Sculpted by Gary Casteel
 
1863 Signed and Numbered Limited Edition Monument Replicas
 
The 147th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Ario Pardee Jr., played a supporting but meaningful role in the Union defense at the Battle of Gettysburg as part of the 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 12th Corps.  Organized in late 1862, largely from surplus companies of the 28th Pennsylvania Infantry, the regiment brought only eight companies (about 12 officers and 286 men) to the field, as Companies I and K had not yet been formed.  It arrived late on July 1 and took up a position on the northern slope of Little Round Top, anchoring the extreme left of the Union line that night before shifting to Culp’s Hill the next morning.
 
On July 2, the regiment spent much of the day held in reserve on Culp’s Hill while other units in the 12th Corps engaged Confederate forces.  In the evening, as part of a broader movement to reinforce the Union left (following the heavy fighting in the Wheatfield and Peach Orchard areas), the brigade marched toward the left but returned to Culp’s Hill around 3 a.m. on July 3. The 12th Corps troops had constructed breastworks, which proved vital in the fighting to come.
 
Fortunately for the Union troops on the hill, there was material for the works at hand.  Rocks and trees abounded as supplements to the shallow earth.  There was also some cordwood there already cut and ready for use.  Capt. Jesse H. Jones of the 60th New York recalled that “right and left the men felled the trees and blocked them up into a close log fence.  Piles of cordwood near by were forthwith appropriated.  The sticks set on end and leaning against the outer face of the logs, made excellent battening.”  They incorporated the boulders already there when possible and topped the barricade with a head log.  They blocked the log up so that it would protect the soldiers’ heads while allowing them to fire from the slit between the log and the body of the works.  Only the regiments’ pioneers carried entrenching tools then, and Capt. Joseph Moore of the 147th Pennsylvania Regiment lamented that “as usual in the hasty preparations for defense, the pioneer corps was not at hand, and bayonets, tin pans, tin cups etc. were improvised as implements in the construction of earthworks.”  Yet the men worked with a will, and in three or four hours the job was done.  Geary’s men who were not on the skirmish line rested behind their handiwork and waited for what would befall them.  Many would call the earthworks ‘riflepits” or simply “pits.”  (Gettysburg – Culp’s Hill & Cemetery Hill, Pfantz, pg. 114-115)
 
The regiment saw its most significant action on the morning of July 3.  At approximately 5 a.m., Lt. Col. Pardee led the 147th in a determined charge against a stone wall occupied by Confederate troops (part of efforts to reclaim lost positions on the lower slopes of Culp’s Hill after some works had been briefly taken the previous evening).  The Pennsylvanians carried the position “in handsome style,” delivering effective fire that inflicted heavy losses and helped force the Confederates to abandon the line. This action took place in the area now known as Pardee Field.  The fighting on Culp’s Hill that morning was among the most sustained of the entire battle.
 
The marker was dedicated September 12, 1889, and is located on the west side of Geary Avenue about 150 yards southwest of its intersection with Slocum Avenue.