Wednesday, April 9, 2014

New York City's Soldiers Monuments

The Soldiers’ Monument at Green-Wood Cemetery, erected only four years after the end of the Civil War, was an early monument but not the first in the city. In 1866, the City of New York erected a monument at Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Queens, which has the identical four statues as Green-Wood, except that they are cast in bronze, almost certainly from the same sculptures by Daniel Draddy. These “public” monuments, located in two large cemeteries outside Manhattan, were fitting commemorative gestures to honor the many veterans who were in fact continuing to die in some numbers due to wounds and disease incurred during the still recent war between the states. Some of the dead were also brought home from distant battlefields.

200,000 soldiers and sailors from New York City fought for the Union.  20,000 of them died while serving the Union and over 200 were awarded the Medal of Honor.  More than half of New York City's soldiers and sailors were immigrants with the largest group being Irish.

Green-Wood Soldiers' Monument


https://www.green-wood.com/2010/civil-war-soldiers-monument-saved/

Calvary Cemetery Soldiers' Monument

Photo of the Soldiers Monument in Calvary Cemetary, Queens

Scupltor:  Daniel Draddy

http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/Q224/monuments/1467