monument_sprecksel

"The imposing structure is one of the most beautiful of its kind. Its height is 110 feet. The base of the monument is 80 feet square and has a height of 9 feet. Around the base, and on the inner walls of the arches, are placed bronze tablets on which are recorded the names of 34,530 officers and enlisted men of Pennsylvania who participated in the battle. The monument cost $150,000 and was dedicated September 27, 1910."

Knap's Battery on the Antietam Battlefield two days after the battle in September of 1862

10 Pounder Parrott Rifled Gun, rear view

Knap's Battery E on Bronze Table

Kim Leese, Civil War Historian, took these 2 photos for me

of the Bronze Tablet on the PA State Monument.....

My Great-grandfather Peter Sprecksel is listed on row 3

CW Documents are from Sherri Sprecksel's collection of family memorabilia...

the 1863 discharge paper

the 1865 discharge paper

My Great Grandfather Peter Sprecksel was born in 1821 in Prussia & died in Michigan in 1884. He immigrated to the United States in 1850. Peter was a Civil War Veteran, serving as a Pvt. with Captain Knap's Battery , (Independent Battery "E") Pennsylvania Light Artillery. He enrolled & mustered in November 15, 1861 at Pittsburgh. He was wounded in the Battle of Gettysburg & spent the next 4 months in a hospital. He rejoined his Battery in November 1863. Peter re-enlisted as a Veteran Volunteer in Wauhatchie, Tennessee on December 29, 1863 and mustered out June 14, 1865 near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. His wounds bothered him the rest of his life. His name is inscribed on the Pennsylvania State Monument at Gettysburg .

A great book about Knap's Independent Battery "E" is "Hurrah For The Artillery!" compiled by James P. Brady, as told through the letters & diaries of three of it's key members. Published by Thomas Publications, P.O. Box 3031, Gettysburg, PA.