September 29, 2014

 

If you catch Gettysburg’s portrait statues in a certain light, they seem almost real, bronze representations of soldiers standing at attention for all eternity. This fellow from Smith’s 4^TH New York Independent Battery, seen from Devil’s Den, is one of those eerie guardians. You may remember that eight years ago, this monument was vandalized, but thankfully it has been restored to its former glory.

**HONORED TODAY**

PVT. WILLIAM L. PURBECK

5^TH Massachusetts Light Artillery

Born 1847 --- July 02/03, 1863 at age 16

Pvt. Purbeck was one of many soldiers who managed to slip by the recruiters and their “eighteen and above” rule, enlisting at the age of 15 or so to join the Union artillerists. He was a printer by trade, killed by a shell fragment at Gettysburg.


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