72nd Pennsylvania Infantry Monument - Gettysburg, PA - Figurative Public Sculpture on Waymarking.com

The Draw the Sword site helped out by the NPS narrative and the SIRIS site offers the following description: Uniformed Fire Zouave soldier stands on a rough plinth on a square, tiered base. Holding his weapon in both hands, he swings it over his proper right shoulder, as though preparing to strike. The Seal of the State of Pennsylvania in relief is affixed to the lower front of the base. The base has bronze tablets. The shaft has an incised inscription. Erected by the surviving members of the 72nd Pennsylvania Infantry, Philadelphia Brigade in memory of their deceased members. The sculpture indicates the position held by the 72nd Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Brigade on July 3, 1863, where they stood in line and fired volleys into Armistead’s line as he advanced across the angle wall. The only monument at Gettysburg that was subject to a fight that went all the way up to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The 72nd had selected a location 283 feet away from where the GBMA wanted it. They went to court and the Commonwealth ruled in favor of the 72nd. About 1000 people attended the 1891 statuary dedication, and Edward McPherson accepted the monument for the GBMA

The monument was dedicated in July 4, 1891 by the surviving members of the 72nd Infantry. The monument is composed of granite w/ bronze relief as well as the bronze statue and has the following dimensions: The sculpture is 13 feet 6 inches in height and the base is approximately 5 feet 9 inches in height by 4 feet 9 inches². The statue was sculpted by someone named Stephens. I do not know the first name. I took a picture of his name he wrote on the base of the statue and the date, 1888. The monument was designed by J. Reed and manufactured at the Bureau Brothers foundry, a well-known founder if you are familiar with the monumentation about this park. The 2011 "Gettysburg" quarter was developed with an image of the 72nd's statuary monument "in consultation with representatives of Gettysburg National Military Park". There are inscriptions on all four sides of the monument incised in the polished granite which reads:

The Gettysburg National Park Commission [The Commission is also referred to as the Gettysburg National Military Park Commission or the Gettysburg 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 later transferred to the National Park Service in 1933 (SOURCE), took a pictorial inventory of many of the existing monuments in the eventual historic district (a majority of them seem to have been Pennsylvania monuments being there are over one hundred of them). These pictures were included in their yearly Commission reports. I have found hundreds of these pictures on Virtual Gettysburg, a comprehensive website which pictorially inventories all the monuments and provides minor narratives as well. All the photos look the same as if they were taken by the same camera and in the same approximate time period. The entire park looks so young and immature when the photos were taken. After all, the Battle of Gettysburg was thirty-seven years old at the time and war veterans were only in their fifties. I have never been able to find any photo credits (I know the New York monument pictures from 1902 were taken by members of the Park Commissions and published in their annual November report to the War Department) but I know they are public domain because their copyrights have all expired. This picture probably represents the efforts of the Commission well into the Commission period. Most of my pictures I use come from a website called Virtual Gettysburg. It seems however, all the pictures of the New York monuments were either borrowed from or shared with a New York monuments website. That site, The New York State Division of Military & Naval Affairs can be found HERE. This picture was found on the Virtual Gettysburg site which can be found HERE.

Clearly it is evident, through a survey of historical pictures and other archival information (such as the annual Commission reports), much change has occurred at Gettysburg Battlefield. With the passage of legislation affording historical status to this site as well as placing it under the auspices of the National Park Service, its patrons and caretakers had to groom and prepare the area to make it more authentic as well as educational. Today the battlefield has managed to maintain an authentic 1863 feel, but back then, as evident in the many photos, it was a desolate, empty place of brown and green fields broken only by the occasional farmstead, their outbuildings and fields of crops. With the emergence and dedication of hundreds of monuments during the commemoration period and all the other dedications prior to 1900, and the development of farmland, some change has occurred but for the most part, nothing too dramatic. Conservatively, I put this picture @ 1902, which matches up with the bulk of the New York monument pictures which are dated and makes this picture tandem about 110-years old. The pictures hardly any change. The background of both pictures clearly shows the position where the Rebels came the furthest to attack the Union positions at Cemetery Ridge in what is known as the ill-fated Pickett's Charge. The are wonderfully identical including the Copse of Trees and the High Water mark monument.

The 72nd Pennsylvania Infantry Monument is located on the left or west side of Hancock Avenue (RD310) if traveling north along the road at an area called The Angle. The monument is 204 feet from the road, resting in the grass, 180 feet west northwest of the High Water Mark of the Rebellion Monument (MN230), and in front of the Copse of Trees. On this side of the road there are about 1080 feet of green fields with a line of monumentation spread across it representing the line of union regiments who defended Cemetery Ridge at The Angle against Longstreet's assault also referred to as Pickett's Charge on July 3, 1863, the final day of the Great Battle. This is the last monument in that long line of monumentation. 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 Tuesday, August 7, 2012 at approximately 4:43 P.M. I was at an elevation of 602 feet, ASL. I used a Canon PowerShot 14.1 Megapixel, SX210 IS digital camera for the photos. The front or primary inscription of the monument faces north so one would have to face south to view the front. I stood approximately 15 feet away in the grass and faced southeast, placing the monument at an angle and revealing the west and north parts of the monument.

The 72nd Pennsylvania Infantry was also known as Baxter’s Fire Zouaves. During the battle of Gettysburg, it served as a member of Webb’s Brigade in Gibbon’s Division of the Second Corps, Army of the Potomac, a Fighting 300 Regiment and was part of the famous Philadelphia Brigade. They wore a very Americanized zouave uniform, consisting of a zouave jacket trimmed with red without a tombeux on the jacket, sky-blue trousers with a red stripe down the leg, a sky-blue zouave vest trimmed in red, white gaiters, and a dark blue kepi. The jacket was decorated with 16 ball brass buttons down the front of the jacket, which were not part of the original French Zouave uniform.

The 72nd Pennsylvania Infantry was commanded by Colonel Dewitt C. Baxter (1829-1881) @ Gettysburg. At Gettysburg, Col. Baxter replaced the wounded General Webb in command of the Brigade, and Lt. Colonel Hesser replaced him in command of the 72nd Regiment. After the war, Baxter was a naval officer at the Custom House from 1867-1871. In the mid-1870s he was involved in the Keystone Portable Forge Company. He also may have revived his Panoramic Directory business in the late 1870s. Upon his death in May 1881, his obituary reported, Baxter was holding "a position at the Custom house." He died on May 9, 1881, and his obituary appeared on the front-page the following day in the Philadelphia Public Ledger. He was originally buried in Monument Cemetery in Philadelphia, but later he was reinterred in Lawnview in 1956. Under Baxter's command, the 72nd brought 458 men to the battlefield and among them, 44 men were killed, 146 were wounded and 2 went missing.

(Front):72nd Pennsylvania Infantry
Philadelphia Fire Zouaves
Mustered in Aug. 10, 1861
Mustered out Aug. 24, 1864
Total enrollment —— 1600
Killed and mortally wounded 195
wounded ———— 558
Died of disease & in rebel prisons 70
Captured or missing ——— 165
Total loss ————— 988

2nd Corps
(Left):July 2, 1863.
The regiment reached this angle at 1 a.m.,
took position in rear of this monument
supported Cushing's Battery
A, 4th U.S. Artillery.
At 6 p.m. assisted in repulsing
an attack of the enemy and in
making a counter-charge, driving
them beyond the emmitsburg road,
capturing 250 prisoners.

2nd Division
(Right):July 3, 1863.
The regiment assisted in repulsing the
the charge of the enemy on the angle at
3 p.m. and in capturing many standards
and prisoners
During the cannonading which preceded the charge
the regiment was in line 60 yards to the left and rear
of this monument when the rebels forced the troops
from the first line the 72nd fought its way to the front
and occupied the wall
Present at Gettysburg 458, killed & mortally wounded 62
Wounded 133 ——— Missing 2
Total of killed, wounded and missing 197.

72nd Penna. Infantry
(Back):Yorktown.
Fair Oaks.
Peach Orchard.
Savage Station.
Glendale.
Malvern Hill.
Chantilly.
Antietam.
Fredericksburg.
Chancellorsville.
Gettysburg.
Mine Run.
Wilderness.
Spottylvania.
North Anna.
Tolopotomy.
Cold Harbor.
Petersburg.

2nd Brigade

The 72nd Pennsylvania Infantry Monument 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 monument is identified as structure number MN226.

From the Nomination Form:
1 of 110 MN to PA. Dedicated 07/04/1891. Indicates advance post of 72nd PA infty (PA Zouaves) July 3, 1863 during repulse of Armistead's Brigade. Located on Webb Ave in the Angle. Only monument on field located by PA State Supreme Court decision. [actually on the west side of Hancock Avenue].

Short Physical Description:
Mn: 2 part stepped base 5'9"x4'9" rough & finish cuts w/ bronze tablets. Granite shaft: 2 part stepped, polished, w/ incised inscrip. Top: Bronze scuplture of "Fire Zouave" in swinging rifle stance.

Long Physical Description:
Monument is a two-part stepped polished granite shaft topped by a bronze sculpture of a "Fire Zouave" in swinging rifle position and set on a two-part 5.9x4.9 foot rough and finish cut stepped base. The base has bronze tablets. The shaft has an incised inscription. Sculptured by __ Stephens. Located on the former Webb Avenue in the Angle. It is the only monument on the battlefield that’s location was reaffirmed by a Pennsylvania State Supreme Court decision.