Alternate Designations: German Rifles; Sigel Rifles; German Rangers.
Commander: Lt. Col. Charles G. Freudenberg (1833-1885), wounded; Maj. Edward Venuti (1825-July 2, 1863), killed; Capt. William Scherrer (ca. 1834-May 26, 1864).
Numbers: 134; 2 killed, 26 wounded, 10 missing.
Raised: New York City.
Dedicated: July 3, 1893.
Location: Sickles Avenue near the Loop. The monument marks the position where the 52nd New York Infantry drove back, with the Brigade, 1500-2000 Confederates on July 2, 1863.
Description: Granite monument with bronze trophy of crossed muskets and infantry accouterments on the front. The top of the monument has a pediment shape with bronze state seal. Granite monument has rough hewn sides with a gable top that has brackets on the east side and sets on a 6.6×5.4 foot rough hewn base. Overall height is eleven foot. The monument has a bronze state seal, crossed musket, and infantry accouterments on the east side and inscriptions on the west. Flanking markers have flat tops with inscriptions, one foot square.
Fox writes of the Fifty-Second: “The Fifty-second was composed of men of German birth; yet it fought for the flag of the Union as gallantly as ever Germans fought on the battle fields of their fatherland.”
National Park Service List of Classified Monuments Number: MN163.
Sculptor: Caspar Buberl
Army of the Potomac > Second Corps > First Division > Third Brigade