This matted and framed photo is likely #1153B in Tipton’s catalog of photographic views, labeled as showing a group at their monument along the Emmitsburg Road on the south cavalry battlefield. The monument is a very noticeable hexagonal monolith with bronze lances and pennants attached to it as a reminder of the regiment’s service as lancers until mid-1863.

The monument was dedicated in 1888, and the dress and age of the men seems appropriate for that time. About 60 veterans are seated in three rows in front of the monument and standing in two groups at either side of it. The upper portion of the image has fading that affects just the upper portion of the monument and three or four of the faces of men standing on the highest points. The rest are very visible and make a good visual record of men who served in the regiment.

At Gettysburg two of the companies served as Meade’s escort at army headquarters. The rest were part of the Reserve Brigade of the First Division of the Cavalry Corps. On July 3 they became involved in the fighting, losing 3 killed, 7 wounded and 2 missing. A second, smaller marker on the field indicates the flank of their position and a third commemorates the two companies serving at army headquarters.

The regiment received much notice early in their service from their armament with nine-foot lances with red pennants, which most the companies carried until May 1863, when they rearmed with conventional sabers, carbines, pistols. But they were a fighting outfit as well. The unit mustered into service 10/31/61 and mustered out 6/17/65, spending most of their service with the Army of the Potomac, except for assignment to the Army of the Shenandoah from August 1864 to March 1865. They lost 7 officers and 71 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded (a pretty high number for a cavalry outfit,) at actions such as Gaines Mill, Beverly Ford, Gettysburg, Brandy Station, Todd’s Tavern, Wilderness, Trevilian Station, and others. CWData lists about 60 points at which they were engaged with loss. The regiment has been the subject of several articles and books, including a 2007 regimental history. They also drew the attention of Civil War artists and photographers as well. A number of sketches and photographs show them in the field.

The frame measures 21 ¼” x 18 ½”, the photograph measures 15 ½” x 12 ¼”.  [sr]

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