Sculpted by Gary Casteel
 
1863 Signed and Numbered Limited Edition Monument Replicas
 
The Florida Brigade, also known as "Perry's Brigade" for its commander Gen. Edward A. Perry, who had led the three Florida infantry regiments (2nd, 5th, and 8th) since November 1862, made up one of the five brigades of Gen. Richard H. Anderson's Division, one of three divisions within the Army of Northern Virginia's Third Corps under Gen. A. P. Hill.  However, at the time of the Gettysburg Campaign, the brigade was commanded by Col. David Lang of the 8th Florida Regiment as Gen. Perry was suffering from typhoid.  
 
The Floridians entered the Battle of Gettysburg on July 2, 1863, with Gen. Ambrose R. Wright's Georgia Brigade on its left and Gen. Cadmus M. Wilcox's Alabama Brigade on its right.  After the battle, Col. Lang wrote to the recuperating Gen. Perry describing his brigade’s part in the action:
 
"About 4:30 p.m., Longstreet having advanced to Wilcox, he swung his right forward and advanced. As soon as his left reached my right, I conformed to the movement, and advanced at the double-quick upon the strongly fortified position in front, exposed to artillery and musketry fire from the start. Our men suffered terribly, but advanced nobly to the charge. About half way across the field the enemy had a line of batteries strongly supported by infantry. We swept over these, without once halting, capturing most of the guns and putting the infantry to rout with great loss. Indeed, I do not remember having seen anywhere before, the dead lying thicker than where the Yankee infantry attempted to make a stand in our front."
 
After pushing back Union troops fighting in front of Cemetery Ridge, the Florida Brigade "captured a large number of their cannon" before being forced to retreat by a Union attack coming from the right.  Their withdrawal reflected the failure of the entire Confederate effort to break the Union lines on July 2.
 
On July 3, following the failed Confederate charge on the Union position on Cemetery Ridge, the Florida brigade was forced to retreat once again, and most of the 2nd Florida ended up as prisoners.  The regiment's battle flag, a beautiful silk banner with a unique sunburst design sewn upon it, was turned into Federal army headquarters for record of its capture at Gettysburg.  It was supposedly exhibited for a time in Chicago and then sent back to Philadelphia.  However, after 1863, the flag mysteriously vanished from all records and has never been located.
 
Among those 2nd Floridians captured at Gettysburg was Lewis Powell who was wounded in the hand and exchanged later in the war.  Following his release, he joined the famous 53rd Virginia Cavalry, Mosby’s Partisan Rangers, and served for a time in the Shenandoah Valley.  After leaving the army and moving to Baltimore, Maryland, he assumed the name Lewis Paine and, with the likes of Mary Surratt and John Wilkes Booth, joined history as a member of the conspiracy to assassinate President Lincoln.  On the night of April 14, 1865, Paine viciously attacked U.S. Secretary of State William Seward—rushing into Seward's home and stabbing the secretary repeatedly as he lay in his bed recuperating from a serious carriage accident.  Seward survived but the attack left him terribly scarred.  Paine tried to escape but was caught three days later, tried for his part in the conspiracy, and was hanged on July 7, 1865. 
 
Though Florida had the third fewest soldiers at Gettysburg of any Confederate state, it suffered the highest percentage of loss.  455 of its 740 men were casualties, a 62% casualty rate. Because of the small number of regiments at the battle, Florida’s role at Gettysburg is often forgotten or overlooked.  The three stars above the monument’s inscription and its three steps represent the three regiments that Florida sent to Gettysburg.
 
The monument was dedicated on July 3, 1963 and is located on Seminary Ridge along West Confederate Avenue.