Miller's Battery - CS Battery Marker - Gettysburg, PA
Posted by: Groundspeak Regular Member Math Teacher
N 39° 48.200 W 077° 15.356
18S E 306873 N 4408364
There are about 100 of these markers strewn about the Battlefield. This Civil War tablet marks the position of Miller's CS Artillery Battery on July 3-4, 1863 & narrates the events associated with this Battery during the Battle of Gettysburg.
Waymark Code: WMEKTG
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 06/10/2012
Published By:Groundspeak Charter Member BruceS
Views: 4

The Miller's Battery was attached to the Eshleman’s Battalion, which served as a member of the Artillery Reserve in the First Corps, Army of Northern Virginia. The battery was commanded by Captain Merritt B. Miller (1826-1880). Miller was born in New York but lived in New Orleans. In his post-war life he continued to live in the south and was in the sugar business.

The Miller's Battery Tablet is on the left or east side of the road if traveling south along West Confederate Avenue. The monument faces the west. This tablet is in line with a string of similar cast-iron Rebel battery markers, many with cannons flanking the tablets representing the artillery used by each Confederate unit. This marker is flanked by two 12-pounder Confederate bronze Napoleon cannons. I was unable to make out their respective registry numbers which are supposed to be stamped on the muzzles. These muzzles are battered and heavily worn and all I could make out were the foundries where they were manufactures. The cannon to the left was cast at the Columbus Foundry and the one to the right, at the Macon Foundry. Both foundries were once located in Georgia. The marker is 670 feet north of the Millerstown Road intersection. Parking is available at the side of the road at small, intermittently placed cutouts. Please do not park on the grass, park on the side of the road. You will be ticketed. I visited this monument on Saturday, March 10, 2012 at 3:26 PM, just before the clocks were set ahead for the Spring. I was at an elevation of 589 feet, ASL.

These cast iron monuments were first built in 1900 and concluded in 1906 according to the NRHP nomination form. Some sites have the monuments being erected in 1910 or later. All of this tablet nonsense is very confusing and disorganized. 1910 seems to be the most reasonable date so we will go with that. It is amazing with all the work and effort exerted to make the Gettysburg National Military Park a reality, no one took the time to keep accurate records and correct installation dates. The work was done under the direction of the Gettysburg National Park Commission (established by the United States Department of War), after they took over the administration of the park from the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association (whose funds had expired) on March 3, 1893, and whose stewardship was then transferred to the National Park Service in 1933. SOURCE

Draw the Sword, using descriptive help from the NPS site (and me), offers the following description: Cast iron tablet, 3’8" x 3’4", with raised inscription painted in a contrasting color and mounted on fluted cast iron post. All 4’4" H. The inscription on the 3.8' x 3.4' tablet narrates the events associated with Battery during the Battle.

These battery tablets were cast by Calvin Gilbert. Gilbert joined the 87th Pennsylvania Volunteers when the "Rebellion" broke out. Since he was musically inclined, he was made a member of the regimental band. In early 1863, he was promoted to the rank of Captain and sent to Washington D.C. for commissary duty. He served in that capacity until the war ended in 1865, and at war’s end earned the brevet rank of Major. After returning home to Gettysburg, Major Gilbert moved his family to the town of Chambersburg, where he served as the Superintendent of Schools. He also opened an iron foundry there in 1868. When Calvin learned, nearly thirty years later, in 1894, that the Gettysburg Foundry was available, he purchased it with a business partner and moved his family back to Gettysburg. For the next twenty years, the Calvin Gilbert Foundry created ironworks that are still seen today on many historic forts and national battlefields (this tablet), from upstate New York to Florida to Lookout Mountain. Gilbert lived to be 100 years old and attended the Last Reunion of the Blue and Gray for the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg when he was 99. He was a most remarkable man and lived an amazing life.

Look carefully on the reverse side of one of these tablets and his name might be there; I found a tablet or two like this. The inscription on the monument reads:

Army of Northern Virginia
Longstreet's Corps Artillery Reserve
Eshleman's Battalion Miller's Battery

Three Napoleons

July 3 Advanced before daylight into position about 100 yards north of the Peach Orchard. This Battery fired the signal guns for the cannonade preceding Longstreet's assault took part therein and supported the charge of the infantry by advancing 450 yards and keeping up a vigorous fire. After the repulse of the assault moved to the left and west of the Emmitsburg road ready to aid in resisting a countercharge if attempted. From loss of horses but one gun could then be used. The others were sent to the rear and that gun was withdrawn after dark.

July 4 At 9 a.m. marched with the Battalion to Cahstown to reinforce the cavalry escorting the wagon train.

Losses heavy but not reported in detail.

There are hundreds of non-sculpted monumentation for the various Confederate States & Union units which fought at Gettysburg. There are 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. Battalion/battery/advance position markers and regimental monuments for United States Regulars & Confederate have their own distinct design (2), bringing the total to ten designs at the battlefield. The bronze tablets (the brigade monuments) were created by Albert Russell & Sons Co. of Newburyport, Massachusetts. The granite bases which accompany the various tablets were created by the Van Amringe Company out of Boston, Massachusetts. The cast iron tablets were of course manufactured by the aforementioned Calvin Gilbert. The 1910 Gettysburg Commission report lists the awarded contracts to these companies (not Gilbert) for the tablets. 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 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:
CONFEDERATE BATTERY TABLETS (ADVANCED POSITION MARKERS)
These tablets are 3’8" x 3’4" in dimensions, with carefully prepared inscriptions cast in raised letters painted in white (contrasting the black background) describing the part taken in the battle by each artillery battery, their position and stating its numbers and losses so far as practicable to obtain. Most of the CS battery markers state the losses were not reported in detail. The brigade which each battery served under is written first on the tablet, then proceeded by the battery name, usually accompanied by some colorful artillery name. They are mounted on iron pillars or fluted cast iron posts about 3 feet high, grouted in the ground, and the tablets are inclined at a suitable angle so that the inscriptions can easily be read by persons riding or driving on the avenue. Every tablet is 4’4" in height. The advance position markers were cast by Calvin Gilbert. SOURCE & SOURCE. These tablets usually have accompanying artillery pieces which flank the tablet on either side. There can be as little as one cannon and as many as four. The cannons usually represent the battery and the armaments that specific battery used at Gettysburg. The cannons presumably point in the same direction as they once fired at the enemy in 1863. Sometimes only the cannon pads are present as the guns are periodically removed for service, cleaning, restoration, maintenance, etc.


** There are about 25 or approximately one exact page or so of these types of Battery/Battalion tablets which were inadvertently left off of the narrative list and as such, I am unsure about their structure numbers. There are corresponding gaps in the NPS/NRHP ordered list of structures which is where they should have been placed. I believe when this list of contributing structures was digitized, the omission occurred. The Miller Artillery Tablet is one of those contributing monuments left off of the narrative list. It of course does contribute like the other tablets which made the narrative list and has the same short and long description as the others. The nomination forms also have a whole host of other errors, including grammatical, informational, pictorial and historical mistakes. I have included the page of battery tablets to show where this tablet should have been listed. The list goes by location and the other tablets make up part of the battery line where this tablet is found. I have found four battery tablets attached to the Eshleman’s Battalion which were accidentally left off the list.**

The Miller's Battery - CS Battery Marker 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.

From the Nomination Form:
Civil War tablet that marks position of Miller's Battery on July 3-4, 1863. Narrates events associated w/ Battery during Battle.

Short Physical Description:
N/A

Long Physical Description:
These 100 tablets locate the positions of batteries and brigades not otherwise marked by monumentation. They consist of cast iron tablets with raised inscriptions painted in a contrasting color and are mounted on fluted cast iron posts. These tablets are scattered throughout the avenue system marking military positions. Those tablets designating artillery positions have from one to four mounted cannons flanking them. Designed by E. B. Cope. They are 4.4 feet high and the tablets are 3.8x3.4 feet.


My Sources
1. NRHP Nomination Form
2. Stone Sentinels
3. Virtual Gettysburg
4. Draw the Sword
5. Historical Marker Database

Date Installed or Dedicated: 07/01/1910

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

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