The 72nd Pennsylvania Infantry monument on Cemetery Ridge

The 72nd Pennsylvania Infantry Monument is an 1891 statuary memorial on the Gettysburg Battlefield. It is located on Cemetery Ridge, by The Angle and the copse of trees, where Union forces - including the 72nd Pennsylvania Infantry - beat back Confederate forces engaged in Pickett's Charge. However, the monument has not just stood there. This peculiar-looking statue has weathered a stormy past, with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court deciding on its placement.

In 1883, the first "72nd PA Infty" monument was approved, and the GBMA placed it on the "Roberts Line" where heavy losses occurred. Members of the regiment vehemently disagreed with this placement, as it was nearly 70 yd behind the Union front line. To rectify this, the 72nd bought a 900 sq ft tract at the front line to erect a second monument. The GBMA denied permission for this second monument in 1888, leading to the arrest of Captain John Reed for trespassing on December 12, 1888, after he began laying a foundation.

The monument was the subject of a Pennsylvania Supreme Court case over control of the battlefield. It is depicted on the 2011 "Gettysburg" America the Beautiful quarter commemorative coin, and was designed by Captain John Reed, a 72nd veteran, with the sculpture created by Stephens and cast by the Bureau Brothers Foundry in Philadelphia.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons