Florida State Monument, Gettysburg, PA (Jim Studnicki)

The Florida State Monument was designed by J.D. Hill of the Bruns Monumental Company of Columbia, South Carolina and erected at a cost of $20,000. Mr. Hill also designed the Alabama and South Carolina State Monuments which stand further south on Confederate Avenue.¹ The large plinth bears the Great Seal of the State of Florida, while the three stars at the top of the smaller plinth symbolize the three regiments which comprised Perry's Brigade.

The effort to place a Florida monument on the battlefield was spearheaded by a Tampa attorney named Paul W. Danahy Jr. Danahy conceived the idea of the monument's construction in 1956 when, as a law student, he visited the battlefield with his father and learned that Florida had no memorial to her troops at Gettysburg. In 1959 he corresponded with Florida Governor Collins' office on the subject, but no progress was made for the next four years. Unable to enlist direct sponsorship of the Florida Civil War Centennial Commission (who, although sympathetic, believed the project would not be granted the necessary approbation in the current legislative session, as 1963 was a tax year), Danahy took matters into his own hands. He personally drew up a legislative bill based on the 1907 act which had appropriated $15,000 for construction of a similar monument at Chickamauga and got various Florida politicians interested and involved with the project. He also secured the blessing of Gettysburg National Military Park Superintendent Kittridge Wing and submitted several design proposals to the Hillsborough County Historical Commission. Despite opposition and various setbacks, Danahy's bill was finally passed in the Florida Senate, hand-carried to the Governor's office and immediately signed into law on May 24, 1963 by Florida Governor Farris Bryant - barely a month before the Centennial.²

The monument was dedicated at 5:30 PM on July 3, 1963 under sunny skies with a brief but dignified ceremony. Among those present out of the 100-odd attendees were Florida Congressman Sam M. Gibbons, who was the main speaker, and Father Vincent Crawford of San Antonio, Florida, who delivered the invocation and benediction. According to Father Crawford, two of his grandmother's brothers by the name of Mizell had served in Perry's Brigade, and one of them was killed at Gettysburg.³ Paul Danahy had worked closely with the group responsible for erecting the South Carolina State Monument (which had been dedicated the previous day), and Representative John A. May placed a wreath of yellow jasmine and magnolias at the foot of the unveiled Florida State Monument on behalf of the people of South Carolina.⁴

The ground upon which the monument stands was actually occupied by the Alabama troops of Brigadier General Cadmus Marcellus Wilcox' Brigade. At approximately 12 PM on July 2, 1863, Wilcox ordered the 11th and 10th Alabama to advance from Spangler's Woods on your right up the slope to Pitzer's Woods on your left, in order to ascertain whether or not Federal troops held the wooded high ground in any force. The 11th advanced through the open field, essentially following the path of the present-day Confederate Avenue, while the 10th moved more slowly through the southwestern extension of Spangler's Woods, which today runs behind the Florida State Monument.⁵ It is very likely that the men of the 11th Alabama passed over the spot where the Florida State Monument now stands. After advancing about 300 yards the 11th received a heavy volley of musketry from the wooded hill, and along with the 10th Alabama they engaged the Federal III Corps reconnaissance force led by Colonel Hiram Berdan. This force consisted of four companies of the elite 1st United States Sharpshooters and the detached 3rd Maine Infantry.

Northeast of the Alabamians, Colonel David Lang and his Floridians manned their position behind the stone wall on the eastern edge of Spangler's Woods (see Tour Stop #3), facing towards the Emmitsburg Road and Cemetery Ridge. They had not been in place long at all; as the division arrived together, most likely Lang was still deploying his companies and throwing forward skirmishers while Wilcox and Anderson discussed the advance on Pitzer's Woods. No doubt the Floridians were aware of their Alabama comrades behind them through the trees, and it must have been comforting indeed. Once Wilcox' boys formed their line in the large open area between Spangler's and Pitzer's Woods at a 45 degree angle to Lang's force, the Florida Brigade's right flank would be quite secure.

Adjutant Raymond Jenckes Reid, CSA (Margaret Beaton and Florida State Archives) Suddenly, the Floridians heard the sputter of musket fire to their right and rear at the head of the Wilcox' columns. It quickly became evident from the noise that whatever was going on amounted to more than the customary exchange of riflery between opposing skirmish lines. This must have been of particular concern to Captain Richmond N. Gardner and his regiment, the 5th Florida Infantry, who up to this point had been the extreme right flank of the Confederate Seminary Ridge line. 324 strong, the 5th Florida Infantry accounted for nearly half of the Floridians who fought at Gettysburg.

Sure enough, Colonel Lang soon received orders (probably from General Anderson, who was in the vicinity at the time) to assist General Wilcox in driving the enemy out of Pitzer's Woods. Accordingly he put the Florida Brigade in motion. The men of regiments rose and began to move by the right flank towards the sound of the fight. As they approached the clearing they most likely witnessed the men of the 11th Alabama falling back from the engagement after being hit by a particularly vicious fire on their right flank. Before going into action, however, Lang received a message from Wilcox that no aid would be necessary.⁶ Several minutes later the 10th Alabama, this time supported on its left by the 8th Alabama, charged up the slope and drove Berdan's green-coated force back towards the Peach Orchard. The entire encounter lasted but fifteen or twenty minutes.⁷ Although the Florida Brigade did not participate, they apparently got within effective musket range of the Federals, as Adjutant Raymond Jenckes Reid of the 2nd Florida Infantry reported that several Floridians were wounded (no doubt by stray shots passing over the heads of the Alabama troops).⁸

Walk north up West Confederate Avenue into Spangler's Woods across the stone bridge. Proceed about 150 yards to the first monument on the left-hand side of the road.

Continue to Tour Stop #2

¹ Letter of Paul W. Danahy to Harry W. Pfanz, July 23, 1963. Original at University of South Florida Special Collections, Tampa, Florida. Copy on file at Gettysburg National Military Park library.

² Letter of Paul W. Danahy to Herschel Cribb, June 7, 1963. Original at University of South Florida Special Collections, Tampa, Florida. Copy on file at Gettysburg National Military Park library. Copy of undated newspaper article, "Former Hopkinton Resident to Speak at Gettysburg," on file at Gettysburg National Military Park library.

³ Danahy to Pfanz, July 23, 1963. Father Crawford may have been partially mistaken. There were three brothers by the name of Mizell who served with various Florida Confederate units, but only one of them was a member of Perry's Brigade. He was 1st Sergeant Thomas E. Mizell of Company K, 8th Florida Infantry, who was wounded and captured on July 2, 1863 and died soon after. The other two Mizell brothers survived the war and became prominent officials in Florida's Reconstruction government.

⁴ Letter of Paul W. Danahy to Farris Bryant, July 8, 1963. Original at University of South Florida Special Collections, Tampa, Florida. Copy on file at Gettysburg National Military Park library.

⁵ United States War Department, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 70 volumes in 128 parts (Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1880 - 1901), Volume 27, Part 2, pp. 616-617. (Cited hereafter as O.R. All subsequent references are to Series I). Wilcox stated that the engagement with Berdan's force ended at 9 AM, which seems too early based on the times reported by others involved with the affair, including Union Major General David Birney (who had ordered the reconnaissance) and Berdan himself.

⁶ O.R., Volume 27, Part 2, p. 631. The order to move "by the right flank" indicates that the Florida Brigade was already in line, or in the process of forming its intended line.

⁷ Letter of Lt. Col. Hilary A. Herbert to Col. John B. Bachelder, July 9, 1884, in David L. and Audrey J. Ladd, The Bachelder Papers: Gettysburg in Their Own Words, 3 Volumes (Dayton: Morningside, 1994 - 1995), Volume 2, p. 1056; O.R., Volume 27, Part 2., p. 617. For a more detailed account of the Wilcox - Berdan engagement, see Harry W. Pfanz, Gettysburg: The Second Day (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1987), pp. 97 -102.

⁸ Letter of Raymond Jenckes Reid to Hal, September 4, 1863. Original part of Reid, Raymond J. Papers at St. Augustine Historical Society, St. Augustine, Florida. Copy on file at Gettysburg National Military Park library.