,5^ 
 
-T'REPORT^ 
 
 OF THE 
 
 New Yoi<l( Board of Coii|n|i^^ionei<$, 
 
 GETTYSBURG MONUMENTS. 
 

2^ To 
 "^ The Leo'idatKre : 
 
 ^ The anclersigned, Commissioners appointed under chap- 
 ter 466, of the Laws of 1886, to designate and mark the 
 positions occupied by New York troops on the battle field 
 of Gettysburg, and to make suitable recommendations to 
 the Legislature for the erection of monuments commemor- 
 ating the services of New York Eegimeuts and Batteries 
 in that battle, have the honor to report : 
 
 That in the discharge of their duties the Commissioners 
 have held sundry meetings at Gettysburg, Albany and 
 New York, to which they invited delegations representing 
 the survivors of the eighty-seven New York regiments and 
 batteries that fought at Gettysburg, and after hearing all 
 parties interested, the Commissioners have determined 
 and marked all the positions where monuments should be 
 placed. 
 
 These positions are shown on the map accompanving 
 this report, prepared after a careful survey of the battle- 
 field by Gen. Charles K. Graham, civil engineer, chosen 
 for that duty by the Commissioners, and appointed as the 
 engineer of the Board at their first session in Gettysburg, 
 held in July last. 
 
 So far as the Commissioners are informed this survey of 
 the battlefield is the most comprehensive and accurate of 
 any that has been made, and is of itself a valuable contri- 
 bution to the historical records of the battle. The Com- 
 missioners have paid from the small appropriation avail- 
 able to them, only the actual expenses incurred by the 
 engineer in the performance of his duties ; the sum ap- 
 propriated by the Legislature, $5,000, being insufficient 
 to provide for any compensation to the engineer, or to the 
 Commissioners, who have only drawn upon the fund for 
 their necessary traveling expenses. 
 
 Upon the organization of the Board of Commissioners 
 in June last, Major-General Daniel E. Sickles was chosen 
 Chairman, Major George W. Cooney was appointed Secre- 
 tary, receiving $100 a month for his services in attending 
 daily at the office of the Commissioners in New York, and 
 for conducting the large correspondence of the Commis- 
 sion and keeping its records. 
 
Of the sum of $5,000 appropriated by chapter 466 of 
 the laws of 1886, to pay the disbursements of the Board in 
 the performance of their duties $2,893.82, have been ex- 
 pended; leaving in the treasury $2,106.18, still available 
 for the purposes of the act. 
 
 The Commissioners have the honor to transmit here- 
 with the draft of a bill embracing such enactments and 
 appropriations as will, in their judgment, be necessary to 
 provide for the erection of suitable monuments to com- 
 memorate the services and sacrifices of the New York 
 troops at Gettysburg, and this bill is respectfully sub- 
 mitted for the consideration of the Legislature. 
 
 It will be observed that it is proposed (section 1,) to 
 make an appropriation of $1,500 for each regiment and 
 battery of New York troops, engaged in the battle, to be 
 expended under the supervision of the Commissioners, in 
 the erection of appropriate monuments with suitable in- 
 scriptions, marking the respective positions of our troops 
 during the conflict. In this recommendation the Com- 
 missioners have followed the example of all the States 
 which have made similar appropriations, they have all 
 made provision for separate monuments, designating the 
 position of each regiment and battery. 
 
 There are now erected on the battlefield 90 regimental 
 and battery monuments. Of this number Massachusetts 
 has 30, including all her regiments and batteries that took 
 part in the battle; Pennsylvania, 28; Connecticut, 4; New 
 Hampshire, 3; Rhode Island, 4; Indiana, 6; Delaware, 3; 
 whilst the State of New York, which had eighty-seven reg- 
 iments and batteries in the battle, is only represented by 
 two regimental monuments, both of which were paid for 
 by the survivors of the respective battalions, to wit: the 
 124th N. Y., of Orange County, known as the "Orange 
 Blossoms," and belonging to the Third Army Corps; and 
 the 157th Regiment, of Madison and Cortland Counties, 
 and belonging to the 11th Corps. Ohio has appropriated 
 $1,500 each for all of her regiments engaged at Gettysburg, 
 and her monuments will be dedicated this year. All of 
 the States above named, except New York, have appro- 
 priated from $500 to $1,500 for each command. 
 
 The cost of the ninety monuments so far erected, 
 ranges from $1,000, expended for the monuments built for 
 
 ^y^Q\ 
 
 i) 
 
the 1st Massachusetts, and for the 124th New York, 
 respectively, down to $750, which is the amount appro- 
 priated by Delaware, for each of her regiments and 
 batteries. In nearly every instance, considerable addi- 
 tions have been made by subscriptions raised among the 
 survivors, to the sum appropriated by the Legislatures ; 
 and as we have already mentioned, the only two monu- 
 ments marking the positions of New York regiments, were 
 wholly paid for by the survivors themselves, in the absence 
 of any appropriation from our State. 
 
 Several States, including New York, have made appro- 
 priations for the purchase of land on which their monu- 
 ments are placed, and for laying out avenues leading to 
 them. For these purposes Pennsylvania has given $16,000; 
 New York, $10,000; New Jersey, $3,000; Vermont, 
 $2,500; Massachusetts, $5,000; Ehode Island, $1,000; and 
 New Hampshire, $1,000. 
 
 The Commissioners respectfully recommend a further 
 appropriation for the purchase of necessary lands for sites 
 and avenues leading to them, which, in their judgment, 
 should not be less than $10,000, to be expended under the 
 direction of the Commissioners, with the approval of the 
 Comptroller. 
 
 If it be the pleasure of the Legislature that the Com- 
 missioners shall proceed in the execution of the duties 
 assigned to them in the proposed Bill, an appropriation 
 not less than the amount provided for in section 7, to wit, 
 $10,000, will be neceesary to pay the engineer and his 
 assistants, and to meet other proper expenditures. 
 
 It is unnecessary for the undersigned to undertake any- 
 thing like a discussion of the reasons which commend 
 liberal appropriations to provide suitable monuments com- 
 memorating the heroic conduct of our troops at Gettys- 
 burg. By common consent this famous battlefield has been 
 chosen to signalize the patriotism, valor and fortitude of 
 the defenders of the Union in the great Civil War of 
 1861-5. It was a decisive victory, won at a moment when 
 defeat might have been ruinous to our cause. The assaults 
 upon our lines at Gettysburg were made by the most 
 powerful army ever encountered by the Union forces ; the 
 advance of the army of Gen. Lee to the Susquehanna 
 marked the extreme limit reached by the invading forces 
 
of the South; the victory of Gettysburg, contemporaneous 
 with the capture of Vicksburg, proved to the European 
 powers the supremacy of the North and deprived our 
 enemies of all hope of foreign interference in their behalf; 
 to the Union forces in this decisive conflict the State of New 
 York contributed more men than any other State, and our 
 losses in killed and wounded were greater than those of 
 any of our sister Commonwealths. It is surely most 
 fitting that upon a battlefield so memorable in American 
 annals, and in which the volunteer soldiers of our State 
 bore so distinguished a part, New York should be repre- 
 sented by monuments not inferior in impressiveness to 
 those erected by any other State. 
 
 The surviving volunteer soldiers of New York, mindful 
 of the large expenditures necessary in recent j-ears for the 
 completion of our capital at Alban}^ have deferred making 
 any application to the Legislature for such an appropria- 
 tion as is now asked for, because they felt uuwilliug to in- 
 crease the burdens of taxation for purposes not demanded 
 by any exigency. Bat now when our State is becoming 
 conspicions in comparison with Connecticut, Rhode 
 Island, and Delaware, for what it has iwt done in recog- 
 nizing its grateful appreciation of the services of its 
 soldiers, it is believed that the moment is opportune for 
 the consideration of the Bill siibmitted by the Commis- 
 sioners. 
 
 Besides the regimental memorials marking the positions 
 where the New York troops fought, it is respectfully sug- 
 gested that in honor of more than eight hundred name- 
 less dead, who fell in the ranks of the New York troops 
 at Gettysburg, and who are buried on the field, that a 
 conspicions monument should be erected on the battle- 
 field by the State of New York. Snch a monument is pro- 
 vided for in Section 6 of the bill submitted b}- the Commis- 
 sioners with this report. The estimated cost of the several 
 designs proposed, is from $50,000 to $100,000, according 
 to the dimensions given. It seems fit and proper that the 
 unmarked remains of nearly a thousand of our brave sons 
 should no longer lie unnoticed and neglected on the 
 ground where they gave their lives to their country. 
 The state monument which the Commissioners ask 
 authority to erect would testify to unnumbered genera- 
 
tions the grateful recognition accorded by our people in 
 these tranquil and prosperous days, to those who sacrificed 
 all they could give for the honor and welfare of the Union. 
 Although the amount appropriated in the accompany- 
 ing Bill is considerable, it is augmented by the very large 
 number of New York commands which took part in the 
 battle of Gettysburg. Nevertheless, the sum asked for is 
 not more than $29.50 a head for the New York killed and 
 wounded in the conflict, and not more than the aggregate 
 bounties paid in 1864 for two hundred recruits. Three 
 hundred and seven commands in the army of the Potomac 
 oflicially report losses at Gettysburg, amounting in the 
 aggregate to twenty-two thousand nine hundred and 
 ninety officers and men; and, of these, the eighty-seven 
 New York commands in the battle lost six thousand seven 
 hundred and seventy-seven, nearly one third of the total 
 number of casualties. 
 
 In all ages of the world's history, and in all countries, 
 the admiration of the people for their military heroes has 
 sought expression in costly monuments, built in honor of 
 great commanders. In this couu'ry the disposition is to 
 commemorate the virtues and services of our citizen 
 soldiers, upon whom the brunt and burden of our civil 
 war mainly felk The monuments for Avhich provision is 
 made in this report, and the accompanying Bill, will have a 
 touching interest for hundreds of thousands of our citizens 
 in all parts of our State, who are associated by ties of 
 blood and friendship with the New York commands that 
 fought at Gettysburg. It will be the aim of the Com- 
 missioners, so far as their authority shall extend, to super- 
 vise the designs and materials adopted for the New York 
 monuments, so that these tributes of a grateful and 
 patriotic people, paid to the memory of their defenders, 
 shall not be unworthy of the culture and art of the epoch 
 in which we live. 
 
 D. E. SICKLES, 
 H. W. SLOCUM. 
 J. B CARE, 
 C. A. RICHARDSON, 
 J. PORTER. 
 Albany, Feb. 17th, 1887. 
 
AN ACT to provide for the erection of suitable monuments to 
 the memory of the Soldiers of the State of New York, who 
 were engaged in the battle of Gettysburg. 
 
 The People of the Slate of New York, represented in Senate and 
 Assembly, do enact as folhnvs : 
 
 Section 1. The commissioners appointed by and pursuant to 
 Chapter 466 of the Laws of 1886, are hereby authorized and 
 directed to erect a monument on the battlefield of Gettysburg, in 
 the State of Pennsylvania, to each of the regiments and batteiies 
 of the State of New York, hereinafter mentioned, at an expense 
 $1,500 each, upon the site which shall have been designated by 
 said commissioners as the principal and proper position of such 
 regiment or battery on said batilelield, but prior to the erection of 
 such monuments, the said cominissioners shall secure, through the 
 Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association, a corporation formed 
 by an act of the General Assembly of the State of Pennsylvania, 
 approved April 30th, 1864, or by other proper means, the dedica- 
 tion of the ground upon which each of said monuments shall rest, 
 to the memorial purposes for which said monuments shall be 
 erected, with the right of free access thereto by the public, subject, 
 nevertheless, to the rules and regulations of said Memorial 
 Association for the protection and preservation of said grounds 
 and the monuments to be erected thereon. 
 
 The following are the regiments and batteries for which monu- 
 ments shall be erected under the provisions of this act : — 
 
 The Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Regiments of New 
 York Cavalry; batteries B, C, D, G, I, K, L and M of the first 
 regiment of New York Light Artillery; the First, Third, Fourth, 
 Fifth, Sixth, Thirleenth and Fifteenth New York Independent 
 Batteries, and the Tenth, Thirty-Ninth, Fortieth, Forty-First, 
 Forty-Second, Forty-Third, Forty-Fouith, Forty-Fifth, Forty- 
 Ninth, Fifty-Second, Fifty-Fourth, Fifty-Seventh, Fifty- 
 Eighth, Fifty Ninth, Sixtieth, Sixty-First, Sixty-Second, Sixty- 
 Third, Sixty-Fourth, Sixty-Fifth, Sixty-Sixth, Sixty Seventh, Sixty- 
 Eighth, Sixty-Ninth, Seventieth, Seventy-First, Seventy-Second, 
 Seventy-Third, Seventy-Fourth, Seventy-Sixth, Seventy-Seventh, 
 Seventy-Eighth, Eightieth, Eighty-Second, Eighty Third, Eighty- 
 Fourth, Eighty-Sixth, Eighty Eighth, Ninety-Third, Ninety- 
 Fourth, Ninety-Fifth, Ninety-Seventh, One Hundred and Second, 
 One Hundred and Fourth, One Hundred and Seventh, One 
 Hundred and Eighth, One Hundred and Eleventh, One Hundred 
 and Nineteenth, One Hundred and Twentieth, One Hundred and 
 Twenty-First, One Hundred and Twenty-Second, One Hundred 
 
and Twenty-third, One Hundred and Twenty-Fourth, One Hun • 
 dred and Twenty-Fifth, One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth, One 
 Hundred and Thirty-Fourth, One Hundred and Thirty-Sixth, One 
 Hundred and Thirty-Seventh, One Hundred and Fortieth, One 
 Hundred and Forty-Fifth, One Hundred and Forty-Sixth, One 
 Hundred and Forty-Seventh, One Hundred and Forty-Ninth, 
 One Hundred and Fiftieth, One Hundred and Fifty-Fourth, One 
 Hundred and Fifiy-Seventh regiments of New York Infantry, and 
 the First Regiment of U. S. Sharp Shooters. 
 
 § 2. In case any proper representative organization of the 
 survivors ol any such regiment or battery shall desire to have one 
 or more monuments to such regiment or battery erected at a 
 greater expense than $1,500, such organization may present its 
 application with designs and specifications for such monument or 
 monuments and estimates of the cost thereof, and said commis- 
 sioners may in their discretion approve of such designs and specifi- 
 cations, or of any modification thereof, or substitute therefor which 
 shall be off'ered by such organization, and when the designs and 
 specifications of such organization shall have been approved and 
 accepted, the said commissioners may erect such monument or 
 monuments upon the condition that said organization shall pay 
 all the expenses thereof in excess of $1,500. And said commis- 
 sioners may make such rules and regulations as they may deem 
 necessary and proper to carry out the provisions of this section, 
 and to protect the State in the erection of such monuments. 
 
 § 3. The said commissioners shall have full control in every 
 respect of the erection of said monuments, but each monument 
 shall bear upon some conspicious part thereof, the coat of arms 
 of the State of New York, and so far as practicable a statement of 
 the precise time when the position was held by the regiment or 
 battery it represents, and the principal movements made by such 
 regiment or battery during the battle. 
 
 § 4. The said commissioners are hereby directed to consult 
 and advise with the survivors of said regiments and batteries so far 
 as practicable, concerning the designs of said monuments and the 
 inscriptions to be placed thereon, and to prescribe rules and 
 regulations to govern the consideration and determination of the 
 matters relating thereto. 
 
 § 5. When said monuments shall have been erected to the 
 satisfaction of the said commissioner-', as provided by this act, the 
 care and custody of them may be entrusted to the said Gettysburg 
 Battlefield Memorial Association for protection and preservationin 
 accordance with the rules and regulations of said Association there • 
 for, provided however that the State of New York shall have the 
 right at all Umes to take such proper measures to secure the pro- 
 tection and preservation of said monuments and the grounds on 
 which they stand as shall be consistent with the sovereignty and 
 jurisdiction of the State of Pennsylvania. 
 
8 
 
 § 6. The said commissioners are hereby further authorized and 
 directed to cause to be erected upon said battlefield a suitable 
 memorial structure to the memory of the officers and soldiers of 
 the State of New York, who fell in the battle of Gettysburg ; and 
 said memorial structure and an appropriate inscription thereon 
 shall specially relate to the New York soldiers who are buried in 
 the National Cemetery at Gettysburg. 
 
 § 7. The following sums, or so much thereof as may be neces" 
 sary, are hereby appropriated out of any money in the treasury no'^ 
 otherwise appropriated, for the purpose of carrying out the provi- 
 sions of this act, to wit : $50,000 for the erection of the memorial 
 structure authorized by section (5 of this act; the sum of $130,500 
 for the erection of the monuments authorized by section 1 of this 
 act; the sum of $10, 000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, 
 for securing proper sites for all of said monuments and suitable 
 avenues leading thereto; and the sum of $10,000. or so muchthere- 
 of as may be necessary, for the payment of the services of the 
 necessary engineers, surveyors, agents and employees of said 
 commissioners, and for such other expersesas may be required to 
 carry out the provisions of this act, including the actual and 
 necessary travelingand other contingent expenses incurred by said 
 commissioners in the discliarge of their duties. 
 
 § 8. The money hereby appropriated shall be paid by the 
 Treasurer upon the order of the Comptroller on proper vouchers 
 therefor, duly audited and approved by said Commissioners, and 
 certified by the presiding officer of said board of commissioners, 
 and the said commissioners shall make a full report of their pro- 
 ceedings to the next Legislature, and at such other times as may 
 be hereafter required by the Governor or the Legislature. 
 
 § 9. It shall be the duty of the Governor from time to time, 
 as he shall deem proper, at least once in every three y^ears, to 
 cause to be inspected all the monuments which shall be erected 
 under this act, and the grounds and avenues secured therefor, and 
 to examine and inquire into the means employed for their protec- 
 tion and preservation, and report their condition, with such facts 
 in relation thereto as he may deem proper, to the Legislature. 
 
 § 10. This act shall take effect immediately. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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