Sculpted by Gary Casteel
 
1863 Signed and Numbered Limited Edition Monument Replicas
 
Originally formed for Colonel Hiram Berdan’s sharpshooter regiments, the two companies of Massachusetts sharpshooters decided to remain as state troops when told that they would lose the state enlistment bounty by joining Berdan’s Federal regiments.  The regiment is named for Massachusetts Governor John Albion Andrew.  Andrew was the one who prevented the sharpshooters from joining the nationalized Berdan's sharpshooters so the families (of the Andrew Sharpshooters) could continue to receive state aid.
 
The Andrew Sharpshooters often transferred from unit to unit as the need for their unique, long-range shooting skills changed.  The two companies of Sharp Shooters were nominally independent, although each operated with a Massachusetts regiment.  The 2nd Company operated with the 22nd Massachusetts Regiment.
 
At the Battle of Gettysburg, the 22nd Massachusetts took 137 men into the battle, making it the smallest Massachusetts infantry regiment on the field during the battle.  At the time, the regiment was commanded by Lt. Col. Thomas Sherwin, a twenty-three-year-old Harvard graduate who taught school before the war and had assumed command of the regiment just after Chancellorsville, only two months prior, when Col. William S. Tilton was promoted to brigade command.  After a day of hard marching, the 22nd arrived with the V Corps at Wolf Hill, south of the Hanover Road and behind the center of the Union line, around noon on July 2, 1863.
 
Around 4:30 p.m. that day, as the Confederates assaulted the Peach Orchard, the 22nd Massachusetts was ordered to the left flank.  While division commander General James Barnes sent Strong’s brigade (including the 20th Maine) off to the far left to hold Little Round Top, he marched his other two brigades, Tilton’s and Sweitzer’s, past the Wheatfield, to the left, and to a position on a wooded knoll strewn with boulders known as Stony Hill.
 
The 22nd settled in among the trees and rocks and prepared for battle.  The 22nd regimental historian, James Parker, later noted, “We had marched too far and borne too much to be pushed over the ridge behind us.”  From that rise, the 22nd had a commanding view of Rose’s farm, with the ground immediately before them sloping downward into a shallow swale.  The farmhouse itself stood directly to their front, about 250 yards away.  However, the 22nd would not be there for long for as soon as they arrived, Kershaw’s Brigade of South Carolinians attacked.
 
While the men of the 22nd Massachusetts continued firing, word passed down their line, “We are flanked! Change front!”  As the division fell back towards Trostle’s Woods, the 22nd Massachusetts was, at times, mingled with other regiments.  The 22nd Massachusetts eventually took up a position along a stone wall in Trostle’s Woods, south of the Trostle House.   
On the morning of July 3, the 22nd Massachusetts, along with their brigade, was deployed further towards the left flank, occupying the saddle between the Round Tops.  Taking cover behind the many boulders there, they exchanged fire with Confederates who occupied Devil’s Den.  By the close of the battle, the 22nd Massachusetts had suffered casualties of 15 killed and 25 wounded (or roughly 30%).
 
The figure on the monument depicts one of the Sharpshooters on the skirmish line in an alert pose.  The musket that appears to be “broken” is not.  When the monument was cut, the stone was not large enough to fully recreate the musket.
 
This monument was dedicated on October 8, 1885 and is located on the south side of the Loop of Sickles Avenue.