Dedicated: 1887.
Location: The Angle. Indicates spot where Lt. Alonzo H. Cushing was mortally wounded July 3, 1863.
Description: Small engraved stone marker erected by the veterans of the 71st Pennsylvania Infantry to honor Cushing’s sacrifice. Marker is rough cut granite with an excised polished face and incised inscription. Overall height is 1.5 feet.
About Lieut. Alonzo Hereford Cushing
Alonzo Hereford Cushing was born on January 19, 1841 in Delafield, Wisconsin. He was raised in Fredonia, New York. Cushing graduated from West Point in the class of June 1861.
Cushing commanded Battery A, 4th U.S. Artillery at Gettysburg. He was wounded three times commanding his guns at the Angle on July 3 – a shell fragment went straight through his shoulder; he was then grievously wounded by a second shell fragment, which tore into his abdomen and groin. This wound exposed his intestines, which he held in place with his hand as he continued to command his battery. Cushing was finally killed when a bullet entered his mouth and exited through the back of his skull. He died on the field at the height of the assault.
His body was returned to his family and then interred in the West Point Cemetery in Section 26, Row A, Grave 7. His headstone bears, at the behest of his mother, Mary, the inscription “Faithful unto Death.” He is buried next to General John Buford.
In 2013, Cushing was belatedly awarded the Medal of Honor for the role he played in the Battle of Gettysburg.