The Irish Brigade Monument at Gettysburg

photos by Linda Karmann (except where noted)

On July 2, 1888, one of the most distinctive memorials on the Gettysburg battlefield was dedicated on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Irish Brigade fight in the Wheatfield.

The three New York regiments combined their state appropriations to have the memorial created.

The artist, O'Donovan, created a bronze and granite base supporting a carved Celtic cross with a life-sized Irish wolfhound lying at the base mourning its lost masters. The cross bears the trefoil corps badge of the Second Corps, in which the brigade served, as well as four medallions containing the numeric designations of the three NY regiments, and the seal of the State of New York. Beneath the medallions there is an additional bronze panel depicting numerous symbols of Ireland. Bronze plaques at the base of the cross provide brief histories of the regiments.

The inscription reads:
"This, in the matter of size and structure, truthfully represents the Irish wolf-hound,  
a dog which has been extinct for more than a hundred years.
William Rudolph O'Donovan"