November 25, 2013

The Pennsylvania State Memorial has always been one of my favorite monuments on the field, but I never spent much time up close and personal until my last trip. On that particular visit I made sure to really take in the details, from statues to ceiling reliefs to plaques dedicated to each Pennsylvania regiment that fought at Gettysburg. Yet the thing I enjoyed most was . . . the artillery pieces on the lawn. Which represented Hexamer’s New Jersey Battery. And had nothing to do with the memorial. :-)

The wheel used as a frame helps to carry a historic cannon tube that dates from 1864 and was cast at West Point Foundry. The two Napoleons seen across Hancock Avenue represent Thomas’ Battery C, 4^TH U.S. Artillery, and their cannon tubes date from 1862. The marker seen at right is for the Artillery Reserve. Further down the line, another artillery battery sits, representing Daniels’ 9^TH Michigan Battery. Two monuments complete the view. To the right of the last visible cannon is the diamond-shaped monument for the 17^TH Maine Infantry. Next to it is the New Hampshire Sharpshooters, actually a beautiful, incredibly-detailed monument that can’t be seen properly in this shot.

Above and to the left of the last monument, the Nicholas Codori barn can be seen through the trees. Clicking for a larger version of the photo reveals an outbuilding, the barn, and the farmhouse, as well as part of the thicket and white fence. The small white marker in the distance between the Codori buildings marks the spot where Gen. Hancock was wounded.

 **HONORED TODAY**

PVT. JOHN G. GRAY

Co. I, 111^TH New York Infantry

Born 1839 --- Died July 02, 1863 at age 24

Pvt. Gray’s son John Henry was only forty-one days old when his father, Pvt. John Gray enlisted in the Union Army. That baby wasn’t yet fourteen months old when Pvt. Gray was killed at Gettysburg, felled by a bullet to the chest. John was later buried at Gettysburg National Cemetery in the “unknown” section.


(c) 2013 Skies of Blue and Gray