Major General Alexander Hays monument on the Wilderness battlefield

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

The monument to Union Major General Alexander Hays (West Point Class of 1844) on the Wilderness Battlefield is on the west side of Brock Road about 0.25 mile north of the intersection with Orange Plank Road. There is a small pulloff on the west side of the road. It marks the location (a short ways to the west in the woods) where Hays was shot in the head and killed while leading his brigade in holding off a Confederate attack.

One of the heroes of the Battle of Gettysburg, Hays held Ziegler’s Grove and the north end of Cemetery Ridge during Pickett’s Charge, and is honored by a monument and statue on the Gettysburg Battlefield.

The Monument to Union Major General Alexander Hays on the Wilderness Battlefield.

About the monument

The monument is made from a 42-pounder rifled cannon set into a stone base. The large caliber cannon was manufactured in 1859 and used for coastal defence during the war. The trefoil shape of inscription tablet is the symbol for the Union Second Corps.

It was dedicated in June of 1805 by the survivors of the 63rd Pemmsylvania Infantry Regiment. Hays had raised the regiment in 1861 and was its Colonel until he was wounded at the Second Battle of Manassas and promoted to Brigadier General while convelescing. In March of 1864 Hays took command of the brigade which included the 63rd Pennsylvania, and was with his old regiment at the time he was killed.

Former Confederate Major W.S. Embrey owned the land where the fighting occurred, and donated the 0.6 acre plot for the monument. In 1959 the land was acquired by the National Park Service.

Commander of the 2nd Corps, 3rd Division, 2nd Brigade

Closeup of the tablet on the Monument to Union Major General Alexander Hays on the Wilderness Battlefield.

Text from the front of the monument:

Here
Fell
General
Alexander Hays
3d Div. 2d Corps U.S.V.
May 3, 1864

The front of the base of the Monument to Union Major General Alexander Hays on the Wilderness Battlefield, showing the inscription

Text from the rear base of the monument:

Erected by

General Alexander Hays Post No. 3
Department of Pennsylvania G.A.R.
and
Davis Star Camp, Sons of Veterans

The rear of the base of the monument, showing the name of the Confederate officer who donated the land for the monument

At the rear of the base is an inscription:

This ground donated by Major W.S. Embrey, C.S.A.

Map and directions to the monument

The monument on the Wilderness Battlefield to Union Major General Alexander Hays is on the west side of Brock Road about 0.25 mile north of Orange Plank Road. (38°18’17.0″N 77°42’33.8″W)

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