 The Pennsylvania Board of Commissioners on Gettysburg Monuments desired that the monument be placed on the field where Burns had fought with the 150th Pennsylvania and 7th Wisconsin regiments, and a site was chosen on McPherson's Ridge next to Herbst Woods.Sculptor Albert G. Bureau chose to depict a defiant Burns with clenched fist, carrying his borrowed rifle.Placed upon a boulder taken from the battlefield, the monument was dedicated on July 1, 1903, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the battle.