HistoricSiteMarkers
Civil War

29th PA Rickards

Cumberland Township, Adams County, Pennsylvania

Marker Inscription

July 2. Position of the Regiment. At 7 p.m. the Brigade was withdrawn, and on returning during the night found the enemy in these works the Regiment took position in rear of this line with its right as indicated by the tablet erected to the left and rear… transcription continues on the marker

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The Story

This monument records the position of the 29th Pennsylvania Infantry on July 2, 1863, during the Battle of Gettysburg. Withdrawn with its brigade at 7 p.m., the regiment returned in the night to find Confederate troops had seized the works it had left, and it took up a new line to the rear — part of the seesaw struggle for the Union entrenchments on Culp's Hill. The tablet's reference to a nearby marker shows how precisely Gettysburg's monuments map each unit's ground.

Why it matters

The night fighting on Culp's Hill was some of the most confused and desperate at Gettysburg, and these markers let visitors follow it almost foot by foot.

The story behind this marker

AI context

The era

By July 1863 the Civil War had reached deep into the North. A Confederate army had crossed into Pennsylvania, and the Union army raced to intercept it, the two forces finally colliding at the crossroads town of Gettysburg. What followed was three days of fighting that would become the war's most studied battle.

The struggle ranged over hills, ridges, and fields, but some of its most confused and desperate hours came on the Union right, among wooded high ground laced with hastily dug earthworks. There the fighting had a peculiar, close-quarters ferocity — men contesting the same trenches and stone lines, sometimes in near darkness.

This monument stands in Cumberland Township, on that contested high ground. The regiment it honors was caught in one of the battle's tensest episodes: leaving its works, then returning in the night to find the ground it had held now occupied by the enemy.

People & events

This stone records a single, fraught chapter in the battle for the 29th Pennsylvania Infantry, a regiment led by William Rickards Jr. Its inscription is precise almost to the hour, and it tells a story that must have been harrowing to live through.

On July 2, 1863, the regiment held its position here until seven in the evening, when its brigade was withdrawn — pulled away, as often happened at Gettysburg, to shore up danger somewhere else along the line. But an empty entrenchment does not stay empty for long in a battle. When the men returned during the night, they found the enemy had moved into the very works they had left.

Unable to simply reclaim their old ground, the regiment took up a new line to the rear, its right anchored by reference to a nearby tablet. The inscription's careful pointing — to a marker at the left and rear — captures how these soldiers held on in the dark, orienting themselves by landmarks while an enemy occupied the ground just ahead.

Its place in the American story

The night fighting on the Union right was among the most disorienting combat of the entire war — men groping through woods and earthworks, unsure at times whether the shapes ahead were friend or foe. Episodes like the one this marker describes show how thin and shifting the line between the armies could be.

That the Union position ultimately held, despite entrenchments changing hands in the dark, was a triumph of persistence over confusion. Regiments that lost their works and calmly formed a new line to the rear, as this one did, kept the whole flank from unraveling. Small acts of composure, repeated across the field, added up to the victory Gettysburg is remembered for.

The monument's exacting language — the time of withdrawal, the enemy in the works, the tablet marking the regiment's right — reflects a national determination to get this history right. Gettysburg's veterans and their states mapped the battlefield with extraordinary care, so that even the most chaotic night could later be walked and understood.

If you visit

This is a place to visit slowly and read carefully. The monument practically gives you directions, pointing toward a nearby tablet that once fixed the regiment's right. Look for those relationships between markers, and you'll begin to see how the whole tangle of that night is laid out across the ground.

Try coming to this wooded high ground toward the end of the day, when the light softens and the shadows lengthen among the trees. It becomes easier, then, to imagine soldiers returning in darkness to find strangers in their trenches, and forming a fresh line by feel and by landmark.

On a road trip through the battlefield, this spot rewards the visitor who wants more than the famous highlights. Pair it with a walk among the surrounding regimental stones and you can follow the seesaw struggle for these entrenchments almost step by step — one of the closest things Gettysburg offers to standing inside the confusion itself.

Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.

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Related people

  • · William Rickards Jr.

Related events

  • · Battle of Gettysburg

Themes & tags

Civil WarMonument

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