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Monuments at Gettysburg – 28th Pennsylvania Infantry
Posted By Norman Gasbarro on September 3, 2014
A monument at Gettysburg to the 28th Pennsylvania Infantry is located on North Slocum Avenue near Culp’s Hill. It was originally dedicated by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1885. A second memorial to this regiment, the Rock Creek Monument, was erected in 1904 and is located off Confederate Avenue. The drawing (above) was part of a feature on the dedication and re-dedication of the Gettysburg battlefield monuments that appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer in 1889.
The picture of the monument can be seen on Steven Recker’s Virtual Gettysburg Web Site which has more information about the 28th Pennsylvania Infantry. The other monument is found on a different web page.
A full description of the monument, its GPS coordinates, a picture, and some of the history of the 28th Pennsylvania Infantry can be found on the Stone Sentinels Web Site. There is also information about the second monument.
According to both of the above-mentioned web sites, the 28th Pennsylvania Infantry was commanded at Gettysburg by Captain John H. Flynn. Additionally, the Stone Sentinels site notes that Lieutenant John P. Nicholson of this regiment became the Chairman of the Gettysburg National Park Commission and has a monument and plaque on the battlefield.
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The Philadelphia Inquirer article of 11 September 1889 contained the following information about the 28th Pennsylvania Infantry:
The 28th was organized in June 1861 by Colonel John W. Geary at Oxford Park, Philadelphia. The regiment of fifteen companies was equipped and armed at his own expense. Connected with command was Beck’s Philadelphia Brass Band. The colonels of the regiment during the war were John W. Geary, Gabriel DeKorponay, Thomas J. Awl, John Flynn; Lieutenant Colonels Hector Tyndale and James Fitzpatrick; Majors Ario Pardee Jr., William Raphail, Robert Warden, Sans’d F. Chapman, Jacob D. Arner; Adjutants Samuel Goodman and Henry Cheesman. The regiment first entered service immediately after the Bull Run disaster, its first duty and many fights being on the frontier from Nolan’s Ferry to Antietam Aqueduct. During its four years’ service it served in twelve different states and was engaged in as many different skirmishes and battles as any regiment of the United States Army. It produced one Major General and three Brigadier Generals, viz. Hector Tyndale, Ario Pardee Jr. and John Flynn.
From surplus recruits for the 28th Regiment, Knap’s Battery was formed and attached to the regiment. Mr. Charles Knap of Pittsburgh furnished this company with four steel guns which were subsequently exchanged for six ten-pounder Parrots….
The programme of the 28th… will begin with a business meeting at the Gettysburg Court House at 12:30. Then under command of Brevet Brigadier General Ario Pardee Jr., [this] organization will proceed to Culp’s Hill…. Battle songs and other exercises will be given.
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John H. Flynn (1819-1875)
John Hornbuckle Flynn was born 10 March 1819 in Ireland, emigrated to the United States in the 1840s, and lived in Philadelphia where he was a merchant at the time of his enrollment in the 28th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company I, 28 June 1861. His original rank was 1st Lieutenant but was promoted to Captain of Company I on 12 December 1861, the rank he held at the Battle of Gettysburg. On 12 December 1864 there was another promotion to Lieutenant Colonel, to Colonel on 9 June 1864, and Brevet Brigadier General on 3 July 1863. The Pennsylvania Veterans’ File Card from the Pennsylvania Archives notes that he was wounded in the hip at Gettysburg on 3 July. At North Edisto River, South Carolina, 12 February 1865, he was wounded in the foot.
The Pension Index Card available at Fold3 (below) gives the 28th Pennsylvania Infantry as his only Civil War service.
John Hornbuckle Flynn died in Arkansas on 25 December 1875 and he is buried at Little Rock National Cemetery. More information about him can be found at his Findagrave Memorial. A full portrait of Flynn can be obtained from the MOLLUS Collection.
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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. Previously on this blog, the plaque for the 28th Pennsylvania Infantry was featured. See: 28th Pennsylvania Infantry – Pennsylvania Memorial at Gettysburg.
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The drawing of the monument and the information from the 1889 Inquirer were obtained from the on-line resources of the Free Library of Philadelphia.
Looking for a photo of Lt. Col. James Fitzpatrick who is my 3rd great grandfather. Can you point me toward one. I’m very grateful for your help.