Last updated: September 23, 2022
Place
1st Massachusetts Battery Monument
Quick Facts
Location:
Gettysburg National Military Park
Significance:
This monument marks a US artillery position on Cemetery Hill, currently within the Gettysburg National Cemetery.
Designation:
Civil War Monument
This artillery, along with the other cannons and monuments located throughout the cemetery, not only mark the specific locations of Union artillery and infantry during the fighting, but also reflect the importance of Cemetery Hill during all three days of the battle. This high, open hill dominated the surrounding countryside in 1863 and thus, by posting artillery here, the Union army could control a large part of the battlefield. Cemetery Hill therefore became a key feature of the Union army’s battle line and one of the principal reasons for their victory at Gettysburg.
Those first three days of July 1863 involved not only one of the largest battle ever fought in the western hemisphere, but also produced the greatest bloodshed: 10,000 killed or mortally wounded, nearly 30,000 wounded and almost 10,000 captured or missing. The town and outlying areas were devastated by this monumental man-made disaster. It would be this immense loss of life that led to the creation of a new cemetery and President Lincoln’s trip to Gettysburg where he would give the Gettysburg Address.
Those first three days of July 1863 involved not only one of the largest battle ever fought in the western hemisphere, but also produced the greatest bloodshed: 10,000 killed or mortally wounded, nearly 30,000 wounded and almost 10,000 captured or missing. The town and outlying areas were devastated by this monumental man-made disaster. It would be this immense loss of life that led to the creation of a new cemetery and President Lincoln’s trip to Gettysburg where he would give the Gettysburg Address.