2nd Maryland Infantry, CSA
(1st Battalion Maryland Infantry)

The monument to the Second Maryland Infantry (C.S.A.) is southeast of Gettysburg on the eastern slope of Culp's Hill. See map >

A marker (bottom right) is located in the saddle between upper and lower Culp's Hill showing the extent of the advance of the battalion.

From the front of the monument:

1st Md. Changed to
2nd MD. Infantry. C.S.A.

From the right side:

On the morning of July 3rd
the battalion moving by
the left flank formed
at right angles with and
inside the works and charged
under a fire in in front, flank
and rear to a stone
planted 100 yards west
from this monument

From the left side:

400 Strength in Battle.
52 Killed.
140 Wounded.

From the rear:

The First Maryland
Battalion Infantry,
Lieut. Col. Jas. R. Herbert,
Stewart's Brigade,
Johnson's Division,
Ewell's Corps,
Army of Northern Virginia.
Advancing from Rock Creek
about 7 p.m. July 2nd
Occupied the line of works
at this point and held its
position until next morning

From the marker:

Point reached
by 1st Md.
Battalion C.S.A.
July 3rd
1863

This was the first Confederate monument on the battlefield, dedicated in 1884, and met a great deal of resistance from the battlefield commission authorities. It was finally allowed to be erected, but the commission required it to be designated as the "2nd Maryland" because there were already two Union regiments designated as the 1st Maryland (1st Maryland Potomac Home Brigade and 1st Maryland Eastern Shore), and the 1st Maryland Battalion C.S.A. had been redesignated as the Second Maryland Regiment in 1864. But a close examination of the monument just above the "official" unit designation shows an unofficial but professionally carved correction to the issue (lower right).

The Battalion was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James Herbert until he was wounded on July 2nd. Major William Goldsborough then took over until he, too was wounded. Captain Murray having been killed, Captain Torsch then briefly led the battalion until relieved by Captain James P. Crane. It brought 400 men to the field in eight companies, losing 56 killed, 118 wounded and 15 missing.

No better example of a state caught between two sides occurred than at Culp's Hill, where the Union 1st Maryland Eastern Shore faced the Confederate 1st Maryland Battalion. Color Sergeant Robert Ross of the Union regiment was a cousin to Color Sergeant P.M. Moore of the Confederate battalion, who was wounded several times and captured by his neighbors.

Colonel Wallace of the Union 1st Maryland wrote, "The 1st Maryland Confederate Regiment met us and were cut to pieces. We sorrowfully gathered up many of our old friends and acquaintances and had them carefully and tenderly cared for." Included among these dead was the battalion's mascot, Grace. Union General Thomas Kane recalled, "He licked someone's hand, they said, after he was perfectly riddled." Kane ordered the dog given decent burial "as the only Christian minded being on either side."*

*Pfanz; Gettysburg--Culp's Hill and Cemetery Hill, pp.320-321

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