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| A bas-relief plaque on George Armstrong Custer's memorial at West Point Cemetery. |
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| George Custer | John Buford | Hugh Kilpatrick | Daniel Butterfield | Joseph Kiddoo | Winfield Scott |
On a frigid February afternoon, a lone visitor crunches through a thin coating of snow and ice as he slowly walks through
West Point Cemetery. A wild turkey bounds past an ancient oak and among pearl-white stones. The low whoosh of nearby traffic is barely noticed. In this outdoor art gallery, ornate markers, some topped by eagles, soar into a deep-blue sky. Here near the semi-frozen Hudson River lie the remains of military heroes -- and perhaps a few villians, too. There's Custer, Cushing, Scott and other Civil War notables. Close your eyes and imagine their long-ago deeds.
GEORGE ARMSTRONG CUSTER
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| A buffalo peers from Custer's memorial. |
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Undoubtedly homage to Custer's Indian fighting days, this plaque adorns his memorial.
He was killed by Sioux at Little Big Horn in 1876. |
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| Visitors leave stones atop Custer's popular memorial. |
JOHN BUFORD
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| Eagles on the memorial for cavalry commander and Gettysburg hero John Buford. |
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| Always vigilant, these eagles stand watch on Buford's memorial, paid for by soldiers who served with him. |
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| Markers for Buford and Alonzo Cushing, another Gettysburg hero, cast shadows on a February afternoon. |
HUGH JUDSON KILPATRICK
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| Cavalry commander Hugh Kilpatrick's bronze plaque has seen better days. He died in 1881. |
DANIEL BUTTERFIELD
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In 1892, Army of the Potomac General Daniel Butterfield was awarded a Medal of Honor for gallantry
at Gaines' Mill during the war. He died in 1901. |
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| Columns on Bufferfield's ornate memorial note the battles in which he fought. |
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| A deep-blue sky serves as a bold backdrop for Butterfield's impressive memorial. |
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| An interior view of Daniel Butterfield's massive memorial. |
JOSEPH KIDDOO
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Snow and ice partly obscure this tablet for Joseph Kiddoo, who was shot in the spine while leading
a charge of U.S. Colored Troops at The Crater in Petersburg in 1864. He survived the war, dying in 1880. |
WINFIELD SCOTT
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An ornate fence was no defense for a curious bird, which pranced on Winfield Scott's gravestone.
"Old Fuss and Feathers" was general-in-chief of Union forces when the war began,. He died in 1866. |
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