Union Monuments - Massachusetts

20th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment

A monument and a marker to the 20th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment are south of Gettysburg on Hancock Avenue. The monument was dedicated in 1886.

Location: 39.811449 N, 77.236159 W; see map

The 20th Massachusetts was commanded at the Battle of Gettysburg by Colonel Paul Joseph Revere, grandson of Paul Revere of Revolutionary War fame. He was mortally wounded on July 2nd, and died on the 4th. When Colonel Revere fell Lieutenant Colonel George N. Macy took command until he was wounded on July 3, losing his left hand. Captain Henry L. Abbott then took over the regiment.

The 20th Massachusetts brought 301 men to the field, losing 30 killed, 94 wounded and 3 missing.

The monument is a large boulder known as a "Puddingstone," native to Massachusetts and the official stone of the Commonwealth. It was brought for the monument's dedication from Roxbury, where many of the men of the regiment had played on such boulders as they grew up.

From the front of the monument:

20th Mass. Infantry
3rd Brig. 2nd Div 2nd Corps
July 3rd 1863

Form the bronze tablet on the rear of the monument:

This monument marks the position occupied by the Twentieth Massachusetts Infantry in line of battle July 2nd and 3rd 1863 until advanced to the front of the copse of trees on its immediate right to assist in repelling the charge of Longstreet's Corps.

This tablet is placed by their comrades in honor of Colonel Paul Joseph Revere
First Lieutenant Henry Ropes, Second Lieutenant Sumner Paine, and forty-one enlisted men who were killed or mortally wounded.

The tablet was presented by Mrs. Nathaniel Thayer, daughter of Colonel Revere.

From one of three iron signs on the south side of the Copse of Trees (below right):

Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.
The position of this regiment in line of battle
was 125 yards S.S.W.
which is represented by its monument.
When Pickett's Division pierced the Union line
this regiment retired by its right flank,
faced left, and rushed up to this copse of trees
and attacked Pickett's troops then
coming over the wall.

See more on the 20th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment in the Civil War.