Sculpted by Gary Casteel
 
1863 Signed and Numbered Limited Edition Monument Replicas
 
Born on June 17, 1837, in Waterford, Pennsylvania, Strong Vincent attended Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut and graduated from Harvard College in 1859.  He married Elizabeth (Lizzie) Carter on April 25, 1861.  He was practicing law in Erie when the war broke out and immediately volunteered, becoming a lieutenant in a three-month militia regiment.  After their term expired, he re-enlisted, and in September of 1861, was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the 83rd Pennsylvania Infantry.  At the Battle of Gaines’ Mill in June, 1862, the brigade’s commander, Colonel McLane, was killed.  An ill Vincent rode to the field and took command of the 83rd.  Following a medical leave due to a severe case of malaria, he returned to the regiment as colonel in December 1862--in time for the Battle of Fredericksburg.  He was given command of the brigade at the beginning of the Gettysburg campaign in June 1863.
 
After marching all night from Union Mills on July 1, 1863, to Hanover to Gettysburg, the 3rd Brigade found itself south of town near two hills- Big and Little Round Top.  On the march to Gettysburg he had written to his pregnant wife, “If I fall, remember you have given your husband to the most righteous cause that ever widowed a woman.”
 
On July 2, 1863, Vincent’s brigade was intercepted by a staff officer desperately seeking forces to cover the strategic position of Little Round Top.  On his own responsibility, Vincent took his brigade, consisting of four regiments, including the 20th Maine, to hold the vital hill.  He and Oliver Willcox Norton, the brigade bugler and guidon bearer, galloped ahead to reconnoiter and guide his regiments into position.  Upon arrival on Little Round Top, Vincent and Norton received fire from Confederate batteries almost immediately.  Vincent yelled at Norton to take the horses and flag to safer ground and jumped off his horse, forgetting his sword. For the rest of the day, he directed troops with the riding crop he had received from his wife as a gift.
 
When the 16th Michigan began to fall back under heavy pressure, Vincent mounted a boulder and shouted, “Don’t give an inch!” as he brandished his riding crop.  The line held but Vincent was badly wounded; he was carried to the nearby farmhouse of Jacob Weikert where he died on July 7, 1863.
 
His promotion to brigadier general was quickly authorized and the order read to him before he died. His death struck the members of his command hard.  Many came to his deathbed to say their farewells, and some clipped a piece of his uniform.  He was buried with full military honors in the Erie Cemetery in Erie, Pennsylvania, on July 13.  After the battle, Vincent’s wife gave birth to a daughter, who died within the year and is buried next to her father.
 
Oliver Willcox Norton, the brigade’s bugler and guidon bearer, wrote home:
 
Headquarters Third Brigade, Berlin MD
Friday July 17, 1863
“Colonel Vincent died on the 7th, as brave and gallant a soldier as ever fell. His commission as Brigadier General was read to him on his death bed. His loss is felt deeply by the brigade. There is no one to fill his place. No one could march a brigade as he could. Oh, how we loved him! But he is gone.”
 
In the late 1970’s, the original Strong Vincent marker monument was vandalized and broken in two pieces.  The current piece replaced the original which was moved to storage after being vandalized.  The current monument is a reconstruction from the original one and was placed in 1978.  The monument indicates the approximate location where General Strong Vincent was mortally wounded on July 2, 1863.
 
The monument was dedicated on August 1, 1878 and is located on the south slope of Little Round Top.