Sculpted by Gary Casteel

1863 Signed and Numbered Limited Edition Monument Replicas
 
On July 2, 1863, Bigelow's Battery was heavily engaged near the Peach Orchard.  During its first battle at Gettysburg in support of the Third Corps at the left of the Union lines, the battery lost four guns and a sizable number of men, but held off the Confederate infantry, Barksdale’s Brigade, for nearly thirty minutes.  The battery delayed the Rebels long enough for the Union line to be reformed at the expense of twenty-eight men killed and wounded, including Bigelow wounded by a shot in the side.  By the end of the day’s battle, the battery lost sixty of its eighty-eight horses dead, twenty more wounded, and four of its six guns left in the hands of the enemy, although, there were recovered early that evening by a charge of Union infantry.
 
On July 3rd, the third day of the battle, the remains of the 9th Massachusetts Battery were posted in Ziegler’s Grove at the base of Cemetery Hill.  Lieutenant Richard Milton, the only officer still standing, was now in command. With but two guns, the battery was lightly engaged during Pickett’s Charge. The battery’s third monument on the Gettysburg battlefield is located in Ziegler’s Grove at their final combat position.
 
In 1885, when the three battlefield monuments of the 9th Massachusetts Battery were dedicated, then 44 year-old Major Bigelow gave an address. He recounted in detail the experiences of the battery at Gettysburg. He recalled: In three hours' fighting. You expended over three tons of shot and shell, including ninety-two rounds of canister. You lost, killed and disabled, eighty of eighty-eight horses taken into action. You lost three of your four commissioned officers present; two, Erickson and Whitaker, being killed. You lost six of the seven sergeants on the field.  He stated that the battery had suffered the second highest casualties of any artillery unit in the war.  “Yours,” he said, “is a spirited and glorious record, and it is my proudest recollection to have been with you.”
 
This monument marks the third position held by the remains of Bigelow's Battery on July 3, 1863.  The monument was dedicated October 19, 1885 and is located on the east side of Hancock Avenue in Ziegler’s Grove, just north of the Bryan Farm.