The monument to the 111th New York Volunteers is south of Gettysburg on Hancock Avenue by the Brian Farm. (39.815416° N, 77.235392° W; Google map; Tour map: Hancock Avenue at Ziegler’s Grove)

About the monument to the 111th New York

The monument is a 6′ 9″ tall brass statue of a soldier set on a granite base, with an overall height of 14′. It was sculpted by Caspar Buberl, and is of an infantryman advancing, rifle cocked and ready. The monument stands on the site where three color bearers and two officers fell during Pickett’s Charge. The monument was dedicated on June 26, 1891 by the State of New York.

The 111th New York at Gettysburg

The 111th New York was commanded at the Battle of Gettysburg by Colonel Clinton D. MacDougall, a banker from Auburn originally from Scotland. He was wounded on July 3rd, and Lieutenant Colonel Isaac M. Lusk took command until he, too was wounded. Captain Aaron P. Seeley then took over the regiment.

The 111th, along with its sister regiments in the brigade, had been branded as the “Harpers Ferry cowards” for their surrender – through no fault of their own – as part of the garrison of Harper’s Ferry during the Antietam campaign in 1862. Paroled but forced to spend a miserable winter in a Union prisoner of war camp in Chicago until exchanged, the brigade was looking for a chance to clear their name – and got their wish at Gettysburg.

See Colonel MacDougall’s and Captain Seeley’s Official Reports on the 111th New York Volunteers in the Battle of Gettysburg

Attached to the 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division, 2nd Corps, Army of the Potomac

From the front of the monument:

111th New York Infantry.

3rd Brigade, 3rd Division 2nd Corps.

From the rear:

111th New York Infantry.
Arrived early morning July 2nd 1863, position near
Ziegler’s Grove. Went to relief of 3rd Corps in afternoon;
took this position that evening and held it to close of battle.
Number engaged (8 companies) 390

Casualties
Killed 58, wounded 177, missing 14, total 249
Recruited in Cayuga and Wayne Counties.
Mustered in at Auburn August 20, 1862.
Engagements — Bolivar Heights and all battles of 2nd
Corps from Gettysburg to Appomattox.
Total enrollment — 75 officers — 1730 men
Losses — killed and died — 12 officers, 394 men
Wounded — 26 officers, 531 men
Total 863
Mustered out June 5, 1865.

The 111th New York is featured on two wayside markers at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park: We Began Firing at Will and From Skirmish Line to Burial Ground.

See more on the 111th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the Civil War