Harrow's Brigade - US Brigade Tablet - Gettysburg, PA
Posted by: Groundspeak Regular Member Math Teacher
N 39° 48.643 W 077° 14.155
18S E 308608 N 4409140
This monument represents 1 of 75 Civil War US Brigade Tablets at Gettysburg and records the movement & itinerary of Harrow's 1st Brigade during the Battle of Gettyburg, July 1-3, 1863.
Waymark Code: WMF619
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 08/28/2012
Published By:Groundspeak Regular Member Lat34North
Views: 6

The 2nd Corps, 2nd Division, 1st Brigade was also known as Harrow’s Brigade. During the battle of Gettysburg, it served as a member of Gibbon’s Division in the Second Corps, Army of the Potomac. The brigade was commanded by Brigadier General William Harrow (October 20, 1820 – June 1, 1886), a Vermont farmer, teacher, and Union general in the American Civil War. In April 1863, Harrow was finally promoted to brigadier general and led the 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, II Corps, during the Gettysburg Campaign. On July 2 at the Battle of Gettysburg elements of his brigade were engaged against the attack of Maj. Gen. Richard H. Anderson on the Union lines. Defending a portion of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge during the climatic fighting on July 3, Harrow's men helped repel a part of Pickett's Charge. With the wounding of Gibbon, Harrow was elevated once more to command of the 2nd Division. The division had suffered over 1,600 casualties out of 3,773 men in a contest that Harrow reported had raged with "unparalleled ferocity." Harrow's men captured four Confederate battle flags in their front. His own brigade suffered as many as 768 casualties.

Harrow's sobriety was often in question; history makes it seem the guy liked to drink. Soon after Gettysburg, Harrow was relieved of command and never again served in the Army of the Potomac, but he was soon reinstated in field command by his old friend, President Abraham Lincoln. While campaigning for presidential candidate Horace Greeley in 1872, Harrow died in a train derailment accident at New Albany, Indiana.

The Stannard's Brigade - US Brigade Tablet, also known as the Army of The Potomac 1st Corps 3rd Division 3rd Brigade Tablet, is located on Hancock Avenue, on the left or west side of the road if traveling north, along Cemetery Ridge and just a bit south of the U.S. Regulars Monument and 650 feet south of the "Copse of Trees", the site of the High Water Mark of the Confederacy (Pickett's Charge). The tablet is 62 feet away from the road and faces the opposite direction, to the west, in the direction of the once attacking COnfederates during Pickett's Charge. This area is an absolute beehive of activity and represents the best of what Gettysburg has to offer, both historically and monumentally. Parking is plentiful and is available road-side at intermittently enlarged shoulder cut-outs, usually marked with white striping. Be sure to keep vehicles off the grass or you will be ticketed by park police. I visited this monument on Monday, August 13, 2012 at 3:43 PM. I was at an elevation of 579 feet, ASL. I used a Canon PowerShot 14.1 Megapixel, SX210 IS digital camera for the photos.

The monument work was completed 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. According to the NRHP narrative, this monument was built in 1911, which according to my experience is questionable. I can't resolve if the 1911 date represents a completion of the physical construction of the tablet or when it was started with an unknown installation date. Other sources have it at 1910 & 1912. I don't know if anyone actually kept exact records of when these things were installed.

Draw the Sword, with descriptive help from the NPS site, offers the following description: One of 74 (or 75 depending who you listen to) brigade monuments erected at Gettysburg by the War Department to describe the movements and itinerary of each Union brigade of the Army of the Potomac. The pedestals consist of sea-green granite with a square 36” x 36” base; they weigh 3500 pounds. On each pedestal is mounted a bronze tablet with rounded corners weighing 300 pounds. Bronze inscription tablet, 4”0’ x 3’8”, attached to slant face of polished sea green granite monolith. 3’0” squared base of monument tapers to a smaller dimension at the tablet. All 5’4” H. The monuments were designed by E.B. Cope. Many of the inscription tablets were made of bronze melted down from Civil War cannons. The circle or moon symbol of the First Corps appears at the top of the tablet, just above the main inscription. The inscription on this tablet reads:

Army of the Potomac
Second Corps Second Division
First Brigade

Brig. Gen. William Harrow
Col. Francis E. Heath
19th. Maine 15th. Massachusetts
1st. Minnesota 82d. New York Infantry

July 2 Early in the morning took position in the rear of Second and Third Brigades. The 15th Mass. and the 82d. New York were advanced to the Emmitsburg Road on the right of Cordori House to support Third Corps the other two regiments were moved to the left on a line with Third Brigade. The Third Corps having been forced back the advanced regiments wwere compelled to retired to the main line by Brig. Gen. Wright's Brigade which captured several pieces of Artillery but supports coming quickly to the Union line they forced the Confederates back across the Emmitsburg Road with heavy loss and retook the captured Artillery. Col. G.H. Ward 15th Mass. and Col. J.J. Huston 82d New York were mortally wounded.

July 3 At 1 p.m. a terrific cannonade was opened along the Confederate line in front which continued for about two hours followed by a charge of over 15,000 Infantry its right striking Second and Third Brigades. This Brigade moved at once to the right and assisted the other two Brigades in repelling the assault and capturing a large number of prisoners and several flags.

Casualties. Killed 10 officers 137 men. Wounded 46 officers 527 men. Captured or missing 1 officer 47 men. Total 768.

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 & 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 & regimental monuments for U.S. Regulars & Confederate have their own distinct design (2), bringing the total to 10 designs at the battlefield. The bronze tablets were created by Albert Russell & Sons Co. of Newburyport, Mass. The granite bases which accompany the various tablets were created by the Van Amringe Company from Boston, Mass. The cast iron tablets were manufactured by 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 & Rebel armies, each one distinct, w/ 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 were erected just after the turn of the century during the first & 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 & tablets were erected by the Gettysburg Park Commission (established by the War Dept.). 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 & 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 & including 1921 can be found here. 1922 to 1926 are missing & 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:
BRIGADE HEADQUARTERS MARKERS (FOR UNION & CONFEDERATE TABLETS)
Brigade Headquarters (and Confederate artillery battalions, equivalent to Union artillery brigades) are bronze tablets mounted at an angle on a stone pedestal. They are the most numerous headquarters at Gettysburg, with over 70 Union and over 60 Confederate examples on the field. Union headquarters are marked with their corps or service branch symbol (like a cross, clover or crescent moon), while Confederate headquarters are simply labeled "C.S.A.". There are seventy-four brigade markers at Gettysburg honoring the AOP’s various brigades. (Other sources say there are 75). They were built by Albert Russell & Sons Co. of Newburyport, Massachusetts and Charles Kappes. The pedestals consist of sea-green granite with a square 36” x 36” base; they weigh 3500 pounds. On each pedestal is mounted a bronze tablet with rounded corners weighing 300 pounds. There are sixty-four brigade markers honoring the Army of North Virginia's various brigades. They were built by Van Amringe Granite Company (pedestals), Albert Russell & Sons Co., Newburyport, Mass (tablets) and Charles Kappes (foundations). The last was completed in December 1910. The 1910 date is disputed by other sites listing the end dates as 1912. The monuments consist of red circular Maine granite bases 34 1/2 inches diameter and weighing 3,000 pounds. On each base is mounted a 300 pound bronze tablet. SOURCE & SOURCE


The Harrow's Brigade - US Brigade Tablet is a contributing feature to the Gettysburg Nat'l Military Park H.D. which is nationally significant under NR Criteria A, B, C & D. Areas of Significance: Military, Politics/Gov't, Landscape Architecture, Conservation, Archeology-Historic. Period of Significance: 1863-1938. The monument is designated as structure no. MN474.

From the Nomination Form:
1 of 75 Civil War US Brigade Tablets in Park. Records movement & itinerary of Harrow's 1st Brigade during Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863.

Short Physical Description:
Bronze inscription tablet, 4”0’ x 3’8”, attached to slant face of polished sea green granite monolith. 3’0” squared base of monument tapers to a smaller dimension at the tablet. All 5’4” H.

Long Physical Description:
Located on W side of Hancock Ave, along route of old south loop of Hancock Avenue.

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

Date Installed or Dedicated: 07/01/1912

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

Union, Confederate or Other Monument: Union

Rating (1-5):

Related Website: [Web Link]

Photo or photos will be uploaded.: yes

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