Alternate Designations: The Harvard Regiment
Commander: Col. Paul J. Revere (Sept. 10, 1832-July 4, 1863), mortally wounded on July 2; Lt. Col. George N. Macy (1837-1875), wounded on July 3; Capt. Henry L. Abbott (Jan. 21, 1842-May 6, 1864).
Numbers: 301; 30 killed, 94 wounded, 3 missing.
Raised: Suffolk, Norfolk, and Nantucket.
Dedicated: Oct. 20, 1885.
Location: Hancock Avenue, west side 100 yards south of Copse of Trees. Monument indicates the position held by the 20th Massachusetts Infantry on the evening of July 2 through July 3, 1863.
Description: The conglomerate boulder, also known as a “Puddingstone,” was taken from a playground in Roxbury where the unit was initially organized. The base has incised inscriptions on the front and rear, and a corps symbol on the front. Overall height is 11.2 feet. Monument that has two flanking markers. Flanking markers are 1.6×8.5 foot and were altered in 1903.
(A puddingstone consists of distinctly rounded pebbles whose colors contrast sharply with the color of the finer-grained, often sandy, matrix or cement surrounding them. The Roxbury puddingstone is a massive, Ediacaran, clast-supported pebble and cobble conglomerate that occurs within the Brookline Member of the Roxbury Conglomerate that is exposed around Boston, Massachusetts region.)
General Humphreys wrote that the Twentieth Massachusetts was one of the “very best” regiments in the service. The Twentieth suffered the most casualties of any Massachusetts regiment during the Civil War.
National Park Service List of Classified Monuments Number: MN234.
Sculptor: Smith Granite Company, fabricator.
Other Monuments: Main Monument | Position Sign
Army of the Potomac > Second Corps > Second Division > Third Brigade