Focus: 4th New York Cavalry
Posted to the Project on 03 Jun 07
Next up in the monument series is another cavalry regimental monument, this one belonging to the 4th New York Cavalry.
This monument is located near that of the 8th Pennsylvania Cavalry on Pleasanton Avenue, near the Pennsylvania Monument — which makes sense because the4th New York Cavalry were members of the same brigade as the 8th Pennsylvania Cavalry. As previously explained on the 8th Pennsylvania post, this brigade, commanded by Colonel Huey, was detached in Maryland during the actual battle of Gettysburg. The monuments were thus placed in an area set aside for such units that weren’t actually on the Gettysburg battlefield.
The regiment was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Augustin Pruyn during the Campaign.
Nicknamed the “German Cavalry,” (or “Dickel’s Mounted Rifles”) interestingly, Company H came from Cleveland, Ohio. Other companies were raised from New York City and from other counties in the state of New York.
This monument features a beautiful bronze relief of a horse’s head. Other features of the monument include the state seal and a bronze cavalryman’s sword at the base. The regimental name is, of course, also carved into the stone.
In service with the Union Army from August 1861 until the end of the War, the 4th New York Cavalry suffered 5 officers and 39 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded. It also lost 3 officers and 54 enlisted men due to disease as well.
Members of the Cavalry Corps, 2nd Division, 2nd Brigade
Present in Maryland guarding the trains during the battle
Monument: Pleasanton Avenue