Sculpted by Gary Casteel
 
1863 Signed and Numbered Limited Edition Monument Replicas
 
The 105th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, commanded by Colonel Calvin A. Craig, reached Gettysburg on the morning of July 2, 1863.  Positioned in support of the 63rd Pennsylvania Infantry in the Peach Orchard, the unit came under sharpshooter fire as soon as it reached this location.  The 105th was later placed between the Peach Orchard and the Klingel Farmhouse in support of the rest of General Charles K. Graham's III Corps brigade.  The regiment endured Confederate artillery fire and took severe casualties when General Longstreet’s Corps attacked the Union position.  At first, the 105th were unable to return fire due to the position of the 57th Pennsylvania Infantry in their front.  When the 57th moved forward, the 105th filled their position, firing upon the Confederate troops until the 57th and 114th Pennsylvania fell back in retreat.
 
The 105th was the last regiment of its brigade to retreat, making a slow, fighting withdrawal when the Confederates threatened to overwhelm it.  The 105th rallied with mixed survivors of its division, and counterattacked late in the day, recapturing (along with soldiers from other units) three abandoned artillery pieces from Battery C, 5th United States Artillery.  The regiment then retired to the Union positions on Cemetery Ridge.  On July 3rd, the regiment was rushed to the center of the Union line during Pickett's Charge to re-enforce the Vermont Brigade; however, other than taking artillery fire, it was not needed for the repulse of the Confederate assault.  The 105th fielded 274 men at the start of the Battle and lost 19 killed or mortally wounded and 115 wounded or missing.
 
As Colonel Calvin A. Craig stated, in part, in his report to headquarters on July 11, 1863 regarding the regiment’s actions during July 1-4:
 
“No instance of cowardice occurred during the engagements.  All seemed to feel that they were fighting on the soil of their native State, and that they would either conquer or yield up their lives in her defense….I cannot make particular mention of individual bravery.  All, both officers and men, seemed imbued with the same spirit, which was one of determination never to yield, but to fight to the bitter end, and until there was not a single rebel in arms to pollute the soil of their native State.”
 
The Philadelphia Inquirer article of September 11, 1889, in advance of the monument’s dedication described the action of the regiment at Gettysburg, as follows:
 
The 105th Fought Like Demons.
 
The 105th was at Emmittsburg on 30 June 1863 and was ordered on 1 July to move rapidly to Gettysburg.  By forced marches it reached the left of the field shortly after dark on the 2nd.  Five companies were deployed as skirmishers for the 63rd.  In the afternoon at 3 o’clock the regiment was moved forward to the brow of the hill along Emmittsburg Pike, where, under a heavy fire of shot and shell from front and lank, it held its position unflinchingly.  The command met the enemy’s infantry on the road, where there was a desperate fight.  The line on the left was broken through, and the brigade retreated in good order to the line from Cemetery Ridge to Round Top where it remained until the close of the battle.  Of 247 who went into the fight one officer, George W. Crossley, was killed, 13 officers and 111 men wounded, and 9 were missing.  Among the wounded officers were Colonel Craig and Lieutenant Colonel Greenawalt.  The regiment rallied some eight or ten times to the cry of “Pennsylvania!” after the remainder of the brigade had left them, and Lieutenant Craig, who had two horses shot under him, declared his men “fought like demons and were as easily handled as on dress parade.”
 
The monument was dedicated on September 11, 1889 and is located one mile south of Gettysburg on the east side of Emmitsburg Road, at its intersection with United States Avenue.