Sculpted by Gary Casteel
 
1863 Signed and Numbered Limited Edition Monument Replicas
 
The 71st Pennsylvania was originally called the 1st California Regiment because it was raised, mostly in Philadelphia, by Oregon senator Edward Baker to represent the Pacific coast.  At the Battle of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863, the regiment was commanded by Colonel Richard Penn Smith and was placed at the Angle, the zigzag in the stone fence on Cemetery Ridge that was the focal point for Pickett’s Charge on that afternoon.  Eight companies manned the forward stone wall and the remaining two were at the rear wall of the zigzag.
 
During the bombardment that preceded the Confederate infantry assault, the six guns of Lieutenant Alonzo Cushing’s Battery A, 4th U.S. Artillery, suffered heavy losses and could only man two guns by the time the shelling ended, and these were pushed forward during the Confederate advance into Company I, 69th Pennsylvania, the right flank company of that regiment.  To fill the space at the wall between the 69th’s right flank and the Angle, left vacant by the damage done to Cushing, Brigadier General Alexander Webb, commander of the 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, 2nd Corps, ordered Colonel R. Penn Smith to advance his regiment into the gap.  Although Smith’s regiment numbered only slightly more than 200 men, he could not fit his entire regiment in the space and only advanced his left wing, composed of four to five companies, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel C. Kochersberger, a force of perhaps 100 men.  The right wing of the 71st remained behind the recessed wall.
  
The Confederate effort against the Angle was greater than any other part of the line.  Described as “an advance of an acre of men”, the charging Confederates proved to be too great a force for the 71st Pennsylvania.  The regiment held its ground through the barrage preceding the charge and until Pickett’s Virginians were within pistol shot of the wall.  But at that point, most of the eight companies of veteran Pennsylvanians decided that the position could not be held and fell back.  They did so in good order and reformed a short distance up the hill in line with the two companies that had been at the rear wall.
 
The regiment continued the fight from there, in the open and taking heavy casualties, while the fate of the charge hung in the balance.  Union reinforcements poured in from all sides and the few Confederates who had made it over the wall did so unaided.  Finally, the balance turned, and the 71st surged forward to their original position and Pickett’s Charge came to its bloody end.
 
The 71st brought 331 men to the field, losing 21 killed, 58 wounded and 19 missing.
 
The monument was dedicated on July 1, 1887 and is located about 70 yards west of Hancock Avenue at The Angle.