On the southern end of Little Round Top's summit stands the monument to the 44th New York Infantry, the largest and most expensive of the hundreds of regimental monuments placed on the Gettysburg battlefield by surviving veterans, honoring the regiment's critical role in the hill's defense on July 2, 1863. Little Round Top was among the first battlefield land preserved in Gettysburg, with the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association purchasing most of this ground in April, 1864. The hill became the setting for veteran reunions and monument dedications well into the twentieth century, and over time it became a national shrine and a place of remembrance for the men who fought and died here. Shaped in public memory by literature and film, it remains one of the most iconic and visited landscapes on the battlefield.
