 11th Massachusetts Infantry stand on the Emmitsburg Road at Gettysburg. The stone sword-wielding arm of the 11th Massachusetts still awaits repair at the time of this posting after being ripped down and broken by vandals on a spree that left two others monuments heavily damaged in early 2006. (Click image for larger view).

'Limber up and get out' -Gettysburg

The position held by the 9th Massachusetts Battery, the last to leave the Wheatfield Road line of artillery, is marked with a stone monument and a pair of cannon near the Peach Orchard at Gettysburg. It was at a nearby farmhouse, however, where the battery was hardest pressed. Capt. John Bigelow, ordered to 'limber up and get out" as the Confederates collapsed the Union's Peach Orchard salient, feared his gunners would be shot down if they stopped firing the cannons to pull them out. Instead, he ordered firing on the run, moving back with each gun's blast. The battery was finally ready for a more traditional withdrawal when Bigelow was ordered to hold his ground in a tight corner of land at the Trostle House as the Union artillery line was reformed on Cemetery Ridge. Guns were lost as the rebels mixed with the battery before the final chaotic withdrawal. Bigelow reported his battery had fired three tons of ammunition. He also lost 8 killed, 18 wounded and two missing, plus 45 horses, essential sacrifices to buy time. (Click image for larger view.)

1st Andrew Sharpshooters - Gettysburg

The 1st Andrew Sharpshooters monument stands on Cemetery Ridge at Gettysburg. The Massachusetts men, in a unit named for their governor, would have employed the telescopic sight pictured on the monument. The monument carries the inscription "In God We Put Our Trust, But Kept Our Powder Dry." (Click image for larger view).

The First Massachusetts - Gettysburg

The monument to the First Massachusetts stands on the Union line temporarily held along the Emmitsburg Road during the fighting of the second day. The men here skirmished most of the day with their Confederate counterparts before the massive rebel attacks broke the thinly held line and sent the survivors of Union Major General Daniel Sickles' Third Corps in retreat to safety on a bolstered line on Cemetery Ridge. (Click image for larger view).

15th Massachusetts - Gettysburg

The 15th Massachusetts Infantry monument sits among dozens of others along Hancock Avenue at Gettysburg. The men of the 15th Massachusetts entered the fight here on the second day, bringing resistance to the Confederate attacks that finally stalled at the Union center.