The monument to the 5th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment is southeast of Gettysburg at Pardee Field south of Culp's Hill. (Culp's Hill South tour map) A tablet on a boulder a short distance behind the monument marks the location where the first man of the regiment was killed at Gettysburg. A marker on the north side of Little Round Top at Wheatfield Road shows the regiment's position after its arrival on the battlefield late on July 1.

Colonel John H. Patrick, a tailor from Cincinnatti, Ohio, commanded the 5th Ohio Infantry at Gettysburg. The regiment brought 315 men to the field and lost 2 men killed.

Both the monument and the tablet on the bolder behind it feature the image of an owl. This was a symbol for the "Wide Awakes," a militaristic pro-Lincoln Northern political organization whose Cincinnati Chapter sponsored the formation of the 5th Ohio Infantry.

The old Spangler's Lane ran from behind the larger monument and in front of the boulder monument and helps explain why the two monuments are separated.

"Boys, keep the colors up!" also appears on both monument and plaque. These were the last words of Captain George B. Whitcom, who was killed at the Battle of Kernstown on March 23, 1862. After four of the 5th Ohio's color bearers were shot down Captain Whitcom grabbed the colors and shouted the command before he was struck over the eye and killed.

Just beneath the owl (which is perched under the shelter of a pair of knapsacks), the monument also features the star that was the symbol of the 12th Corps on the front as well as the sides. A relief of a bayoneted rifle crossed with the national colors is on the front face. The monument was dedicated on September 14, 1887.

Info above from "Battle of Gettysburg, Stone Sentinels" website.