Civil War Monuments in Ohio

The Civil War lasted four long years and Ohio played a pivotal role with 310,654 men enrolled in 230 regiments. Nearly all were volunteers as only 8750 were drafted. There were 5092 Black soldiers from Ohio. Over 200 Ohioans reached the rank of general. To insure that future generations would remember Ohio's contributions to the Civil War, Ohioans constructed monuments, statues, plaques and buildings.

Between the end of the Civil War and 1869, eight Ohio cities and towns erected monuments to their valiant soldiers. Seven of the eight were located in northeast Ohio, the home of Ohio's most vocal and active abolitionists. Seven of these early monuments have eagles as their decorative element-four with wings spread as if in flight and three with wings closed. Howard Brigden carved the marble eagle that tops the 1867 monument in Mesopotamia, Trumbull Co.

Eagles

Eagles were the dominant design element for Civil War monuments in Ohio in the 1860s when they comprised 70% of the monuments. Although there were an additional seven eagle monuments constructed between 1870 and 1889, they represented only 12% of the 58 monuments dedicated during that time.

Soldiers

By far, the dominant design theme for Civil War monuments in Ohio (and across the country) was the "soldier at parade rest." One historian has given credit to the Antietam National Cemetery Board for its selection of a design by the James G. Batterson firm of Hartford, CT on September 16, 1867. The Board selected a soldier at parade rest design, the first known use of this soldier motif that would become a common sight across the country.

First eagles and then soldiers dominated Civil War monuments in Ohio but there were other popular designs. The simple obelisk, a four-sided monument that tapers to a point, is found in New Castle, Sandusky, Oregon and Toledo. Several monuments consist of artillery pieces and flagpoles. There are examples of these in Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati (1907); Doanville in Athens County; and Franklin, Warren County (1903). New Lexington has the only monument in the shape of a cross (1876).

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Local Soldiers

One common element of Civil War monuments is that they were erected to honor local citizens who fought to preserve the Union. Following is a sample of inscriptions on Ohio monuments:

"The heroic dead of Youngstown Twp."
"To the memory of the fallen soldiers of Ross Township, Jefferson County."
"In memory of those brave men of Champaign County who died in the war to save the Union."
"In memory of our soldiers of Salem."
"In memory of the soldiers of Hancock County who fought to suppress the Great Rebellion."
"Erected in memory of the soldiers of Washington County, OH."
"Lamented sons and soldier's of Knox Co."
"Erected by the citizens of Nelson to the memory of her soldiers who fell in defense of our country."

Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War president, is well represented with monuments in Ohio. The statehouse in Ohio contains the earliest. On January 19, 1870, the Lincoln-Vicksburg Memorial was dedicated. The memorial includes a marble bust of Abraham and a relief of the surrender of the Confederate Army at Vicksburg. Cincinnati has two statues of Lincoln while Cleveland, Alliance, and Wooster have one statue each.

Notable Individuals

Several Civil War generals and other important figures are remembered with statues and busts. Cincinnati has busts for Colonel Robert McCook and Friedrich Hecker and statues of Stephen Foster and James A. Garfield. Ohio also has statues of General George Armstrong Custer (New Rumley), John A. Bingham (Cadiz), Edwin M. Stanton (Steubenville), Johnny Clem (Newark), General Giles W. Shurtleff (Oberlin), General James B. Steedman (Toledo), General James B. McPherson (Tiffin) and Rev. Gordon Batelle (Newport). William McKinley has monuments in Canton, Columbus and Niles. General Philip Sheridan has the distinction of the only Civil War equestrian statue in Ohio, located in the center of Somerset, his hometown.

Although most Civil War monuments in Ohio remember the valor of soldiers, there are some that commemorate abolition and the fight to end slavery. In 1860 residents of Oberlin erected an obelisk to honor three African Americans who fought and died with John Brown at Harpers Ferry. The grave monument for Edwin Coppock in the Mt. Hope Cemetery in Salem notes that he was "A martyr to the cause of Liberty." Also with John Brown at Harpers Ferry, Coppock was hanged on December 16, 1859.

In the Maple Grove Cemetery in Ravenna, there is a large grave monument to Henry and Rebecca Brantley who escaped from slavery in Tennessee in 1862 and settled in Ravenna where they "lived honest and industrious lives." This monument is inscribed with the word "Emancipation" and the symbol of the hand with a broken manacle.

Akron built a monument to John Brown in 1901. In 1912 Ripley dedicated a monument to "The Men Who Wrought for Liberty." The bronze plaque located on the bank of the Ohio River lists 13 men who "were the leaders of a large host of men who co-operated in the abolition movement."

Women and Children

Few Civil War monuments in Ohio recognize women or children. The large Peace monument on the Capitol grounds in Columbus includes two bronze plaques-one for soldiers and one for those on the home front: "Men win glory in the fierce heat of conflict but the glory of woman is more hardly won. Upon her falls the burden of maintaining the family and the home, nursing the sick and wounded, and restoring the courage of the broken. She endures the suspense of battle without its exaltation. The memorial is erected in grateful tribute to the loyal women of 61-65, without whose help no victory or lasting peace could ever have been won." The monument was dedicated in 1923.

The soldier monument in Greenlawn Cemetery in Columbus includes a figure of a boy. Ohio has two drummer boys: a drummer boy on the Hillsboro monument and a statue of Johnny Clem in Newark.

Ohio has four memorials that relate to the Confederacy. In 1902, a monument was erected on the site of Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery, Columbus, where 2260 Confederate soldiers are buried. The Cincinnati Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy erected a monument on Johnson Island in Lake Erie, another Confederate prison site, in 1910. There is a bronze plaque in memory of Robert E. Lee in Franklin, Warren County. At the dedication in 1928, the Ohio director of highways accepted the plaque from the Ohio Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The fourth Confederate site is the grave of Confederate Captain William C. Quantrill in Dover, Tuscarawas County. Quantrill died and was buried in Louisville, KY in 1865 but in 1887 his mother had his remains moved to the Fourth Street Cemetery in Dover, the family home.

Several monuments are original works created by local artisans or well-known Ohio artists. In addition to "The Sentinel" by Randolph Rogers, other original monuments include the colossal Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Cleveland designed by architect Levi Scofield, the Butler County monument by Roland Hinton Perry and the cavalry officer by Thomas Dow Jones in Urbana.

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Markers

Many Civil War memorials in Ohio are plaques attached to boulders, slabs of granite or interior walls of buildings. There are also inscribed marble plaques. Only two of these plaques were done in the 19th century. In 1885 Antioch College remembered its Civil War dead with a marble plaque. In the courthouse in Upper Sandusky, there is a bronze plaque listing all the soldiers from Wyandot County.

Ohioans built structures as memorials to the Civil War. These include a bandstand in Gallipolis (1876); chapels in Akron (1876), Portsmouth (1884) and Marion (1888); memorial halls in Sidney (1877) and Cincinnati (1908); and gazebos in Middleport (1927) and Sandusky (1929). The U.S. Grant Memorial Bridge in Point Pleasant was first constructed in 1927 but then replaced in 1985. The modern bridge incorporates design elements from the original. The inventory also includes the homes of John Parker, John Rankin, the McCooks, William T. Sherman, Benjamin Hanby and three structures associated with U.S. Grant.

This inventory includes a few individual grave markers-chosen either for the significance of the individual or the elaborate nature of the marker itself. Some, such as the monument for General William Haines Lytle, fit both those criteria. Located in Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, the monument to Lytle is a tall granite column with an eagle at the top and a bronze plaque depicting the Battle of Chickamauga where Lytle died. Several Ohioans received the first Congressional Medals of Honor for their valiant efforts to capture the Confederate locomotive, The General. Six of these soldiers are included.

Most Civil War monuments in Ohio were constructed between 1865 and 1930. However a couple of dozen have been built since then. The Grand Army of the Republic evidently mounted a campaign to place sundials as memorials in state capitals in the 1930s and 1940s. The same GAR sundial can be found in Baltimore, Maryland (1933), Des Moines, Iowa (1938), Springfield, Illinois (1940), Denver, Colorado (date not known) and Columbus (1941). Ohio has a second GAR sundial in Hamilton, also dedicated in 1941.

Only two monuments were erected in Ohio during the centennial of the Civil War. Ripley erected a monument to Cockerill's Battery F in 1962 and the Methodist Church put a marker on the courthouse in Harrison to honor Bishop Matthew Simpson.

There are reminders of the Civil War in practically every county in Ohio. Clinton, Noble and Pike Counties are the only Ohio counties not included in the inventory, although Carroll County is here only because of the McCook House and Crawford County's single entry is for Frank, a horse that served in Co. A, 12th Ohio Cavalry Regiment. There are several counties with ten or more monuments and memorials. You might expect numerous monuments in Franklin (10), Hamilton (17) and Lucas (15) counties as they all include large cities. However Brown County boasts 12 monuments and Lorain has 13.

Ohio's Civil War monuments are remarkably well maintained. Many have recently been refurbished, cleaned and restored. Some have been relocated to safer spots. We know of one Civil War statue that has been destroyed--a soldier at parade rest statue that resided in the the town square of Lorain. There are probably others.

With 269 physical reminders in 85 of Ohio's 88 counties, Ohioans will not forget the Civil War.

Ruby Rogers
April 2003

Search our Monuments Database, to see more monuments.

Do you know of monuments not in our database? Can you provide additional information? We will continue to add entries and new information as we receive it. Please help us to create an accurate and complete inventory. Send your information to Anne Kling at akling@cincymuseum.org; or Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal, 1301 Western Avenue, Cincinnati, OH, 45203; or 513-287-7070; or 1-800-733-2077, ext. 7070.

Civil War Monuments in Other States

Credits

Individuals across the state assisted in surveying and photographing Civil War monuments. We extend our thanks and appreciation to the following:

Chris Bedel - Adams
Dick Crews - Cuyahoga
John Fleming - Greene, Montgomery
Jeannette Grosvenor - Geauga
Kathleen Jones - Lucas
Amy and David Laughead - Darke
Jane MacKnight - Brown and Washington
Dave Might - Sandusky
Helen Prill - Van Wert
John Rogers - Allen, Auglaize, Defiance, Fulton, Hardin, Hancock, Paulding, Williams, Wood
Emilie Sedziol - Ashland, Crawford, Erie, Huron, Marion, Morrow, Richland, Wyandot
John Sedziol Family - Delaware
Ken Sedziol Family - Athens, Clinton, Fayette, Gallia, Highland, Jackson, Logan, Meigs, Mercer, Pickaway, Pike, Ross, Scioto, Shelby, Union, Vinton, Warren
Polly and Roland Sedziol - Fairfield, Licking, Lorain, Morgan, Muskingum, Perry, Seneca, Wyandot
Ron Sedziol Family - Summit
Bob Vaughn - Lawrence
Pat Williamsen - Franklin
Youngstown State University - Columbiana, Mahoning, Portage, Stark, Trumbull

Several Cincinnati Museum Center staff members worked together to make this inventory available on the web: Linda Bailey, Tina Bamert, Chris Bell Puckett, Laura Chace, Barbara Dawson, Anne Kling, Anne Shepherd and Maggie Yax.

We also thank the librarians, local historians and genealogists who provided information on monuments throughout the state. We could not have done this project without them.