116th Pennsylvania Infantry

Location: Sickles Avenue At The Loop

Dedicated: September 11, 1889 

The 116th Pennsylvania Infantry was another member of the Irish Brigade. Like the three New York Regiments of the unit, the 116th had suffered heavy casualties in prior battles and these losses had not been replaced. Civil War regiments at full strength normally consisted of ten companies of one hundred men each, totalling one thousand soldiers. At Gettysburg, one hundred and forty-two officers and men remained to march into battle under the flag of the 116th. By the evening of July 2, casualties had reduced the unit to the size of a normal company.

The monument erected by the survivors of the regiment deals with a different theme than most others on the field. Bravery, courage, loyalty, devotion and steadfastness in battle are common traits of the monuments on this and other fields. Few deal with the brutal realities of warfare's destructiveness as effectively as the 116th Pennsylvania. During the battle the regiment was under the command of Major St. Clair A. Mulholland. Upon arriving at this position a lull occurred in the fighting. The Major walked a short distance forward to where the 110th Pennsylvania had fought earlier in the afternoon. He was awed by the sight of one of the dead in particular, a young soldier, shot through the head. A faint smile was visible on the dead boy's quiet, upturned face. Mulholland never forgot that haunting scene. Years later it inspired the design of the present monument. The sculpture represents a small portion of battlefield that the fighting has passed by. A dead soldier, similar to the one Mulholland described, lies quietly beside the wall where he and his comrades had earlier fought. The closeness of the combat is suggested by the position of the musket, still gripped by the muzzle. As he received the fatal wound, he was using the musket as a club to defend his position. The broken bayonet scabbard, splintered musket, and the remains of a farmer's fence underscore the destruction left in the path of the fighting. No hint is given as to the outcome of the struggle here. Death is the only victor reflected in the monument. For the handful of survivors of the 116th Pennsylvania Infantry, reflecting back on the comrades left behind on many fields of that war, death had reaped a tremendous harvest from their ranks.