Copyright 2014, CABS for Reflections From the Fence
Heather Wilkinson Rojo, of
Nutfield Genealogy, has an ongoing project, a challenge to record, transcribe and photograph military honor rolls. This is my submission for this Veteran's Day, 2014.
Monument Park Memorial, Adrian, Lenawee County, Michigan
From: Gravestone Records of Lenawee County, Michigan. Collected and Edited by Harriet Cole Clark Bowen. Vital Records of the DAR of Adrian, Lenawee County, Michigan. Vol 1. Printed in Adrian 1933.
The shaft of the Monument in this Park is an Ionic Column from the Old United States Bank of Philadelphia. The effort to obtain this historic pillar was begun in 1865 and the dedication was in 1870.
There are eight bronze plates on the base containing the names of volunteers from Adrian who lost their lives in the Civil War.
"Erected by Citizens of Adrian In Memory of Our Fallen Soldiers."
"By such as these was our Union saved in the struggle of 61-65."
List of Men on Bronze Panels, First Panel:
4th Mich. Inf.
Col. D.A. Woodbury
Samuel B. Benney Mus'n
Walter C. White Co. A
Duane C. Kimball Co. B
Marlow Mulliken Co. D
Paul Wilson Co. D
Frank C.W. Brown Co. D
Richard J. Clegg Co. D
Otis Turner Co. D
Charles W. Peters Co. F
Robert Moody Co. F.
12th Tenn. Cav.
Lieut. C. Cunningham
4th Mich. Cav.
Bolke Bollson
Second Panel:
15th Mich. Inf.
Darius Bradish
John Riley
James Fowler
Edward P. Brown
2nd Mich. Inf.
Horace Blanchard
Stephen E. Fuller
9th Mich. Inf.
Franklin C. Drake
12th Mich. Inf.
William Ward
Emery Nelson
8th Mich. Inf.
John Kennedy
Third Panel:
20th Mich. Inf.
Col. W. H. Smith
26th Mich. Inf.
James Sherman
9th. Mich. Cav.
Frederick Ladd
James R. Perkins
6th US Cav.
Charles H. Miller
11th US Inf.
John Mitchell
Berdans Sharpshooters
Albert W. Miller
15th Mich. Inf.
Charles Hoyt
Fourth Panel:
1st Georgia Inf.
Capt. A. M. Rogers
4th Mich. Inv.
Robert Tinney
George W. Holmes
11th Mich Cav.
Rome Whitney
9th Mich. Cav.
B. M. V. Whitney
11th Mich. Inf.
Michael Dann
1st Mich Inf.
George Parker
8th Penn Cav.
Lieut. Henry J. Ladd
Fifth panel
4th Mich. Cav.
Henry E. McLouth
Orin D. McLouth
William Bidelman
Henry A. Barnard
Augustus Rabold
William Housman
Joseph E. Seaman
Charles Hawley
5th Mich Cav.
Julian L. Morey
6th Mich Cav.
Charles Blossom
4th US Cav.
Robert K. Payne
Sixth Panel:
61st NY Inf.
Jacob Hoffman
Homer H. Bixby
Frank B. Aldrich
Melvin White
54th Mass Inf.
George Dorsey
25th Ohio Inf.
Lewis F. Shannon
47th Ohio Inf.
Col. L.S. Elliott
Charles Derby
William H. H. Faxon
4th Mich. Cav.
William Heinzelman
Seventh Panel:
18th Mich Inf.
Levi Gerrenfield Co. C
Charles E. Norton Co. C.
Alfred N. Smith Co. C.
Jerome D. Baker Co. C.
Charles M. Ramsdell Co. C.
Thomas W. Kline Co. C.
Erasmus D. Thompson Co. C.
Michael Daley Co. C.
Charles H. Wheeler Co. C.
Charles W. Wheeler Co. B
Lafayette Brewn Co. B.
Charles Thayer Co. B.
3rd. Mo. Inf.
Albert E. Ulrich
Eighth Panel:
17th Mich. Inf.
Lieut. Col. L.L. Comstock
John S. Vreeland
James T. Avery
Franklin Knight
Moses Shipman
Myron H. Perkins
Addison Bradish
James P. Cops
Cassius A. Clark
William R. McMinn
William Elliott
1st Mich. Eng.
William Wooten
Giles M. Chappell
The rest of the story. Extracted from a 5 page work, named, "A History of the Monument, Erected in Adrian for It's Soldier Dead, How it Came to be Put Up", written by R. L. Bonner, Lenawee County historian.
(Source lost, most likely the Lenawee County Historical Society Museum Archives. My copy consists of 5 pages.)
"Soon after the close of the great rebellion the idea of a fitting tribute to the dead soldiers was discussed, and in November 1865, a public meeting was called to be held in the old Bidwell's hall in Adrian, to consider the laudable and patriotic project of erecting a magnificent monument to the memory of the men of Lenawee county, who had lost their lives in the great struggle to save the union and the government of our fathers.
The meeting was large and very enthusiastic, and after many eloquent and touching speeches had been made, an organization was effected to be known as the Lenawee County Soldier's Monument association."
It seems, according to Bonner, that after the initial super charged meeting, interest indeed waned. The group was soon formerly dissolved. But, immediately, they organized the Adrian Soldier's Monument Association.
Bonner continues to tell us, "Through the aid of the Hon. Fernando C. Beaman, who was for ten years our member of congress, and J. Fred Meyer, a former newspaper man and citizen, then in one of the departments, the Hon. Hugh McCulloch, secretary of the United States treasury, donated the splendid marble column that forms so important a part of the monument. This column was taken from the old United States bank building at Philadelphia. The association at once took steps to transport the valuable gift to Adrian, and the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad landed it in this city free of charge to the society, a most generous and patriotic act."
The monument was dedicated on July 4, 1870.
The bronze inscribed plates were probably not original to the monument, it seems that Bonner in this un-dated article states that the names originally cut are "now almost illegible, and will soon be entirely obliterated . . . "
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