February freeze frames: Battle Monument at West Point

Generals Joseph Mansfield, mortally wounded at Antietam, and James McPherson, killed at Atlanta, 
are  among soldiers honored on the Battle Monument. (CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE.)

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Thankful early-morning rain showers had ended, 5,000 people gathered at West Point on Memorial Day 1897 for the dedication of the Battle Monument -- a Civil War memorial conceived of decades earlier. It was a grand occasion on the bluff above the Hudson River, with all the usual ceremonial trappings: red, white and blue patriotic bunting, flags, a military band and lots of dignitaries.

And speeches -- many, many speeches.

At the 1897 Battle Monument dedication,
Secretary of War Russell Alger expressed
hope that mankind  could settle differences
 without war. Ten months later, America
 was at war with Spain.

"It is the fond hope of the best minds of every land," Secretary of War  Russell Alger said during his oration on an uncomfortably hot afternoon, "that the time may come -- and that in the near future -- when armed forces in the field shall no longer be required, when all differences between nations shall be settled by benign influences of man's best judgment, and that arbitration shall be substituted for artillery, musketry, and the sabre."  Ten months later, the United States was engaged in a war with Spain.

Regular army vets contributed $75,000 to build the memorial, which honors 2,230 U.S. Regular Army soldiers who died during the Civil War. They must have believed their money was well spent. A massive work of art, the monument has for its centerpiece a 46-foot shaft topped by a winged figure of "Fame." Representing cannon balls, eight huge stone spheres surround the pink-granite column. Names of fallen officers are inscribed on plaques on the round base of the monument or near the base of the column; names of fallen enlisted men appear on bronze bands on the "cannon balls."

On a frosty February morning in 2018, the Battle Monument unsurprisingly received far less attention than it had nearly 121 years earlier. A group of a dozen people from China posed for photos near the granite column. Intent on taking close-ups of  bronze memorial cannons, one curious soul nearly lost his footing on a sheet of ice and snow.  Far more interested in the spectacular view of the Hudson River from Trophy Point, most in a small busload of tourists largely ignored the monument that honors the long-dead heroes.

     PANORAMA: On a frosty February day, a view of Battle Monument at Trophy Point.
                                      (Click at upper right for full-screen experience.)

Battle Monument is on Trophy Point, which offers a spectacular view of the Hudson River.

Names of those from the U.S. Regular Army who died during the Civil War appear on the monument.

Bronze cannon are also part of the massive memorial.

5,000 people gathered here on Memorial Day 1897 for the dedication of the Battle Monument.

         PANORAMA: View from near the granite column, looking toward Hudson River.
                                   (Click at upper right for full-screen experience.)

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SOURCE

-- New York Times, June 1, 1897.

Video: Finding Custer, Buford, more at West Point Cemetery

On a frosty Saturday afternoon, I was the only soul on the grounds of West Point Cemetery, the final resting place for Civil War notables George Custer, Alonzo Cushing, John Buford, Winfield Scott and many more. Take a tour with me at the historic site overlooking the Hudson River at the U.S. Military Academy.

Meet Major General John Sedgwick, good luck charm

Army cadets are said to spin the rowels on General John Sedgwick's spurs for good luck before exams.
(CLICK ON IMAGES TIO ENLARGE.)

Statue of John Sedgwick on the U.S, Military Academy campus in West Point, N.Y.

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In life, John Sedgwick was a beloved commander in the Army of the Potomac, a general so highly regarded that a jolt "like an electric shock” coursed through Union ranks when he was killed by a Confederate sharpshooter at Spotsylvania Courthouse on May 9, 1864.

In death, he’s a good luck charm.

According to a source whom I promised complete anonymity — psst, it was our tour guide Saturday morning at the U.S. Military Academy — some cadets have a special affinity for Sedgwick during end-of-term exams. At midnight the night before tests, future warriors, in full dress, are said to venture to the major general’s statute on the West Point campus to spin rowels on spurs on his boots for good fortune.

The general views a snow-covered February landscape.

While I didn’t have the chutzpah to twirl the rowels on the good general’s spurs, I did brave sub-freezing weather to closely examine the outstanding statue for Sedgwick, West Point Class of 1837. An impressive bas-relief plaque of the mortally wounded general adorns the reverse of the granite pedestal for the bronze monument, reportedly made from three cannon captured by his VI Corps during the war. Dedicated in 1868, the monument is one of at least three to honor Sedgwick, fondly called “Uncle John” by his men. (You'll find another one in Gettysburg and another in Cornwall Hollow, Conn., near Sedgwick's old residence and across the road from his grave.)

For their $10,000 in contributions to create the life-sized statue of their former leader, Sedgwick's VI Corps veterans got a work of art.

"Taken as a whole," the New York Daily Herald reported on May 1, 1868, before the dedication at West Point, "the statue presents a very fine appearance; the position of the body, with one foot a little in advance of the other and head and shoulders well thrown back, [sets] off to best advantage the splendid proportions of the General's form. No one who ever saw the original in life will fail to recognize in the statue in question a faithful likeness of the great commander of the 'Corps of the Greek Cross.' "

On dedication day on Oct. 21, 1868, a "half-hearted, undecided, feebly persecuting" drizzle led to a disappointing crowd. "...excluding cadets," the Hartford Daily Courant reported two days later, the gathering may not have topped 800 people. "It is a pity," the newspaper's correspondent wrote, "that the Sixth Corps could not have had a little sunshine for its celebration."

Presidential candidate Ulysses Grant, Sedgwick's superior officer during the war, and President Andrew Johnson were invited, but both skipped the big day. But "Little Mac" -- General George McClellan --- was there. So were former Union generals Horatio Wright, Abner Doubleday, William Franklin and Samuel P. Heintzelman, among others.

"While this illustrious company ... were getting themselves into their chairs," the Daily Courant reported in its four-column-plus, Page 1 story, "the guns were unlimbered and the Cadets were marching around to the front of the stand, where they absorbed a large quantity of eloquence and rain water."

There was no mention in the newspaper account about anyone spinning the rowels on Sedgwick's spurs for good luck.

On the reverse of the monument, a bas-relief plaque of Sedgwick's mortal wounding 
at Spotsylvania Courthouse on May 9, 1864. (CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE.)

A late-morning view of  the Sedgwick monument at West Point.

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-- Have something to add (or correct) in this post? E-mail me here.

SOURCES

-- Hartford Daily Courant, Oct. 23, 1868.
-- New York Daily Herald, May 1 and 28, 1868.