HistoricSiteMarkers
Civil War

US 149th PA Co D “1st Reg Bucktail Brigade” Dwight(w) / Glenn

Gettysburg, Adams County, Pennsylvania

Marker Inscription

149th Pennylvania Infantry (1st Regt. Bucktail Brigade) 2d Brig. 3rd Div. 1st Corps.

The Story

This monument marks the position of Company D of the 149th Pennsylvania Infantry, part of the Bucktail Brigade of the First Corps, during the opening day of Gettysburg on July 1, 1863. On the fields northwest of town the brigade met the advancing Confederate divisions head-on, holding as long as flesh and ammunition allowed before the Union line was forced back to Cemetery Hill. The precise placement of such markers let veterans and later visitors stand exactly where the fighting swept through.

Why it matters

It records the sacrifice of a single company in the First Corps delaying action that preserved the decisive high ground south of Gettysburg.

The story behind this marker

AI context

The era

In the summer of 1863 the Civil War reached into Pennsylvania itself. The Confederate army had marched north across the Potomac, and the Union Army of the Potomac hurried to meet it. For the farm families of Adams County, the war that had been a distant rumor suddenly arrived on their own roads.

Gettysburg sat at the center of a web of roads, and that made it a magnet for armies feeling blindly for one another across the countryside. On July 1, 1863, the leading elements of both armies met northwest of the town, and a chance encounter swelled within hours into a full battle.

The men of the 149th Pennsylvania belonged to the Union First Corps, one of the formations rushed forward to hold the ground on that first day. They were part of a brigade with a distinctive heritage in Pennsylvania's ranks — soldiers who would help fight the desperate opening act of the largest battle the war would ever see.

People & events

This monument marks the position of Company D of the 149th Pennsylvania Infantry, a regiment of the First Corps' Second Brigade, Third Division. The regiment carried the tradition of the 'Bucktails' — a name Pennsylvania riflemen wore with pride — and on July 1, 1863, it stood on the fields northwest of Gettysburg as the Confederate divisions came on.

The first day at Gettysburg was a delaying fight against the odds. The First Corps and its neighbors met a larger, gathering Confederate force and held their ground far longer than anyone could reasonably have asked. They stood among open fields and low ridges, firing until the lines on either side of them gave way and the whole position had to be abandoned.

As the afternoon wore on, the weight of Confederate numbers forced the Union troops back through the streets of Gettysburg and onto the high ground south of town. Regiments like this one paid heavily for the hours they bought. A marker for a single company is a way of saying that the sacrifice was measured not only in brigades and corps, but in small bands of neighbors who stood together in one particular place.

Its place in the American story

The first day at Gettysburg is often overshadowed by the drama that followed, yet it may have decided the battle. By fighting and falling back slowly instead of collapsing, the First Corps and the troops beside it bought precious time — and, just as importantly, they fell back onto the commanding heights of Cemetery Hill and the ridge running south from it.

That high ground became the anchor of the Union position for the two days that followed. The army that held those hills held the battle. The stubborn, costly delay northwest of town on July 1 is what allowed the rest of the Union army to arrive and take up that strong line.

A monument to one company in that fight captures something essential about how the Civil War was actually won: not only through the decisions of generals, but through the willingness of ordinary volunteers to stand where they were placed until they were told to go — and sometimes past that point.

If you visit

Look for this monument on the open, rolling fields northwest of Gettysburg, away from the more crowded ground to the south. This is where the battle began, and the landscape still has the wide, agricultural feel that shaped the fighting — long sightlines, gentle ridges, room for lines of men to see one another coming.

Because it marks a single company's position, the stone rewards a close look. Stand where it stands and turn to face the direction the fighting came from; the ground itself will tell you something about why holding here was so hard and so important.

The first-day fields make a natural early stop on a battlefield tour, since they let you follow the battle in the order it unfolded — beginning here, then tracing the retreat toward the high ground south of town. Give yourself the chance to imagine the noise and urgency of that opening morning in what is now such peaceful country.

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

Plan your visit

Nearby

Make a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.

Museums & culture

Attractions

Food & drink

Places to stay

Places data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Hours and details change — call ahead.

Own a business near here? Add it to the map.

Related events

  • · Battle of Gettysburg
  • · First Day at Gettysburg

Themes & tags

Civil WarMonument

Nearby & related markers

26th PA Emergency Regt Jennings

Gettysburg, PA

This monument commemorates the 26th Pennsylvania Emergency Regiment, which reached Gettysburg on June 25, 1863, ahead of the Army of the Potomac. On the morning of June 26 it marched out the Chambersburg Pike and met the Confederate column at Marsh Creek, only to be overwhelmed and forced to withdraw that afternoon. These green emergency troops were among the first to oppose the Confederate advance into the town.

Civil War

US General James Wadsworth

Cumberland Township, PA

This monument honors Brevet Major General James S. Wadsworth, who commanded the First Division of the First Corps at Gettysburg. On July 1, 1863, his troops — including the famous Iron Brigade — were among the first Union infantry to meet the Confederate advance west of town, buying precious hours with heavy losses before falling back through Gettysburg to the high ground beyond. A wealthy New Yorker who served without pay, Wadsworth was mortally wounded in Virginia the following year.

Civil War

150th Pennsylvania “2nd Reg Bucktail Brigade” Wister / Huidekoper(w) / Jones

Cumberland Township, PA

This monument marks the most advanced westward line held by the 150th Pennsylvania Infantry on July 1, 1863, near the unfinished railroad cut on the fields northwest of Gettysburg. As Confederate assaults came from both the north and the west, the regiment repeatedly changed front and its right wing charged toward the cut, fighting a series of stubborn stands even as it was slowly driven back toward town. It was combat of the most exhausting kind — men wheeling to face attacks from two directions at once.

Civil War

Gettysburg Battlefield

Gettysburg, PA · est. 1895

Lee's second invasion of the North ended here in three days of fighting that left over 50,000 casualties. Four months later Lincoln redefined the war's purpose in 272 words.

Civil War