The Second Massachusetts Infantry is honored by a monument at Gettysburg.

About the Main Monument

When was it dedicated? 1879.

What is it made out of? Sculpture: rough-hewn granite with bronze tablets; Base: rough-hewn granite.

What size is it? Sculpture: approx. 3 ft. x 4 ft. x 21 in.; Base: approx. 13 x 53 x 19 in.

Who made it? Joshua Happolo (Firm), fabricator.

What does it depict? Monument is a monolithic granite shaft of rough cut and tooled edges with a tapered toothed top, and set on a four foot square rough cut base with a tooled edge. It has inset bronze inscription tablets. Overall height is 3.9 feet. Flanking markers are 1.6x.8 foot. It was the first regimental monument erected on the Gettysburg battlefield. The veterans association purchased the land on the Spangler Farm and erected this memorial which contains the names of those killed at Gettysburg on the reverse side.

What does it honor? Monument is located near the site where the regiment, along with the 27th Indiana Infantry, launched an attack on the Confederates along Culp Ridge on the morning of July 3, 1863.

When was this photograph taken? June 3, 2011.

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Where is it located? Located Gettysburg National Military Park, Colgrove Avenue near Spangler’s Meadow and Spangler Spring, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 17325. Located on the south side of Colgrove Avenue near Carman Avenue, on a native boulder.

Is this monument located along the NPS Auto Tour route? Located on extended tour route that includes Culp’s Hill.

Has this monument been moved or changed? This monument has not been changed or materially altered.

Monument Details, Alternative Views, and Contextual Views

At Gettysburg

The 2nd Massachusetts Infantry served as a member of Colgrove’s Brigade in Williams’ Division of the Twelfth Corps, Army of the Potomac. A Fighting 300 Regiment.

Commander: Lt. Col. Charles R. Mudge (October 22, 1839-July 3, 1863). Student at Harvard University. Killed in charge across the Spangler Meadow on the morning of July 3.

Number Engaged: 401

Casualties: 23 killed, 109 wounded, 4 missing

Officers Killed at Gettysburg:

• Capt. Thomas B. Fox, Company K, of Dorchester, mortally wounded on July 3
• Lieutenant Colonel Charles R. Mudge, field officer, of Swampscott, killed on July 3
• Capt. Thomas A. Robeson, Company E, of Cambridge, mortally wounded on July 3
• 2nd Lieutenant Henry V. Stone, Company H, of Brookline, killed on July 3

Soldiers Buried in the Massachusetts Plot of the Gettysburg National Cemetery:

• Sgt. Alonzo Babcock, Company A, D-25
• Pvt. George M. Bailey, Company I, B-7
• Cpl. David B. Brown, Company I, B-24
• Pvt. William T. Bullard, Company A, B-2
• Cpl. Theodore S. Butters, Company I, B-23
• Pvt. James A. Chase, Company C, B-26
• Pvt. Stephen A. Cody, Color Bearer, Company I, B-5
• Pvt. Peter Conlan, Company B, B-20
• Pvt. John Derr, Company D, B-9
• Color Sgt. Leavitt C. Durgin, Company A, B-15
• Pvt. James T. Edmonds, Company I, B-18
• Pvt. William H. Ela, Company D, B-25
• Pvt. John E. Farmington, Company H, B-19
• Pvt. Joseph Furber, Company G, B-11
• Pvt. Fritz Goetz, Company C, B-22
• Cpl. Patrick Hoye, Company A, B-14
• Pvt. John Joy, Company I, B-3
• Pvt. Charles Kiernan, Company F, B-27
• Pvt. William Marshall, Company C, B-16
• Pvt. Frederick Maynard, Company D, B-13
• Pvt. Andrew Nelson, Company D, B-8
• Pvt. Philo H. Peck, Company G, B-4
• Pvt. Sydney S. Prouty, Company A, B-21
• Sgt. Color Guard Rupert J. Sadler, Company D, B-12
• Pvt. Richard Seavers, Company H, B-6
• Pvt. Charles Traynor, Company I, B-1
• Cpl. Rufus Whittier, Company B, B-17
• Cpl. Gordon S. Wilson, Company G, B-10

After Action Report: After Action Report of Lieut. Col. Charles F. Morse (will open a pop up window).

General Information

Raised: Counties of Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Worcester

Regimental History ~ Dyer’s Compendium of the War of the Rebellion:

Organized at Camp Andrew, West Rexbury, and mustered in May 25, 1861. Left State for Hagerstown, Md. July 8; thence moved to Williamsport and Martins burg. Va., July 11-12. Attached to Abercrombie’s Brigade, Patterson’s Army, July, 1861. Abercrombie’s Brigade, Banks’ Division, Dept. of the Shenandoah, to August, 1861. Gordon’s Brigade, Banks’ Division, Army of the Potomac, to March, 1862. Gordon’s 3rd Brigade Williams’ 1st Division, Banks’ 5th Army Corps, to April, 1862. 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, Dept. of the Shenandoah, to June, 1862. 3rd Brigade, 1st Division 2nd Army Corps, Army of Virginia, to September, 1862. 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, 12th Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, to October, 1863. 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, 12th Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to April, 1864. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 20th Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to July, 1865.

SERVICE.–Duty at Harper’s Ferry, W. Va., August to October. 1861. At Conrad’s Ferry October 23-24, and picket duty at Seneca Mills until December 4.. Duty at Frederick, Md., until February 27, 1862. Reconnoissance to Charleston February 27-28. Occupation of Winchester March 12. Pursuit of Jackson up the Shenandoah Valley March 24-April 27. Strasburg March 27. Woodstock April 1. Edenburg April 1-2. Operations in Shenandoah Valley May 15-June 17. Buckton Station May 23. Retreat to Martinsburg and Williamsport May 23-June 6. Middletown and Newtown May 24. Battle of Winchester May 25. (Rear guard May 24-25.) At Williamsport until June 10. Moved to Front Royal June 10-18, thence to Warrenton and Little Washington July 11-17. Pope’s Campaign in Northern Virginia August 6-September 2. Battle of Cedar Mountain August 9. Fords of the Rappahannock August 19-23. Guarding trains during battles of Bull Run August 28-30. Battle of Antietam, Md., September 16-17. Duty at Maryland Heights September 19-October 29. Picket duty at Blackford’s Ford and Sharpsburg, Md., until December. March to Fredericksburg December 12-16. “Mud March” January 20-24, 1863. At Stafford Court House until April 27. Chancellorsville Campaign April 27-May 6. Germania Ford April 29. Battle of Chancellorsville May 1-5. Brandy Station and Beverly Ford June 9, Gettysburg (Pa.) Campaign June 11-July 24. Battle of Gettysburg, Pa., July 1-3. Pursuit to Warrenton Junction, Va., July 5-26. Detached duty in New York City August 16 to September 13. Movement to Stevenson, Ala., September 24-October 3. Guarding Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad at Elkwater Bridge and Tullahoma until April, 1864. Regiment veteranize December 31, 1863, and Veterans on furlough January 10 to March 1, 1864. Atlanta (Ga.) Campaign May 1 to September 9. Demonstration against Rocky Faced Ridge May 8-11. Battle of Resaca May 14-15. Cassville May 19. (Non-Veterans left front for muster out May 22, and mustered out at Chattanooga, Tenn., May 25, 1864.) New Hope Church May 25. Operations on line of Pumpkin Vine Creek, and battles about Dallas, New Hope Church and Allatoona Hills May 25-29. Guard trains to Kingston and back May 29-June 8. Raccoon Creek June 6. Operations about Marietta and against Kenesaw Mountain June 10-July 2. Pine Hill June 11-14. Gilgal or Golgotha Church June 15. Lost Mountain June 15-17. Muddy Creek June 17. Noyes Creek June 19. Kolb’s Farm June 22. Assault on Kenesaw June 27. Ruff’s Mills, Smyrna Camp Ground, July 4. Chattahoochie River July 5-17. Peach Tree Creek July 19-20. Siege of Atlanta July 22-August 25. Operations at Chattahoochie River Bridge August 26-September 2. Occupation of Atlanta September 2-November 15. March to the sea November 15-December 10. Monteith Swamp December 9. Siege of Savannah December 10-21. Campaign of the Carolinas January to April, 1865. Thompson’s Creek, near Chesterfield, March 2. Thompson’s Creek, near Cheraw, S.C., March 3. Averysboro, N. C., March 16. Battle of Bentonville March 19-21. Occupation of Goldsboro March 24. Advance on Raleigh April 9-13. Occupation of Raleigh April 14. Bennett’s House April 26. Surrender of Johnston and his army. March to Washington, D.C., via Richmond, Va., April 29-May 19. Grand Review May 24. Provost duty at Washington until July. Mustered out July 11, and discharged at Boston, Mass., July 26, 1865. Regiment lost during service 14 Officers and 176 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 2 Officers and 96 Enlisted men by disease. Total 288.