Monument Monday, February 18, 2019

Joined
Jul 17, 2018
Charleston was surrendered on this day in 1865. Here is a monument to the battle of Secessionville, SC at Fort Lamar just outside of Charleston.
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I'd almost forgotten Monument Monday this week! Above is the area of the battlefield at Shiloh/Pittsburg Landing known as The Crossroads (of the Hamburg-Purdy and Corinth-Pittsburg Landing Roads) where for over an hour on the morning of April 6, 1862 the Union divisions of William T. Sherman and John A. McClernand stood off assaults by several Confederate brigades. It is the location of the Illinois State Memorial Monument, no doubt because of the Illinois regiments in McClernand's Division who fought here.

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Below, a closer look at the inscription on the Illinois Monument and a bronze plaque depicting the fighting here.

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In the picture of the monument commemorating the Battle of Secessionville, is the front portion of the monument a metal plate or is the lettering actually carved into the stone? Thank You. David.
 
In the picture of the monument commemorating the Battle of Secessionville, is the front portion of the monument a metal plate or is the lettering actually carved into the stone? Thank You. David.
It appeared to me to be carved, the weathering on it is the same as the surrounding stone. However I did not touch it when I was there. Some different photos are available here:
https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=21319
 
* The Confederate Monument in Cynthiana is located on the outer edge of Cynthiana, Kentucky in Battle Grove Cemetery. It was the first monument to the Confederate States of America dedicated in the State of Kentucky, and long believed to be the first Confederate memorial anywhere. Due to the 32nd Indiana Monument having been moved from its original location, the Cynthiana monument is the oldest monument still standing at its original location, located where the second Battle of Cynthiana commence. * Wikipedia

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It appeared to me to be carved, the weathering on it is the same as the surrounding stone. However I did not touch it when I was there. Some different photos are available here:
https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=21319

Thanks for the information. I was just wondering because of the weathering. When I see historical markers that need refurbishing I always try to help by paying for the repairs, which I have done for several monuments in Pennsylvania. David.
 
One of the more unusual monuments is that of Private John D. Putnam located at Shiloh.
Regards
David
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The story of Putnam's stump is taken from the Wisconsin Monument Dedication Committee's publication.
JD. PUTNAM, a member of Company F. Fourteenth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, was killed April 7, 1862, during a charge of his regiment made upon a rebel battery, and was buried where he fell by his company comrades, at the
foot of a young oak tree.

Thomas Steele, one of the burying party, suggested that Putnam's name should he cut into the tree sufficiently low down so that in ease the tree was chopped down later on the name should still remain to tell who was there at rest. This suggestion was carried out.

When the Government established a National Cemetery at Pittsburg Landing, Putnam's body was removed thereto, and
his grave in the National Cemetery is. owing to these precaitions taken by his comrades in 1862, one of the few bearing full name, company and regiment.

When the Wisconsin Shiloh .Monument Commissioners in 1901, visited the battlefield to select a site for a State monument, it was found that the tree had years ago been chopped down, but the stump remained, and though very badly decayed by age, the name of Putnam, cut into the tree in 1862 by his comrades, was still legible. Thomas Steele, who was with the Commission, expressed a desire to have that portion of the stump which bore the inscription given him. After consultation, the National Park Commissioners granted the request, and the portion bearing the inscription was sent to Thomas Steele, who fortunately had it photographed and then forwarded the slab to Gr. A. R. Memorial Hlall. then located in the Capitol at Madison, to lie there preserved as a relic. A poor place it proved to be. It was
destroyed in the Capitol fire.

The Wisconsin Shiloh Monument Commissioners resolved to mark the spot, because of its absolute and indisputable correctness as to the position of the Fourteenth Regiment at a certain time of the day, and further decided to reproduce the original stump in granite, placing thereon the name, company and regiment of Putnam, as cut into the tree by his comrades, and on the reverse side the legend relating to the incidents connected therewith. The Photograph of the stump in the hands of Captain F. H. Magdeburg, president of the Wisconsin Shiloh Monument Commission, was, with a pencil sketch of the balance of the stump made by the park engineer of the National Commission, sent to Joseph Newall & Co., at Westerly. R. I., who were enabled therefrom to reproduce an exact facsimile of the stump as found by the Wisconsin Shiloh Monument Commissioners while visiting the battlefield in 1901.

This granite facsimile was put in position on April 7, 1906, on a concrete foundation placed by the Park Commissioners, on the identical spot from whence the original stump was removed in order to allow the facsimile to be placed.

(pages 28-29)
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t70v90b1q;view=1up;seq=35
 
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All wonderful photos again, and I love the first one here with the hot air balloon floating in the background. Seriously, so many of these should be entered in the photo comps and I hope they will be (if they haven't already).

Another great story to go with the Shiloh monument @Ole Miss , and @Buckeye Bill that's an awesome shot of the Confederate Monument at Cynthiana at top.

Great job again to all the posters! And a shout out to @Jimklag who came up with the original idea for Monument Monday :wink:
 
All wonderful photos again, and I love the first one here with the hot air balloon floating in the background. Seriously, so many of these should be entered in the photo comps and I hope they will be (if they haven't already).

Another great story to go with the Shiloh monument @Ole Miss , and @Buckeye Bill that's an awesome shot of the Confederate Monument at Cynthiana at top.

Great job again to all the posters! And a shout out to @Jimklag who came up with the original idea for Monument Monday :wink:

Thank you!

Bill
 
The Confederate Soldiers Monument, AKA the Boys Who Wore Gray, as it appeared in 2005 in front of the Old Durham County courthouse, Durham, NC. Sadly it was destroyed in an illegal action by vigilantes in 2017. It had been dedicated on May 10, 1924.

Destroyed to the point it was unsalvageable? or is it sitting in a warehouse somewhere? I can't conceive how, short of C5 or dynamite something like this could be so totally destroyed. That's much more than vandalism. What's the back story? Who went to prison for this?
 
Destroyed to the point it was unsalvageable? or is it sitting in a warehouse somewhere? I can't conceive how, short of C5 or dynamite something like this could be so totally destroyed. That's much more than vandalism. What's the back story? Who went to prison for this?


The Monument sits in a warehouse in it's destroyed form. Below is a photo of the destroyed Monument. Several were charged but none were found guilty nor disciplined. Even though law enforcement witnessed the unlawful act, even though law enforcement videoed it. Law enforcement was present, they did not attempt to stop the crime as they were ordered to stand down.

Also the Durham City-County Committee on Confederate Monuments and Memorials was created in response to the statue's removal and first convened in April 2018 to issue recommendations on what to do with the remaining base within the confines of this law, as well to catalog and issue recommendations on other Confederate memorials in the area.

In early 2019, the Committee recommended that it be displayed inside the county administrative building in its crumpled state. "The committee said displaying the statue in its current damaged form would add important context.
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Respectfully,

William Richardson

One Nation
Two countries
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One of the more unusual monuments is that of Private John D. Putnam located at Shiloh.
Regards
David
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The story of Putnam's stump is taken from the Wisconsin Monument Dedication Committee's publication.
JD. PUTNAM, a member of Company F. Fourteenth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, was killed April 7, 1862, during a charge of his regiment made upon a rebel battery, and was buried where he fell by his company comrades, at the
foot of a young oak tree.


Thomas Steele, one of the burying party, suggested that Putnam's name should he cut into the tree sufficiently low down so that in ease the tree was chopped down later on the name should still remain to tell who was there at rest. This suggestion was carried out.

When the Government established a National Cemetery at Pittsburg Landing, Putnam's body was removed thereto, and
his grave in the National Cemetery is. owing to these precaitions taken by his comrades in 1862, one of the few bearing full name, company and regiment.


When the Wisconsin Shiloh .Monument Commissioners in 1901, visited the battlefield to select a site for a State monument, it was found that the tree had years ago been chopped down, but the stump remained, and though very badly decayed by age, the name of Putnam, cut into the tree in 1862 by his comrades, was still legible. Thomas Steele, who was with the Commission, expressed a desire to have that portion of the stump which bore the inscription given him. After consultation, the National Park Commissioners granted the request, and the portion bearing the inscription was sent to Thomas Steele, who fortunately had it photographed and then forwarded the slab to Gr. A. R. Memorial Hlall. then located in the Capitol at Madison, to lie there preserved as a relic. A poor place it proved to be. It was
destroyed in the Capitol fire.


The Wisconsin Shiloh Monument Commissioners resolved to mark the spot, because of its absolute and indisputable correctness as to the position of the Fourteenth Regiment at a certain time of the day, and further decided to reproduce the original stump in granite, placing thereon the name, company and regiment of Putnam, as cut into the tree by his comrades, and on the reverse side the legend relating to the incidents connected therewith. The Photograph of the stump in the hands of Captain F. H. Magdeburg, president of the Wisconsin Shiloh Monument Commission, was, with a pencil sketch of the balance of the stump made by the park engineer of the National Commission, sent to Joseph Newall & Co., at Westerly. R. I., who were enabled therefrom to reproduce an exact facsimile of the stump as found by the Wisconsin Shiloh Monument Commissioners while visiting the battlefield in 1901.

This granite facsimile was put in position on April 7, 1906, on a concrete foundation placed by the Park Commissioners, on the identical spot from whence the original stump was removed in order to allow the facsimile to be placed.
(pages 28-29)
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t70v90b1q;view=1up;seq=35
I'd like to know a little more about Pvt. Putnam - last year I read a somewhat disappointing "classic" A Wisconsin Boy in Dixie in which the author who was a member of the 14th referred to revisiting the field, mentioning Putnam by name, and acting as though something had befallen him aside from merely being killed in battle there. I wondered at the time if maybe he thought Putnam had been wounded and left on the field where he was killed by enemy troops?
 
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