Col. Oates returned to the battlefield and marked positions reached by his regiment, as well as the point where his brother was wounded. However, Gettysburg park authorities would not allow him or any other Southerner to place permanent markers on the site. Federal markers were allowed on the ground, and eventually an Alabama monument was placed two miles away from the site of the fighting. For William C. Oates, that was his most bitter defeat at Gettysburg.