Monument to the 140th New York Infantry at the Wilderness

Battle of the Wilderness • Tour the Battlefield • Monuments & Markers • The Armies

Tour Stop 2 on the Wildeness Battleifled Auto Tour The monument and wayside marker to the 140th New York Infantry Regiment is in Saunders Field on the walking trail a short distance from the parking area at Tour Stop 2. (map)

The regiment was commanded at the Battle of The Wilderness by Colonel George Ryan. Colonel Ryan would be killed three days later at Laurel Hill on the Spotsylvania battlefield. The monument is a short distance from the wayside marker, “First Blood in Saunders Field”, which tells the story of the regiment’s charge across the field at the beginning of the battle on May 5.

There is also a monument to the 140th New York Infantry on Little Round Top on the Gettysburg Battlefield.

Attached to the 5th Corps, 1st Division, 1st Brigade

Monument to the 140th New York Infantry Regiment

Monument to the 140th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment on the Wilderness Battlefield

Text from the monument:

140th New York State Vols.

First Brigade First Division Fifth Corps
Number Engaged 529
Casualties
23 killed 118 wounded
114 missing
140

The Regiment’s number is set into the Maltese Cross symbol of the Fifth Army Corps on the front of the monument.

Monument to the 140th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment on the Wilderness Battlefield

First Blood in Saunders Field wayside marker

Trail through Saunders Field, with the First Blood in Saunders Field wayside marker and the monument to the 140th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment

Text from the marker:

First Blood in Saunders Field

“The regiment melted away like snow. Men disappeared as if the earth had swallowed them.”

-Captain Porter Parley
140th New York Infantry

Shortly after noon on May 5, the battleline of the 140th New York burst from the woods to your right-rear – the first regiment to advance against the Confederates here in Saunders Field.

Undaunted by a devastating Confederate fire, the 529 New Yorkers sprinted across the field and assailed the Confederates along the woodline before you. But supporting units, Caught in the tangled woods north of the field, could not keep pace. Confederate fire raked the 140th exposed right flank. For perhaps 30 minutes the 140th New York clung to its foothold in the woods. Then, with nearly half its men shot or captured, the regiment retreated.

The advance of the 140th New York was but the first bloodletting in what would be two days of savage fighting in and around Saunders Field.

The First Blood in Saunders Field wayside marker on the Wilderness Battlefield

The marker’s background is a painting by historical artist Keith Rocco.

Location of the monument and marker

See more about the history of the 140th New York Infantry Regiment in the Civil War

(go to the Stop 2 page)
(go to the main Battlefield Auto Tour page)