Sunday, September 18, 2016

American Civil War Monuments: 

Gettysburg National Military Park
First Vermont Brigade
Wright Avenue

 photo and text courtesy of LCWRT member Charlie Moore


During late afternoon, July 1st 1863, Major General John Sedgwick received orders  from Major General George Gordon Meade to move his 6th Corps to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  By 6:00 his troops were on the road from near Manchester, Maryland.  They marched through the night arriving at the southern end of the battlefield around 3:00 the next afternoon.  Their forced march of 32 miles in 21 hours ranks as one of the most grueling and incredible marches made by any troops during the Civil War. The 1st Vermont Brigade, made up of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th Vermont Regiments under the leadership of Colonel Lewis Grant, took a reserve position east of the Round Tops in the vicinity of Taneytown Road.  Their position  guarded the extreme left of the Union line. They would remain here in a reserve role through July 4th, when they became part of the pursuit of the Army of Northern Virginia.  Of the 2096 men of the 1st Vermont Brigade who were at Gettysburg only 1 became a casualty, a soldier in the 4th Vermont Regiment.  During their entire service in the War, however, they had a total of 4704 casualties of whom 2439 were fatalities. 

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