There are many different types of monuments at Gettysburg. This page summarize them.

Commemorative

The Eternal Peace Monument on Oak Hill.

Commemorative monuments honor various events or things. Examples include the Eternal Peace Monument or the Gregg Cavalry Shaft.

“People”

Both generals and civilians are honored with bronze statues on the battlefield.

State Monuments

Monuments were erected by all the Confederate states and several Union states to honor contributions of their sons at Gettysburg. Probably the most notable of these is the impressive and imposing Pennsylvania State Monument.

Regimental and Battery Monuments

The vast majority of Gettysburg monuments honor state volunteer units that served in the Union Army of the Potomac, like this monument to the 1st Massachusetts on the Emmitsburg Road.

The vast majority of the monuments at Gettysburg are state-designated Union regimental and battery monuments. The veterans, often with aid of the respective state, erected these monuments. Nearly every regiment or battery that was part of the Army of the Potomac during the Gettysburg Campaign erected a monument at Gettysburg, even units that never were actually at Gettysburg proper! Occasionally, a monument represents two or more regiments. In some cases, a monument might represent an entire brigade. Conversely, more than a handful of regiments erected multiple monuments. As discussed earlier, these monuments were supposed to be erected in the line of battle where a unit did its most important service at Gettysburg.

There are also many “secondary” markers to be found on the battlefield, often in hidden and obscure locations. (Finding some of these small markers is a bit like going on a scavenger hunt.) These advanced position markers or stones frequently mark the site where a unit had its furthest advance. Position markers also frequently mark locations where a unit was placed during other parts of the battle. Finally, some markers denote the sites where key officers or other personnel were wounded.

By the way, this may be a good moment to point out that you REALLY can’t tell from just looking at a monument at Gettysburg whether that unit fought hard or sat in reserve, whether it performed superbly or fought poorly. Plain monuments often honor units that fought like tigers, and elaborate monuments sometimes honor units that did virtually nothing during the battle except sit in reserve.

Very few Confederate regimental monuments are located on the battlefield for the reasons previously discussed. The notable exception until the 1980s was the monument to the 1st Maryland Battalion on Culp’s Hill – which was permitted to be placed as an exception to the “Line of Battle” rule.

War Department Markers

Finally, erected by the Gettysburg Battlefield Commission, the War Department era monuments and tablets honor each brigade, division, and corps. They vary in design, which makes picking them out easy. The next page describes how you can distinguish these monuments.

Go there now: Identifying Monuments.