Rockland Civil War Round Table

The Rockland Civil War Round Table's Annual 124th NY Monument Clean Up
Gettysburg, PA

On July 2nd, 1863, Colonel Augustus Van Horne Ellis and his 124th New York "Orange Blossoms" valiantly defended the position in front of the Triangular Field against the 1st Texans during the second day's battle at Gettysburg.

A charge led by Major James Cromwell down the slope into the approching but disorganized Texans was repulsed with the mortal wounding of Cromwell. Ellis, screaming to his men, "My God! My God men! Your Major's down; save him!" rallyed his stalled regiment to counterattack again but was also fatailly wounded by a bullet himself.

With the bodies of Ellis and Cromwell recovered, the 124th was overwhelmed by a flanking movement on thier left by the 44th Alabama. Their position was lost and of the 238 Orange Blossoms engaged that day 98 (41.2%) were reported as casualties.

In 1995, the Rockland Civil War Round Table adopted the 124th New York Monument that sits atop Houck's Ridge in Gettysburg National Battlefield Park.. Once every fall, our members visit this site and help maintain the beauty of this sacred landscape.

Taken October 12th, 2003

We had a record high 24 volunteers this year! Starting with the top left image and moving clockwise we'd like to thank the Bennett family, Eileen, Bill, Peter, James, Marty & Theresa, Michael (and everyone else not shown) for all their hard work and sweat during our 2002 monument clean-up.

Lower left - Our guest dinner speaker General George Meade pins a medal on Nancy who broke her wrist during the clean up. Lower right - we toured the East Calvary Battlefield on Sunday morning.

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