Soldiers and Sailors Monument (Boston)

The Soldiers and Sailors Monument is a monument erected in Boston Common in downtown Boston, dedicated to soldiers and sailors of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts who died in the American Civil War. Designed by Martin Milmore, construction began in 1874 and the monument was dedicated on September 17, 1877. Union Generals George B. McClellan and Joseph Hooker were among the estimated 25,000 people attending the dedication on Boston Common.

For a listing of other monuments with the same name or variants thereof, see Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument (disambiguation).
Soldiers and Sailors Monument
United States
The monument on Boston Common was erected in 1877.
For Massachusetts soldiers and sailors who died in the American Civil War
UnveiledSeptember 17, 1877
Location42°21′19.7″N 71°3′59.1″W
Boston Common, Boston, Massachusetts
Designed byMartin Milmore
The monument in winter, seen from the west.

Overview

The Soldiers and Sailors Monument is located on a rise called Flag Staff Hill. The monument is neoclassical in design, taking the form of a victory column carved of Hallowell white granite. The monument rises to a height of 126 feet (38 m). The platform is 38 square feet (3.5 m2) and features four bas-relief bronze tablets. The first tablet is titled The Departure for the War, and depicts a regiment marching by the Massachusetts State House. The second bas-relief tablet depicts the medical care on the battlefield and is titled The Sanitary Commission. The third tablet depicts Union sailors in an engagement between a Federal man-of-war and a Confederate ironclad (likely CSS Virginia). The fourth tablet, entitled The Return from the War, shows a regiment of veterans marching by the State House to present their battle flags to Governor John Albion Andrew.

Above the bas-relief tablets at the base of the column are four 8-foot (2.4 m) carved granite figures representing the northern, southern, eastern and western sections of the reunited nation. The bas reliefs feature images of Edgar Allan Poe and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.[1]

Bronze statues stand on the corners of the monument to represent peace, holding an olive branch and facing south; history, holding a book and gazing skyward; a sailor, clad in a navy uniform and gazing toward the sea; and the citizen-soldier, wearing an army uniform and standing at ease. The bases that hold the statues were empty for several years leading to conflicting stories that the monument was never finished or the statues had been stolen or placed in storage.[2][3] The mystery was solved in 2014 when the statues were returned after restoration at the Daedalus Studios in nearby Watertown.[4]

Surmounting the doric column is a bronze allegorical female figure entitled AMERICA. She faces south and wears a tiara of thirteen stars. Her left hand holds the United States flag and her right hand clutches a laurel wreath and sword.

Inscription

The base bears the following inscription:
TO THE MEN OF BOSTON
WHO DIED FOR THEIR COUNTRY
ON LAND AND SEA IN THE WAR
WHICH KEPT THE UNION WHOLE
DESTROYED SLAVERY
AND MAINTAINED THE CONSTITUTION
THE GRATEFUL CITY
HAS BUILT THIS MONUMENT
THAT THEIR EXAMPLE MAY SPEAK
TO COMING GENERATIONS

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Soldiers and Sailors Monument (Boston).
  1. Lewis, Paul (December 26, 2019). "Hiding on Boston Common since the 19th century: The tell-tale face of Edgar Allan Poe". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on September 12, 2022. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  2. "Boston Soldiers and Sailors Monument". Massachusetts Civil War Monuments Project. May 26, 2018. Archived from the original on August 9, 2020. Retrieved June 21, 2020. The four projecting pedestals which hold secondary statues were for many years empty. This led to some confusion as to whether the monument in fact had never been finished or whether the secondary statues were simply in storage somewhere, awaiting restoration. The latter was the case and the four allegorical figures were replaced in 2014.
  3. Browne, Patrick (December 5, 2011). "Tag Archives: Boston Soldiers and Sailors Monument". Historical Digression. Archived from the original on June 24, 2020. Retrieved June 21, 2020. The pedestals are now conspicuously empty. Depending on which article one reads, the statues have either been stolen or removed and placed in storage.
  4. Kaplan, Aline (August 21, 2017). "Boston's Soldiers and Sailors Monument". The Next Phase. Archived from the original on March 28, 2023. Retrieved June 4, 2023. If you have not visited the monument recently, you may wonder how you missed these big statues. The answer is that they were removed for renovation and restoration, leaving the pedestals empty for several years. The allegorical statues returned from rehab at Watertown's Daedalus Studio in 2014, with missing parts fabricated in bronze.
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