The monument to the Fourth Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment is on De Trobriand Avenue near Sickles Avenue at the south end of the Wheatfield. (DeTrobriand Avenue – The Wheatfield tour map)
About the monument to the 4th Michigan Infantry
The granite monument is 13 feet tall. Sculpted by Laredo Taft, it shows a color bearer standing in front of a cannon. Dedicated by the State of Michigan on June 12, 1889, it is roughly at the site where Colonel Jeffords was mortally wounded.
The 4th Michigan Infantry at Gettysburg
The Regiment was commanded by Colonel Harrison H. Jeffords, a lawyer from Dexter. Jeffords was mortally wounded on July 2nd. Advanced into the Wheatfield, the 4th was attacked from both front and flank, and in its sudden retreat the colors were dropped. Seeing them on the ground about to be claimed by advancing Confederates, Col. Jeffords plunged into the melee with a handful of men. The conflicting accounts testify to the chaos of the desperate hand-to-hand fighting, and to this day it is not known whether the colors were captured, saved, or torn to shreds in the struggle. Colonel Jeffords was mortally wounded, one of the few men in the Civil War and the highest ranking officer to die by the bayonet.
Lieutenant Colonel George W. Lumbard, a lawyer from Hillsdale, took over command of the regiment after Jeffords fell.
|Attached to the 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, Fifth Corps, Army of the Potomac|
From the front of the monument:
4th Michigan Inftry.
2nd Brig. 1st Div. 5th Corps.
Participated in 53 skirmishes and general engagements from Bull Run Va. July 21st 1861 to Appomattox Va.
April 8th 1865
From the rear of the monument:
Mustered in at Adrian Mich. June 20th 1861.
Veterans consolidated with First Mich. Infantry June 30th 1864.
Total enrollment 1325 officers and men
Killed in action – officers 8 – men 115.
Died of wounds – officers 4 – men 50.
Died of disease – officers 1 – men 95.
This monument marks the location held by the regiment July 2nd 1863.
Present for duty – 27 officers – 376 men – total 403.
Killed 1 officer 24 men. Wounded 9 officers 55 men. Missing 1 officer 75 men. Total 165.
Colonel Harrison H. Jeffords fell mortally wounded at this point, thrust through with a bayonet in recapturing the colors of his regiment. ‘From his bosom that heaved, the last torrent that was streaming, and pale was his visage, deep marked with a scar. And dim was that eye, once expressively beaming, that melted in love, and that kindled in war.
See more on the 4th Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the Civil War
Location of the monument
The monument to the 4th Michigan is south of Gettysburg on the east side of De Trobriand Avenue about 90 feet south of Sickles Avenue. Both Sickles Avenue and DeTrobriand Avenue are one way north and west, and must be entered from Ayers Avenue or the Devil’s Den area. (39°47’46.3″N 77°14’38.1″W)
The 4th Michigan Infantry in the Civil War