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Monuments at Gettysburg – 11th Pennsylvania Infantry
Posted By Norman Gasbarro on July 16, 2014
The 11th Pennsylvania Infantry Monument at Gettysburg is located northwest of Gettysburg on Doubleday Avenue. It was dedicated on 3 September 1889 by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The view of the monument pictured above is from Steven Recker’s Virtual Gettysburg Web Site which has more information about the monument and the 11th Pennsylvania Infantry.
A full description of the monument, its GPS coordinates, and some of the history of the 11th Pennsylvania Infantry can be found on the Stone Sentinels Web Site. There are also additional photographs of the monument, including a close-up of the dog “Sallie” whose image lies at the base on a pedestal – one of only two dogs depicted on Gettysburg battlefield monuments.
Eight days after the monument dedication, 11 September 1889, the Philadelphia Inquirer provided the following information about the 11th Pennsylvania Infantry:
They Captured Iverson’s Brigade
The 11th, as it crossed the Pennsylvania line, gave three cheers upon hearing the cannonade at Gettysburg, and hastening forward was massed with the brigade near the railroad embankment, just in the rear of Seminary Ridge. The 11th was under Colonel Richard Coulter. The advances of the enemy each time with fresh troops were met with a galling fire. Failing to force the position, the 11th made a sally and captured three regiments of Iverson’s North Carolina Brigade. Both flanks of the Union army having been turned, the 11th retired along the railroad to Cemetery Hill and moving to the left about 5 o’clock, formed near the Emmittsburg Road. When upon the point of moving to the support of Captain Ricketts’s batteries on the front of the hill Colonel Coulter was wounded, but remained in command. During the whole of the third night the regiment was engaged in strengthening its breastworks.
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Richard Coulter (1827-1908)
Lt. Col. Richard Coulter was from Greensburg, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and joined the 11th Pennsylvania Infantry in Harrisburg on 11 April 1861 as Captain of Company I. On 26 April 1861 he was promoted to headquarters as Lieutenant Colonel. He was wounded in the Battle of Gettysburg.
Richard Coulter died on 14 October 1907 and was buried in Saint Clair Cemetery, Greensburg. His Pennsylvania Veterans’ File Card (shown below) is from the Pennsylvania Archives.
More information about Lt. Col. Richard Coulter can be found at his Findagrave Memorial.
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Around the base of the Pennsylvania Memorial at Gettysburg are a series of plaques which, by regiment and company, note the names of every soldier who was present at the Battle of Gettysburg. The plaque for the 11th Pennsylvania Infantry is pictured below. By clicking on the plaque it should enlarge so the names can be more clearly read. If a name does not appear, it could be that the soldier did serve in the 11th Pennsylvania Infantry, but was not part of the regiment during its days at Gettysburg. There could also be errors on the plaque.
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The news clipping is from the on-line resources of the Free Library of Philadelphia.
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