Pender's Division - CS Division Tablet - Gettysburg, PA
Posted by: Groundspeak Regular Member Math Teacher
N 39° 49.304 W 077° 14.744
18S E 307798 N 4410384
This monolith is 1 of 10 CS Division tablets in the park and marks the command position of Pender's Division during the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863. The monument is located on west side of West Confederate Avenue, north of McMillan Woods.
Waymark Code: WMEHJ5
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 05/31/2012
Published By:Groundspeak Regular Member Lat34North
Views: 5

Pender’s Division served as a member of Hill’s Corps in the Army of Northern Virginia. Major General William Dorsey Pender (February 6, 1834 – July 18, 1863) was one of the youngest, and most promising, generals fighting for the Confederacy in the American Civil War. He was mortally wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg. Following the death of Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson, Gen. Robert E. Lee reorganized his army and promoted A.P. Hill to command the newly formed Third Corps. Pender, at the young age of 29, was promoted to major general and division command. He was well regarded by his superiors. Lee wrote to Jefferson Davis, "Pender is an excellent officer, attentive, industrious and brave; has been conspicuous in every battle, and, I believe, wounded in almost all of them." Pender took some shrapnel in the leg. Later, an artery ruptured, his leg was amputated in an effort to save him but it was too late, he did a short while later. His death was a major blow for the Confederacy.

The Pender's Division - CS Division Tablet is across from a patch of woods and north of McMillan Woods, in line with many other similar tablets and cannons along West Confederate Avenue, on the right or west side when traveling south; the marker faces the east. Parking is rather easy in this area as there are intermittent cutouts along the sides of the roads for cars to pull over. Stay off the grass when pulling over or you will be ticketed by Park police. There are many monuments and cannons in this area so expect to be here for at least 30 minutes or more to see everything. I visited this monument on Saturday, March 10, 2012 at approximately 12:17 PM, just before the clocks were set ahead for the Spring. I was at 593 feet ASL elevation.

Draw the Sword, with descriptive help from the NPS site, offers the following description: One of ten Confederate division monuments that describe the movements and itenirary of each division of the Army of Northern Virginia. Designed by E. B. Cope. The locations of the markers indicate the general location of the battle lines of the various Confederate divisions during the battle.

Monument is a rock-faced granite monolith with polished face on which is affixed a bronze narrative tablet. Dimensions: 4.2 feet x 2.0 feet, with an overall height of 7.0 feet. The tablet was erected on July 1, 1907 by the Gettysburg National Military Park Commission. The inscription on this monolith reads:

C.S.A.
Army of Northern Virginia
Third Army Corps

Pender's Division Major Gen. William D. Pender
Brig. Gen. James H. Lane, Major Gen. I.R. Trimble

First Brigade - Col. Abner Perrin
Second Brigade - Brig. Gen. James H. Lane
Third Brigade - Brig. Gen. Edward L. Thomas
Fourth Brigade Brig. Gen. A.M. Scales, Lieut. Col. G.T. Gordon, Col. W. Lee J. Lowrance
Artillery Battalion Four Batteries - Major William T. Poague

July 1. The Division moved about 8 a.m. in the direction of Gettysburg following Heth's Division. A line of battle was formed on the right and left of the pike 3 miles from town. About 3 p.m. a part of Ewell's Corps appeared on the left and the Union forces making a strong demonstration an advance was ordered. Heth became vigorously engaged. The Division moved to the support passing through the lines forced the Union troops to Seminary Ridge. Scales's Brigade moved to the left flanking this position. The Union troops gave way retiring to Cemetery Ridge. The Division reformed on the Ridge the left resting on Fairfield Road.

July 2. In position on the Ridge not engaged except heavy skirmishing along the line.

July 3. During the morning two Brigades ordered to report to Lieut. Gen. Longstreet as a support to Gen. Pettigrew and were placed in rear of right of Heth's Division which formed a portion of the column of assault. The line moved forward on mile in view of the fortified position on Cemetery Ridge exposed to severe fire. The extreme right reached the works but was compelled to fall back. The Division reformed where it rested before making the attack.

July 4. The Division during the night took up the line of march.

Casualties, killed 262, wounded 1312, missing 116, Total 1690.

There are hundreds of non-sculpted monumentation for the various Confederate States & Union units which fought at Gettysburg, about 10 different variations of tablets, markers and monoliths by my reckoning. Six designs represent brigade (2), division (2), corps (2), & army headquarters (2), each different in a subtle way so as to distinguish between armies. Battery/advance position markers and regimental monuments for United States Regulars & Confederate have their own distinct design (2), bringing the total to ten deigns at the battlefield. Many of the tablets were created by Albert Russell & Sons Co. of Newburyport, Massachusetts and are made of granite, bronze and concrete or like this one, cast iron. All of these tablets were designed by architect Colonel Emmor Bradley Cope (July 23, 1834 - May 28, 1927). He designed pretty much every tablet for both the Union and Confederate armies, each one distinct, with several different varieties. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Gettysburg, as well as he should be as this park and most of the things seen here today were designed by him and as such, are his legacy. These monuments/tablets were erected just after the turn of the century during the first and beginning of the second decade of the 20th century. Each one has since been preserved or restored at least twice since the turn of the 21st century. The plaques and tablets were erected by the Gettysburg Park Commission (established by the War Department). The Gettysburg Park Commission is also referred to as the Gettysburg National Military Park Commission or the Gettysburg National Park Commission, to clear up any confusions, especially my own.

On October 1, 1898, the Gettysburg National Park Commission in a letter to the Secretary of War set gave recommendations for continuing the task of organizing and progressing the work of the Gettysburg National Military Park. Every November they wrote their annual report which outlined the work of the GNPC for that year. The following is an excerpt from that report relevant to this waymark. The link at the end of the paragraph will take you to the entire report. The method of marking the positions of troops on this field, as approved by the War Department, is to place the principal tablet or monument of each command at the position occupied by the command in the main line of battle, and to mark the several important positions subsequently reached by each command in the course of the battle by subordinate and ancillary tablets, with appropriate brief inscriptions giving interesting details and occurrences and noting the day and hour as nearly as possible. SOURCE

Most of the Commission reports have been digitized and can be found HERE. The initial 1893 report up to and including 1921 can be found here. 1922 to 1926 are missing and have yet to be discovered. The years 1927 to 1933 were discovered in 1996 and are also included. To my knowledge this is the most comprehensive list of documents that illustrated the development and formation of the park.

Information about these specific types of monuments:
DIVISION HEADQUARTERS MARKER
Division headquarters are rectangular bronze tablets mounted on large, rectangular stones. Union headquarters have a corps or service branch symbol (like a cross, clover or crescent moon) as a separate bronze piece above the tablet, while Confederate headquarters are labeled "C.S.A." on a separate bronze piece in an oval. There are 22 Union and 10 Confederate Division markers at Gettysburg. Both markers are of similar design and were all construed of Winnsboro (S.C.), granite. Each stands seven feet in height. SOURCE & SOURCE


The Pender's Division - CS Division Tablet is a contributing feature to the Gettysburg National Military Park Historic District which is nationally significant under NR Criteria A, B, C & D. Areas of Significance: Military, Politics/Government, Landscape Architecture, Conservation, Archeology-Historic. Period of Significance: 1863-1938. The original National Register Nomination was approved by the Keeper March 19, 1975. An update to this nomination was approved by the Keeper on January 23, 2004. The tablet is designated as contributing structure number MN761.

From the nomination form:
1 of 10 CS Division Tablets in Park. Marks the command position of Pender's CS Division during Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863. Located on W side of West Confederate Ave, N of McMillan Woods.

Short Physical Description:
Rough-hewn monolith, 4'2"x2', 7' high. Bronze inscription tablet, 3'8"x3'6", mounted on polished face. Bronze oval plate inscribed "C.S.A." in raised letters.

Long Physical Description:
These 10 monuments consist of a rock-faced granite monolith with polished face on which is affixed a bronze narrative tablet. The locations of the markers indicate the general location of the battle lines of the various Confederate divisions during the battle. Designed by E. B. Cope. 4.2 feet x 2.0 feet, with an overall height of 7.0 feet.


My Sources
1. NRHP Narrative
2. Stone Sentinels
3. Virtual Gettysburg
4. Draw the Sword
5. Historical Marker Database
6. Wikipedia

Date Installed or Dedicated: 07/01/1907

Name of Government Entity or Private Organization that built the monument: Gettysburg National Military Park Commission

Union, Confederate or Other Monument: Confederate

Rating (1-5):

Related Website: [Web Link]

Photo or photos will be uploaded.: yes

Visit Instructions:

To log a visit, a waymarker must visit the monument or memorial in person and post a photo. Personal observations and comments will be appreciated.

Search for...
Geocaching.com Google Map
Google Maps
MapQuest
Bing Maps
Nearest Waymarks
Nearest American Civil War Monuments and Memorials
Nearest Geocaches
Create a scavenger hunt using this waymark as the center point
Recent Visits/Logs:
Date Logged Log User Rating  
Searcher28 visited Pender's Division - CS Division Tablet - Gettysburg, PA 09/03/2016 Searcher28 visited it
ChapterhouseInc visited Pender's Division - CS Division Tablet - Gettysburg, PA 04/12/2015 ChapterhouseInc visited it

View all visits/logs