GDG- 40th NY monument question

[zfry at kent.edu]

The 40th New York fought the better part of its action facing south
toward the 2nd and 17th GA, 44th and 48th AL.  My understanding of the
event has always been that the Mozart Regiment helped to cover the
withdrawal of Federal troops from Devil's Den and lower Houck's Ridge.  

According to the report of Col. Thomas Wilberforce Egan (OR, vol. 27,
part 1, p. 526):
"All attempts to dislodge them from the second line proving unsuccessful
[Benning's right wing in the Plum Run Gorge, most likely], and
discovering that they had gained ground upon my right, which threatened
a flank movement, the regiments on my right having fallen to the rear
and exposed us to a cross-fire, I was compelled to fall back, rallying
my men upon the ridge over which I passed."

>From p. 18 of LBG Gary Kross' article "To Die Like Soldiers: The Retreat
from Sickles' Front, July 2, 1863" in Blue & Gray Magazine, Campaign
issue 1998, "The last outfit to withdraw from the valley was the 40th
New York under Col. Thomas W. Egan slightly in advance of Gilkyson's
[6th NJ] left.  The 40th, or 'Mozart Regiment,' had earlier moved past
Smith's section in Plum Run Valley, relieving his two guns from the
defense of the reverse slopes of Houck's Ridge."

I can't say with one hundred percent certainty why the 40th NY decided
to place its monument facing the direction it now does, but likely they
wanted their brave role in covering the withdrawal from Houck's Ridge to
be remembered above all else.

With my compliments,
Zack Fry