Monument to the 48th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment

Pennsylvania monuments at Antietam

The monument to the 48th Pennsylvania Volunteers at Antietam is on Branch Avenue. (Branch Avenue North tour map; ; map location) It was dedicated on September 17, 1904. The 48th Pennsylvania is also honored by a monument at Petersburg, Virginia and two markers at The Crater near Petersburg.

The statue on the monument represents the regiment’s commander, Colonel James Nagle. He was in command of the brigade at Antietam as senior colonel, while Lieutenant Colonel Joshua K. Siegfried commanded the regiment. After the battle Nagle was promoted to brigadier general, Siegfried to Colonel, Captain Henry Pleasants to lieutenant colonel, and Captain James Wren to major. The shield and anchor at the base of the statue is the symbol for the Ninth Army Corps.

Monument to the 48th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment at Antietam

Text from the tablet on the front of the monument:

48th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry
1st Brigade 2nd Division 9th Corps
Location 385 yards South 70 degrees East

Casualties at Antietam
Killed 8
Wounded 51
Missing 1
Total 60

Organized August September 1861
Mustered out July 17th, 1865
Recruited in Schuylkill County

Battles participated in

Newbern
Second Bull Run
Chantilly
South Mountain
Antietam
Fredericksburg
Blue Springs
Campbell’s Station
Siege of Knoxville
Wilderness		 Spotsylvania
North Anna
Totopotomay
Bethesda Church
Cold Harbor
Petersburg
Weldon Railroad
Poplar Spring Church
Boydton Plank Road
Assault on Petersburg

Dug Petersburg Mine
Commenced June 25 Exploded July 30, 1864

Detail of the bronze tablet on the front of the monument to the 48th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment at Antietam

Text from the tablet on the rear of the monument:

James Nagle
Organizer and First
Colonel of this Regiment

Received Commission as
Brigadier General of Volunteers
on the Battlefield of Antietam
September 17, 1862

Captain
Company “B”, 1st Penn’a. Regiment
War with Mexico

Colonel
6th, 48th, 39th, 149th Regiments 
Penn’a. Volunteers
War of the Rebellion

Born april 5th, 1822
Died April 22d, 1866

Detail of the bronze tablet on the rear of the monument to the 48th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment at Antietam

Location of the monument

The monument to the 48th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment is southeast of Sharpsburg on the east side of Branch Avenue about 0.3 mile south of the Old Burnside Bridge Road (39°27’03.5″N 77°44’24.3″W).

See more about the history of the 48th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the Civil War.