86th New York Infantry

Alternate Designations: Steuben’s Rangers.

Commander: Lt. Col. Benjamin L. Higgins (1826-1891), wounded on July 2; Maj. Jacob H. Lansing (1824-1885).

Numbers: 286; 11 killed, 51 wounded, 4 missing.

Raised: Steuben and Chemung.

Dedicated July 2, 1888.

Location: East side of Sickles Avenue, north of Devil’s Den and south of Ayres Avenue. The monument marks the position of the 86th New York Infantry on the afternoon of July 2, 1863.

Description: Granite monument with apex cap features a bronze relief depicting a woman praying over a dead or dying soldier. The relief contains the words: “I yield him unto his Country and to his God.” Monument that has two flanking markers. Monument is a granite shaft with an apex top set on a seven foot square rough hewn base. Overall height is 12.4 foot. The shaft has a polished face on the east and west and rough on the other sides.

Fox notes that this regiment, “fairly earned its reputation as “the fighting regiment of the Southern Tier.””

National Park Service List of Classified Monuments Number: MN130.

Sculptor: Frederick & Field, fabricator.

Army of the Potomac > Third Corps > First Division > Second Brigade