A Monumental Confederate Memorial In North Carolina

In my last posting I followed up on my discovery last summer of what I considered to be an outstanding Civil War Monument in Gloversville, New York, which I later learned is also on public display in three other locations.  So you already know that I am always interested in finding new to me monuments like this one. Despite a childhood dalliance with wearing the grey during the Centennial observations, seduced by the cavalier image, my sentiments today are very much with the North and the Union. Nevertheless, a handsome memorial will catch my interest almost regardless of its subject.

 

Most monuments, whether in the North or the South, warrant little more than a cursory examination of the single static figure and brief supporting inscriptions. However, during a recent sojourn in  Wilmington, North Carolina, almost by chance I found a dramatic multi-figure Southern monument that deserved close examination (even though located on a narrow island in the middle of an extremely busy street!).

The Confederate Monument includes two figures, one reclining - described in commentaries as representing sacrifice; the other standing - representing courage. It is the latter standing figure that really holds the eye and captures the imagination. He appears to embody the emotional attachment to the Lost Cause that still held sway in much of the South when the monument was dedicated in 1924.

The sculptor is identified on the memorial base as the then-noted F.H.Packer of New York but several articles and a guide book report that he worked in collaboration with local architect Henry Bacon, Jr, on the monument as a whole. It consists of a more than 15 ton granite pedestal and shaft providing base and background to the two figures. This is not the only work by Packer to be seen on the streets of Wilmington.The casting was done at Roman Bronze Works in New York which worked with many of the greatest sculptors in America.

Whatever their symbolic representation, the two figures offer some interesting details regarding the appearance of these Confederate soldiers. For example, the socks pulled up over the pants’ cuffs and tied down with what appears to be twine; and the two bullseye canteens with their distinctive metal ringwork patterns.

 

 

The two canteens featured in the memorial bear the markings of Company H, 40^th North Carolina.

According to Stewart Sifakis’ Compendium of the Confederate Armies: North Carolina, this company was also known as Company H of the North Carolina 3^rd Artillery Regiment in November 1863 and was captained by Calvin Barnes. Much of the 40^th/3^rd Artillery was captured at the fall of Fort Fisher on January 15, 1865. The then surviving remnants were converted to infantry and consolidated with the remnants of the 2^nd Artillery Regiment and other companies. They were surrendered as part of Joe Johnston’s army at Durham Station, North Carolina on April 26, 1865 having fought at Fort Anderson, Northeast River, Jackson’s Mills, and finally at Bentonville.

The National Park Service offers the following account of the regiment: “40th Regiment Volunteers-3rd Artillery was organized at Bald Head, Smith's Island, North Carolina, in November, 1863, from heavy artillery companies formed in 1861 and 1862. Its 1,152 men were from the counties of Lenoir, Beaufort, Pamlico, Richmond, Robeson, Wayne, Wilson, Edgecombe, Greene, New Hanover, Bladen, Anson, and Chatham. Attached to the Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia, detachments served at Fort Holmes, Fort Caswell, Fort Campbell, Fort Anderson, and Fort Fisher. In 1865 the unit was converted to infantry and assigned to Hagood's Brigade. It fought at Bentonville and surrendered with the Army of Tennessee on April 26. Its commanders were Colonel John J. Hedrick, Lieutenant Colonel George Tait, and Major William A. Holland.”

You can also find their published roster at Google Books.

The good news is that the only apparent visible damage is the broken off bayonet on the standing figure’s musket. Sadly, the bayonet was clearly there in 1994 based upon the photo at this link to the North Carolina monument’s online index - http://ncmonuments.ncdcr.gov/Photos.aspx?searchterm=66.

 

 

A Monumental and Apparently Overlooked Memorial from Gloversville, New York

Last August, I was driving my mother around New York’s Mohawk Valley area while we pursued some leads for our family genealogy. But the most exciting find of the trip was this outstanding Civil War memorial in Gloversville, New York. I had to stop the car, investigate, and take photographs.


My wife and I have long made an informal study of what we call “our glorious fallens” – the war memorials erected by communities across the US, Canada, the UK, Russia, etc. – in which a community remembers and salutes those of its members who have gone to war. The monument in Gloversville ranks as one of the top five that we have found though it appears to have escaped wider notice in spite of its obvious quality.

The monument features three figures of soldiers – a central standard bearer, and two flankers. The one on the standard bearer’s right is on one knee and alert to the signs and sounds of battle, but the left, the man has apparently been hit and is slumping to the ground and his left hand clutching at his sack coat. This is remarkable grouping for the overwhelming majority of town/city Civil War memorials feature only one figure.

The monument itself was disappointingly short on information with regard to the sculptor, the sponsor(s), and even the date upon which it was erected and/or dedicated. Its principal inscription reads:

“IN MEMORY OF THE MEN WHO OFFERED THEIR LIVES IN DEFENSE OF THEIR COUNTRY”

The only lead was the markings to indicate that it had been cast at the Gorham Foundry – manufacturers of the work of numerous famous and less well known artists from the US and abroad. The National Gallery of American Art in Washington DC has microfilm copies of the records from the Gorham company and I was able to spend an unfortunately fruitless afternoon looking for further information there.

James Morrison, of the Gloversville Historian’s Office, sent me a copy of the story of the monument from The Morning Herald of July 12, 1917 which offered a few more bits of information. Governor Whitman of New York led the array of dignitaries present for the dedication of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument in Monument Square in the community of Gloversville, New York, though the occasion was marred by poor weather. Ironically, given the name, the memorial features only the three soldiers discussed above.

The only indications as to sponsorship were references to the memorial being a gift from the citizens of the city to its veterans, and to a General Committee apparently responsible for the project’s realization. Also present was the former Commander of the New York Grand Army of the Republic General Loud, and representatives of the local Ansel Denison Post, G.A.R. But again, the article gave no name for the sculptor and no definitive statement regarding the identity of the memorial’s sponsor.

So I am sharing my photos and what information I have on this splendid monument in the hopes that perhaps collectively we can illuminate the mystery and provide the recognition that this monument deserves. My next leads would appear to be in the City Records of Gloversville and possibly in the surviving records of the G.A.R. Ansel Denison Post.