Gettysburg Greg
First Sergeant
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2010
- Location
- Decatur, Illinois
In the late1890's, several modifcations were made to the 4th Maine Monument located in Devil's Den by the veterans themselves. The name of the commander of the 4th, Colonel Elijah Walker, had been left off the monument, so it was added. The casualty figures were wrong so they were corrected and the flank markers were placed in the proper location. One unforeseen problem arose because the concave shape of the rock on which the monument was sitting resulted in water accumulating around the base causing it to lean in one direction. The veterans decided the best way to keep water from the base of the monument was to carve a channel in the rock that would drain the accumulating water. In my photo below, I am pointing out the carved channel and the stain on the rock from over 120 years of drainage.
Bringing the