1st New Jersey Artillery Battery B

1st New Jersey Artillery Battery B was part of the Third Corps Artillery Brigade at Gettysburg.  The battery consisted of 6 Parrotts and 143 men under the command of Capt. Adoniram J. Clark (1838-1913), a medical student.  The Battery was engaged on July 2 and 3d; the battery’s monument is located along Sickles Avenue on the edge of Excelsior Field where the unit fought on July 2.  A tablet on Hancock Avenue marks the July 3 position.  The battery suffered 20 casualties during the battle.

Battery B was recruited from Essex County.  It mustered in at Trenton on September 3, 1861.

1st New Jersey Artillery Battery B

3d Corps Artillery Brigade

Engaged:  6 Parrotts and 143 men; 1 killed, 16 wounded, 3 missing

Monument: Sickles Avenue

12th New Jersey Infantry

The 12th New Jersey regiment was recruited from the counties of Camden, Cumberland, Burlington, Gloucester, and Salem. It was enlisted at Woodbury in September 1862.

Their commander was Maj. John T. Hill (1836-1891), a bank clerk from New Brunswick. This was one of the largest regiments in the Second Corps.

The regiment’s rather simple monument is located on Hancock Avenue, just north of the Angle.

The monument’s main feature is a bronze relief that depicts the regiment’s charge of the Bliss barn on July 2 and 3.

This barn was burned during the battle and no longer stands. However, the site is park service property and is accessible to visitors.

A marker to the 12th, erected by the state of New Jersey, is located at the site of the barn.

12th New Jersey Infantry

2nd Corps, 3rd Division, 2nd Brigade

532; 23 killed, 83 wounded, 9 missing

Monument: Hancock Avenue

8th New Jersey Infantry

The 8th New Jersey Infantry was recruited from the counties of Essex, Hunterdon, and Hudson. It was mustered into Federal service on September 14, 1861.

A small regiment (even by Gettysburg standards), the approximately 150 men of the 8th New Jersey were commanded by Col. John Ramsey (1838-1901) a cigar maker. When Ramsey fell wounded, Capt. John G. Langston (1838-1903) took command.

The 8th’s simple regimental monument is located on De Trobriand Avenue in the Wheatfield. This marks the regiment’s position on July 2. On July 3, the unit was in support of batteries on Cemetery Ridge.

8th New Jersey Infantry

3d Corps, 2d Division, 3d Brigade

Col. John Ramsey (1838-1901)

Engaged: 148; 7 killed, 38 wounded, 2 missing

Monument: De Trobriand Avenue

1st New Jersey Artillery Battery A

1st New Jersey Artillery, Battery A was part of the Artillery Reserve. Known as “Hexamer’s Battery,”it was recruited from Hudson County in August 1861. The battery consisted of 6 Parrott Rifles and 116 men.

It’s commander at Gettysburg was Lt. Augustin N. Parsons (1830-?), a carpenter.

The battery’s monument is located in front of the Pennsylvania Monument. This marks the unit’s position on July 3 (it was previously at Power’s Hill).

1st New Jersey Artillery Battery A

Artillery Reserve, 4th Volunteer Brigade

Lt. Augustin N. Parsons (1830-?)

Engaged: 6 Parrotts and 116 men; 2 killed, 7 wounded

Monument: Hancock Avenue, in front of the Pennsylvania Monument

5th New Jersey Infantry

The 5th New Jersey Infantry was raised from the counties of Burlington, Essex, Hudson, Passaic, Monmouth, and Salem in August 1861.

Although a small regiment, it was hotly engaged in an attempt to hold the Emmitsburg Road on July 2. It went through several commanders. The first was Col. William J. Sewell (1835-1901), a native of Ireland. Sewell would be awarded the Medal of Honor for valor at Chancellorsville prior to Gettysburg; he later became a U.S. senator. When Sewell was wounded, Capt. Thomas C. Godfrey (1835-1867) took command temporarily. The final commander was Capt. Henry H. Woolsey (1832-1864), who was returning to command on July 3 following a slight wound on July 2 was a lawyer from Trenton. Woolsey was mortally wounded in one of the first assaults on Petersburg and died the next day. His final words were “I die in a glorious cause.”

The regimental monument is located on the Emmitsburg Road. It marks the main line of battle.

5th New Jersey Infantry

3rd Corps, 2nd Division, 3rd Brigade

Col. William J. Sewell (1835-1901)

Engaged: 221; 13 killed, 65 wounded, 16 missing

Monument: Emmitsburg Road

6th New Jersey Infantry

The 6th New Jersey monument is located in the Valley of Death near Devil’s Den along Crawford Avenue.

It is a simple white oblesik shape with an engraving of muskets on the front. It marks the regiment’s position on the afternoon of July 2d.

The 6th was raised from the counties of Burlington, Camden, Hudson, Hunterdon, and Mercer. It was commanded by Lt. Col. Stephen R. Gilkyson (1833-1892), a lumber merchant from Hightstown.

6th New Jersey Infantry

3rd Corps, 2nd Division, 3rd Brigade

Lt. Col. Stephen R. Gilkyson (1833-1892)

Engaged: 246; 1 killed, 32 wounded, 8 missing

Monument: Crawford Avenue

The New Jersey Brigade

This monument honors the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 15th New Jersey Regiments together. These regiments made up Torbert’s Brigade, also known (not surprisingly!) as the New Jersey Brigade. The monument is located on a wooded knoll overlooking the George Weikert Farm off of Sedgwick Avenue. The Brigade actually purchased the entire Weikert Farm to preserve the position it held during the battle (this was, of course, later incorporated into the Park). Consisting of Gettysburg, Quincy, and Hallowell granite, it was dedicated on June 30, 1888 at a cost of $5,700.00. Seven feet in diameter, the tall column rises 40 feet.

It is designed to appear like a tower and is located at the approximate center of the brigade battle line. Bronze medallions of General Philip Kearny (the original organizer) and Alfred T.A. Torbert appear on the monument. There are also small individual markers to each unit.

The 1st came from Camden, Hudson, Mercer, Middlesex, Union, and Warren counties and was commanded by Lt. Col. William Henry, Jr. (1836-1889) a clerk from Oxford Furnance.

The 2nd was from the counties of Essex, Passaic, Sussex, and Union. It was commanded by Lt. Col. Charles Wiebecke (1827-1864), a Prussian-born barber from Newark killed at Spotsylvania. The 3d was from the counties of Burlington, Cumberland, Camden,Gloucester, Somerset, Susex, and Union. It was under the command of Col. Henry W. Brown (1816-1892).

The 4th, which was guarding the artillery reserve trains, was from the counties of Burlington, Camden, Salem, and Union. It was commanded by Maj. Charles Ewing (1841-1872), a ship’s officer.  A small marker is located to the 4th off of Granite Schoolhouse Lane.
These were the original regiments of the brigade, mustered in during the summer of 1861.

Added later was the 15th New Jersey. From the counties of Hunterdon, Morris, Somerset, Sussex, and Warren, it was raised in the summer of 1862. It was under the command of Col. William H. Penrose (1832-1903), a civil engineer.

The brigade only suffered minor casualties at Gettysburg.

The New Jersey Brigade (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 15th Regiments)

6th Corps, 1st Division, 1st Brigade and Artillery Reserve Guard

Engaged: 1st, 292; no loss / 2nd, 405; 6 wounded / 3rd, 325; 2 wounded / 4th, 386; no loss / 15th, 441; 3 wounded

Monument: New Jersey Brigade Monument, knoll near the G. Weikert Farm off of Sedgwick Avenue

1st New Jersey Cavalry

Raised from the counties of Burlington, Essex, Hudson, Mercer, Middlesex, and Sussex in the fall of 1861, this regiment was commanded at Gettysburg by Maj. Myron H. Beaumont (1837-1878), a man who proved to be a rascal after the War (he deserted his wife with his brother in law’s wife and ended up in various criminal activity). This monument on the East Cavalry field marks the location of the regiment on July 3 where it fought both mounted and dismounted for several hours.

Company L of the 1st New Jersey Cavalry was at 6th Corps headquarters; companies E & G were headquartered in defense of Washington DC.

1st New Jersey Cavalry

Cavalry Corps, 2nd Division, 1st Brigade

Maj. Myron H. Beaumont (1837-1878)

Engaged 269; 9 wounded

Monument: Gregg Avenue, East Cavalry Battlefield

13th New Jersey Infantry

Located along Carman Avenue near the Baltimore Pike entrance to Culp’s Hill, this monument features a large bas relief of a Union soldier kneeling and firing his rifle. The monument stands where the 13th New Jersey’s colors stood on July 3 near Rock Creek. It was dedicated on July 1, 1887 at a cost of $2,000.00 and was designed by members of the regiment. This was the second New Jersey regimental monument on the battlefield.

The commander was Col. Ezra A. Carman (1834-1909), a Newark accountant. The regiment came from Essex, Hudson, and Passaic counties. Secondary markers also appear along Carman Avenue.

13th New Jersey Infantry

12th Corps, 1st Division, 3rd Brigade

Col. Ezra A. Carman (1834-1909)

Engaged 360; 1 killed, 20 wounded

Monument: Carman Avenue, Culp’s Hill

7th New Jersey Infantry

The rather unusual monument to the 7th New Jersey Volunteer Infantry stands on the spot where the regiment’s Colonel, Louis R. Francine (1837-1863) fell mortally wounded on July 2, 1863.  He survived until July 16.  The monument stands in a field just to the north of the Peach Orchard known as Excelsior Field. As you can see, the Pennsylvania monument is visible in the distance.

The monument consists of two pieces of Quincy granite (a common granite type used for Gettysburg monuments), with the black granite top piece carved into the shape of a giant minie ball that weighs over 10 tons.

The minie bullet or ball was a rifled projectile designed for fast loading and accuracy. Made of lead, minie balls were soft and tended to expand when they struck bone: a fact that influenced the number of amputations during the Civil War.

7th New Jersey Infantry

Members of the 3rd Corps, 2nd Division, 3rd Brigade

Commanded by:  Col. Louis R. Francine (1837-1863)

Engaged: 331; 15 killed, 86 wounded, 13 missing

Monument: Sickles Avenue in Excelsior Field, just north of the Peach Orchard