Sculpted by Gary Casteel
 
1863 Signed and Numbered Limited Edition Monument Replicas
 
Raised in Dutchess County, New York, in 1862 and enlisted at the sheriff’s office in Poughkeepsie under a banner bearing the legend, “Come in out of the draft,” the 150th New York garrisoned Baltimore until June of 1863 when the two regiments were brigaded under General Henry H. Lockwood and transported to Frederick to join the Twelfth Corps.  On July 2, 1863, the brigade arrived at Gettysburg, and Lockwood reported to the acting corps commander, Gen. Alpheus S. Williams.  As Harry W. Pfanz noted in his work, Gettysburg—The Second Day, “Although Lockwood’s men were short on campaign experience, they were well disciplined and excited about the prospect of a battle.  Time would show them to be an asset to the corps.” Id at 63.
 
As Pfanz writes:  
 
“On July 2, as Col. George L. Willard’s brigade advanced against Gen. William Barksdale’s, the First Division of the Twelfth Corps marched from Culp’s Hill toward the left center of the Union line.  General [George G.] Meade had asked for Williams’s division, and [General Henry W.] Slocum sent it….Lockwood’s two regiments led the way, and the division’s Third and First brigades followed in that order.
 
Lockwood’s two regiments were large ones (the 150th New York had about six hundred officers and men) and were new to battle.  Their uniforms were in a respectable condition, and their equipment was little worn.  They set off promptly and, having no guide, followed Granite Schoolhouse Lane toward the sound of battle.  They hiked along in a column of fours, cartridge boxes full and blanket rolls slung across their shoulders.  But the evening was warm, the men of the brigade were new to soldiering in the field, and their excitement mounted as they heard the growing sound of gunfire in their front and met a growing stream of wounded men and stragglers headed toward the rear.  Some, fellow New Yorkers without a doubt, greeted the 150th with shouts of ‘Go in, Dutchess County! Give it to them, boys! Give it to them!’...The column turned south along the Taneytown Road, and soon after, Maj. William G. Mitchell, Hancock’s senior aide, rode up to General Meade with a request for troops to go in on Willard’s left.  Meade apparently offered him the Twelfth Corps division and asked him where it should go.  Mitchell replied that if it moved by the right flank, it would be in the right spot to strike the enemy.  This was done.” Id at 408-409.
 
As they approached, an artillery officer rode up to General Williams and asked him for his help.  The officer, Lieutenant Colonel McGilvery, who had known Williams during previous campaigns briefed the General on the situation.  “In response to McGilvery’s hurried briefing, Williams ordered Lockwood to deploy and ‘occupy the woods,’ the woods in this instance probably being the west end of Trostle’s Woods and the orchard behind it, where Bigelow’s guns had been.” Id at 409.
 
“Lockwood sent his regiments forward immediately.  The leading regiment, the First Maryland, Potomac Home Brigade, did not even take the time to deploy from column into line.  The 150th, which had fallen behind, followed in the Marylanders’ support.  They advanced at the double-quick, part of the way at least, down to the Trostle farmyard and perhaps a little beyond.  While the First Maryland kept its attention to the front, the 150th collected three of Bigelow’s captured guns.  The infantrymen received help later when the limbers of Seeley’s battery sent down by McGilvery brought off the fourth piece.  It was fortunate that Lockwood’s charge met little resistance, for it was conducted with the bravery and the skill of the inexperienced.  A veteran Confederate unit might have given it a long and sadly remembered initiation into the art of war.  As it was, the charges by Willard’s and Lockwood’s brigades must have been a bitter pill for McLaws’s men to swallow, for they signaled the end of an opportunity that would never come again.” Id at 409.
 
The monument was dedicated in 1889 and is located south of Gettysburg in front of the Trostle House on United States Avenue.