This monument is just past the Longstreet Tower along Pumping Station Road on the battlefield in Gettysburg. This monument is dedicated to the soldiers, all 5000 of them, that fought here on these fields and lost about 1300 due to casualties. South Carolina was the first state to succeed from the Union on December 20, 1861. At the time of the Civil War, there was just over 700,000 civilians in the state of South Carolina. More than half, about 402,000, were black slaves working on plantations. This monument was dedicated on the 100th anniversary where one famous brigade made their march towards The Wheatfield.
Two main brigades fought here from South Carolina with one being in the First Corps and the other in the Third Corps. Both brigades had huge impacts on the battle of Gettysburg in their own different methods which will be talked about through this page in due time. Let’s find out about these brigades now.
The first brigade was within the 1st Army Corps of the Confederacy was commanded by Lt. General James Longstreet, originally from Georgia. Within McLaws Division, you can find the South Carolina brigade who was commanded by Brig. General J.B. Kershaw. He was the commander of the 2nd, 3rd, 7th, 8th, and the 15th South Carolina infantry regiments along with the 3rd South Carolina Battalion. These six regiments started the battle on July 2nd across the Peach Orchard and the Wheatfield.
Another brigade was the in Third Corps of the Confederacy commanded by Lt. General A.P. Hill. Within Pender’s Division, you can find the second brigade from South Carolina who was commanded by Lane. He was the commander of the 1st South Carolina Rifles, 12th, 13th, and 14th South Carolina infantry, as well as the artillery reserves.
The 15th South Carolina within Kershaw’s Brigade was the largest regiment, which contained 36 officers and 412 soldiers. Just within this one regiment, 36 were killed, 96 wounded, and 18 went missing or were captured.
At the base of the front of the monument is a line from “Ode at Magnolia Cemetery” by Henry Timrod, the “Poet Laureate of the Confederacy”
“There is no holier spot of ground than where defeated valor lies, by mourning beauty crowned.”
This marble marker with taller central shaft is flanked by two lower sections. The front of the marker has a State seal and outline of the state of South Carolina with narration and listing of South Carolina regiments at Gettysburg. The reverse has the carving of South Carolina and Confederate flags and a listing of State Commission members. The memorial sits on a Georgia granite base and is flanked by two benches.