Pennsylvania monuments at Antietam
32nd Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry
The monument to the 3rd Regiment Pennsylvania Reserves at Antietam is on Mansfield Avenue. (Mansfield Avenue tour map) It was dedicated by the State of Pennsylvania on September 17, 1906. The regiment was commanded at Antietam by Lieutenant Colonel John C. Clark.
The Pennsylvania Reserves
The Pennsylvania Reserves were 15 regiments that were recruited in early 1861. Refused by the War Department as they were in excess of Pennsylvania’s quota, Governor Curtin decided they would be armed and trained at state expense. The War Department soon realized they were needed and assigned them standard designations when they were accepted into Federal service. But the men preferred to be known by their original name: the Pennsylvania Reserves. See more about the Pennsylvania Reserves.
All 15 regiments of the Pennsylvania Reserves fought at Antietam, but there are only monuments to four. Why? The Pennsylvania Reserves Division was divided into three brigades. After the first year of the war the badly battered division was transferred to the Washington Defences to rest and rebuild. But two brigades were reattached to the Army of the Potomac to take part in the Gettysburg Campaign. One brigade remained behind to defend Washington. When Pennsylvania made state funds available after the war to create monuments to its Civil War veterans, all of the Pennsylvania Reserves that fought at Gettysburg chose to put their monuments there. The four regiments that weren’t at Gettysburg put their monuments at Antietam.
Looking northeast from Mansfield Avenue. The monument is flanked on the left by a marker to Magilton’s Brigade. On the right are two markers for Meade’s Division, and at the far right one for First Army Corps. The regiment was part of Magilton’s Brigade in Meade’s Division in the First Army Corps.
Text from the tablet on the front of the monument:
3rd Regt. Pennsylvania
Reserve Corps
32nd Regt. Penna. Vol. Infantry
2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, 1st Corps.
Arriving on the field on the afternoon of September 16th, Lieut. Col. John Clark. Comd’g. the Regiment immediately deployed eight companies as skirmishers.
When the 2nd Brigade advanced on the morning of September 17th, the Regiment fell into line, and 600 yards South of this point became engaged with Hood’s Confederate Division.
Number engaged about 200
Casualties at Antietam
Killed 12
Wounded 34
Total 46
8 companies recruited in Berks Co.
3 companies recruited in Bucks Co.
3 companies recruited in Philadelphia
1 company recruited in Wayne Co.
Battles Participated In.
| Dranesville | South Mountain |
| Mechanicsville | Antietam |
| Gaines Mills | Fredericksburg |
| Charles City Cross Roads | Princeton C.H. |
| Malvern Hill | Bruskey Mountain |
| Gainesville | Cloyd’s Mountain |
| 2nd Bull Run | New River Bridge |
| Chantilly | Blacksburg |
Location of the monument
The 3rd Regiment Pennsylvania Reserves monument is north of Sharpsburg on the north side of Mansfield Avenue
about 500 yards east of the Hagerstown Pike (39°29’19.7″N 77°44’45.8″W).
See more on the history of the 3rd Regiment Pennsylvania Reserves during the Civil War
