Sculpted by Gary Casteel
 
1863 Signed and Numbered Limited Edition Monument Replicas
 
The 96th Pennsylvania was commanded at the Battle of Gettysburg by Major William H. Lessig.  It brought 356 men to the field and lost 1 man wounded.
 
The 96th Pennsylvania Infantry originated from the National Light Infantry of Pottsville, one of the “First Defenders” who reached Washington when war broke out.  “Foot sore and weary,” the regiment reached the Gettysburg Battlefield with the 6th Corps on the afternoon of July 2, 1863, and “took position behind a stone fence which it held with slight loss until the close of the battle.”
 
The regiment was moved up to reinforce the Union line as Longstreet’s attack was ending, and it spent much of the battle holding the line lying in the muddy low ground around Plum Creek.  The monument commemorates this with a carved footprint in the “mud” next to the prone soldier, only visible when viewed from above.
 
The monument is located on Wheatfield Road and was dedicated in 1888.