Memorials Inventory Project (MIP) Final Report, January 2006

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The Maryland Sons Monument, dedicated on Memorial Day 1884, and located at the Loudon Park National Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland proved to have a significant history. MIP volunteer Peter Johnston submitted substantial documentation to reveal that the terracotta frieze on this monument was made directly from the same mold used to cast the frieze on the old U.S. Pension Building. The Pension Building, now known as the National Building Museum, was designed by Quartermaster General Montgomery Meigs in 1881, and was in the process of construction at the time the building was completed in 1887 (Detail and full views).

Meigs hired American sculptor Caspar Buberl to craft the 1,200-foot-long Greco-Roman frieze for the Pension Building. Although the same mold was used to create this monument’s frieze, Buberl did not cast nor finish this particular work. The work is attributed in various newspaper accounts to “D. McMenamin” or “Mr. Penniman.” The Pension Building’s frieze depicts 28 different scenes. The monument frieze depicts four: “Wounded after Battle,” east elevation; “General Taking Command of His Forces,” south; “Battle Scene,” north; and “Peace,“ west.

The Soldiers Monument at Knoxville National Cemetery (left) was erected in 1896 and dedicated on October 24, 1901. With its unique castellated features, the monument is one among a select group of more decorative memorials found in NCA cemeteries. Little information has been obtained on this particular monument to-date.

The three Dade Pyramids, located at St. Augustine National Cemetery in Florida (below), are the oldest monuments found in the NCA cemeteries. Erected in 1842, the pyramids are 11 feet long on each side and constructed of coquina. Originally, each pyramid was covered with a stucco finish that has since deteriorated. The memorials were erected in honor of 1,468 soldiers who died during the Florida Indian Wars between 1835 and 1842. Soldiers killed during the Dade Massacre on December 28, 1835, are interred in the cemetery.

CONFEDERATE MONUMENTS

In 1906, Congress approved the marking of Confederate graves for soldiers who died while imprisoned in Union prisons during the Civil War. As part of the program that followed, the government commissioned several monuments to be erected. The Van Amringe Granite Company of Boston was contracted to build at least four Confederate monuments at the following NCA sites: Point Lookout Confederate Cemetery, Maryland; Finn’s Point National Cemetery, New Jersey; North Alton Confederate Cemetery, Illinois; and Confederate Mound in Oakwoods Cemetery, Illinois. A total of 24 monuments dedicated to Confederate soldiers are located in NCA cemeteries.

STATE MONUMENTS

A number of state legislatures approved and funded monuments that were dedicated primarily to Civil War soldiers. In addition to the sampling of state memorials depicted here, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maine and Virginia have erected memorials in NCA national cemeteries.

ILLINOIS
The state of Illinois erected two monuments to its Civil War soldiers, located at Mound City National Cemetery, Illinois, and Memphis National Cemetery, Tennessee.

PENNSYLVANIA
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania installed at least five memorials in national cemeteries. The Pennsylvania Monument depicted (left) is located at Salisbury National Cemetery in North Carolina, which is located on the site of a former Confederate prison camp. An almost identical memorial was erected by Pennsylvania at the former Confederate prison in Andersonville, Georgia. That national cemetery is operated by the National Park Service.

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