Pennsylvania State Memorial, Gettysburg

Pennsylvania State Memorial

Pennsylvania Monument[1]: 69
39°48′28″N 77°14′07″W / 39.80765°N 77.23516°W / 39.80765; -77.23516
Location	Gettysburg National Military Park
Designer	W. Liance Cottrell (Architect) Samuel Murray (Sculptor)
Completion date	1914
Opening date	September 27, 1910

The Pennsylvania State Memorial^[2] is a monument in Gettysburg National Military Park that commemorates the 34,530 Pennsylvania soldiers who fought in the July 1 to 3, 1863 Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. The memorial stands along Cemetery Ridge, the Union battle line on July 2, 1863.^[3] Completed in 1914, it is the largest of the state monuments on the Gettysburg Battlefield.^[4]

History

In the 1880s, Congressman Andrew G. Curtin, who had served as Pennsylvania's governor during the Civil War, advocated for a "Pennsylvania Memorial Hall" to be built atop Little Round Top.^[5] The 60 ft (18 m)-square hall would display "a treasury of trophies and mementos of all the Pennsylvania regiments that fought at Gettysburg."^[6] The proposed building was included in an 1889 state appropriations bill, that was vetoed by Governor James A. Beaver.^[7]

Eighteen years later, the Pennsylvania Legislature appropriated $150,000 for construction of a state memorial, and the current site was announced in February 1909.^[8] The design competition for the commission was won by the entry of New York architect W. Liance Cottrell and Philadelphia sculptor Samuel Murray.^[2] The building was to be completed by July 1, 1910.^[9]

Humphreys Avenue, along the east side of the memorial, was not surveyed until 1911, so materials were delivered by railroad, via the Round Top Branch to nearby Hancock Station.^[10]

The memorial was unfinished when it was dedicated on September 27, 1910, and the project was out of money. An additional state appropriation of $40,000 was approved in 1911.^[10] The new completion date was set for July 1, 1913 – the 50th anniversary of the battle. The portrait statues were installed in April 1913,^[1]: 69 and the memorial was rededicated on July 4, 1913. A bronze tablet listing the names of 945 additional Pennsylvania veterans completed the memorial in 1914.^[4]

Description

The memorial features a square, granite pedestal (terrace) – 100 feet on each side – with bronze tablets on its exterior face that list the names of the 34,530 Pennsylvania soldiers who fought in the battle.^[1] Set upon the pedestal is the granite pavilion, which consists of 4 corner towers linked by arches that form an arcus quadrifrons, or 4-sided triumphal arch.^[1]: 38 Engaged Ionic columns at the corners and flanking the arches form niches for the 8 portrait statues.^[4] The pavilion is topped by a granite dome. Between the parapet and the dome's base is an observation deck, accessed by a spiral staircase in the northwest corner tower. Under the pavilion is an undercroft or vaulted cellar.^[4] The memorial's entrance is on the west (Hancock Avenue) side, where a wide flight of steps rises to the pedestal's terrace. Half-flights rise beneath each arch into the pavilion's central hall.^[11]

A bronze Nike figure, the Goddess of Victory and Peace, crowns the podium atop the dome. She holds a sword in one hand and a palm branch, a symbol of victory through peace, in the other. In a gesture to the Biblical passage "they shall beat their swords into plowshares," the bronze used to cast the Nike came from melted-down cannons.^[12] Above the arches are spandrel bas-reliefs of winged goddesses, and above the cornice is a parapet with a bas-relief panel on each side that depicts the Artillery, Cavalry, Infantry and Signal Corps. Larger-than-life bronze statues of President Abraham Lincoln and other prominent Civil War figures flank the arches. Above them are bas-relief shields and laurel wreaths. The names of important figures in the battle are inscribed across the pavilion's frieze and on its interior.

Sculpture

• Goddess of Victory and Peace (1909–10) by Samuel Murray, atop the monument's dome. Height: 21 ft (6.4 m). Weight: 7,500 lb (3,402 kg).^[13]
• Portrait statues:
  • President Abraham Lincoln (1911–1913) by J. Otto Schweizer, west side
  • Governor Andrew Curtin (1911–1913) by William Clark Noble, west side
  • General George Meade (1911–1913) by Lee Lawrie, north side
  • General John F. Reynolds (1911–1913) by Lee Lawrie, north side
  • General Winfield Scott Hancock (1911–1913) by Cyrus Edwin Dallin, south side
  • General David McMurtrie Gregg (1911–1913) by J. Otto Schweizer, east side
  • General Alfred Pleasonton (1911–1913) by J. Otto Schweizer, south side
  • General David B. Birney (1911–1913) by Lee Lawrie, south side

• 
  Abraham Lincoln by J. Otto Schweizer
• 
  Gov. Andrew Curtin by William Clark Noble
• 
  Gen. George Meade by Lee Lawrie
• 
  Gen. John F. Reynolds by Lee Lawrie
• 
  General Winfield Scott Hancock by Cyrus Edwin Dallin
• 
  Gen. David McMurtrie Gregg by J. Otto Schweizer
• 
  Gen. Alfred Pleasonton by J. Otto Schweizer
• 
  Gen. David B. Birney by Lee Lawrie

Architectural sculpture

• 4 white marble parapet bas-relief panels:
  • Artillery (1909–10) by Samuel Murray, north parapet.
  • Cavalry (1909–10) by Samuel Murray, south parapet.
  • Infantry (1909–10) by Samuel Murray, west parapet. Pennsylvania Bucktails of Stone's Brigade at the McPherson Farm.^[14]
  • Signal Corps (1909–10) by Samuel Murray, east parapet.
• Attendants to Victory, 8 white marble bas-relief goddess figures (1909–10) by Samuel Murray, a pair in the spandrels above each arch.
• 8 white marble Shield & Laurel Wreath bas-reliefs (1909–10) by Samuel Murray, one in the niche above each portrait statue.

• 
  Artillery
• 
  Cavalry
• 
  Infantry
• 
  Signal Corps
• 
  Attendants to Victory (reclining goddesses above arch), north side

Regimental memorials

The perimeter wall features 75 bronze plaques memorializing Pennsylvania units during the war.

• 
  Gettysburg Address
• 
  11th Infantry Regiment
• 
  23rd Infantry Regiment
• 
  26th Infantry Regiment
• 
  26th Emergency Infantry Regiment
• 
  26th Emergency Infantry Regiment
• 
  27th Infantry Regiment
• 
  28th Infantry Regiment
• 
  29th Infantry Regiment
• 
  30th Infantry Regiment
• 
  31st Infantry Regiment
• 
  34th Infantry Regiment
• 
  35th Infantry Regiment
• 
  38th Infantry Regiment
• 
  39th Infantry Regiment
• 
  40th Infantry Regiment
• 
  41st Infantry Regiment
• 
  42nd Infantry Regiment
• 
  46th Infantry Regiment
• 
  49th Infantry Regiment
• 
  53rd Infantry Regiment
• 
  56th Infantry Regiment
• 
  57th Infantry Regiment
• 
  61st Infantry Regiment
• 
  62nd Infantry Regiment
• 
  63rd Infantry Regiment
• 
  68th Infantry Regiment
• 
  69th Infantry Regiment
• 
  71st Infantry Regiment
• 
  72nd Infantry Regiment
• 
  73rd Infantry Regiment
• 
  74th Infantry Regiment
• 
  75th Infantry Regiment
• 
  81st Infantry Regiment
• 
  82nd Infantry Regiment
• 
  83rd Infantry Regiment
• 
  84th Infantry Regiment
• 
  88th Infantry Regiment
• 
  90th Infantry Regiment
• 
  91st Infantry Regiment
• 
  93rd Infantry Regiment
• 
  95th Infantry Regiment
• 
  96th Infantry Regiment
• 
  98th Infantry Regiment
• 
  99th Infantry Regiment
• 
  102nd Infantry Regiment
• 
  105th Infantry Regiment
• 
  106th Infantry Regiment
• 
  107th Infantry Regiment
• 
  109th Infantry Regiment
• 
  110th Infantry Regiment
• 
  111th Infantry Regiment
• 
  114th Infantry Regiment
• 
  115th Infantry Regiment
• 
  116th Infantry Regiment
• 
  118th Infantry Regiment
• 
  119th Infantry Regiment
• 
  121st Infantry Regiment
• 
  139th Infantry Regiment
• 
  140th Infantry Regiment
• 
  141st Infantry Regiment
• 
  142nd Infantry Regiment
• 
  143rd Infantry Regiment
• 
  145th Infantry Regiment
• 
  147th Infantry Regiment
• 
  148th Infantry Regiment
• 
  149th Infantry Regiment
• 
  150th Infantry Regiment
• 
  151st Infantry Regiment
• 
  153rd Infantry Regiment
• 
  153rd Infantry Regiment
• 
  155th Infantry Regiment
• 
  1st and 3rd Pennsylvania Artillery
• 
  Pennsylvania Light Artillery Batteries
• 
  Pennsylvania General Officers

Maintenance

In 1921, the dome was lined with steel and sealed by William D. Gilbert and James Weikert [2] and in 1929, the monument's copper was relined and defective woodwork was replaced.^[10]: '30 The nearby comfort station was completed in 1933 as the first "Gettysburg Parkitecture" structure^[15] using Gettysburg granite as in native colonial structures. A 1941 memorial bench [3] of marble in front of the monument was broken by "unknown culprits" in 1952,[4] and a marble bench was smashed in 1994.[5]

Images

External images
Photograph during construction
Google Maps overhead view

• 
  Gettysburg veterans reading the bronze tablets, 50th anniversary of the battle, July 1913.
• 
  Gettysburg veterans seated on the terrace wall, 50th anniversary of the battle, July 1913.
• 
  Pavilion's interior.
• 
  View from observation deck.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pennsylvania Memorial, Gettysburg.

• Gettysburg Battlefield Historic District
• List of monuments of the Gettysburg Battlefield

Searchable database of names on the Pennsylvania Monument

References