Connecticut's Civil War Monuments

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190 Main, corner of West Street
Danbury, CT

Dedicated: May 27, 1880
Type: Pedestal and column of granite, supporting marble standard-bearer figure
Supplier: Carpenter & Raymond
Height: 32'

SOLDIERS' MONUMENT, Danbury, is significant historically because it is a tangible symbol of honor and respect paid by the community to its sons who died in the Civil War. The women of Danbury started planning for the monument in 1862; they raised $1,070.94 for the purpose. Thereafter, the project proceeded in fits and starts, as so often was the case. By 1873 the money, without further fund raising, had grown to $1,901.18. On April 1, 1879, a proposal from Carpenter & Raymond was accepted.

Dedication Day ceremonies were elaborate. Governor Charles B. Andrews headed the list of distinguished guests. Visiting Grand Army of the Republic posts came from Bridgeport, Norwalk, South Norwalk, Stratford, Sandy Hook, and Winsted. One thousand men marched in the parade, with several bands. Orator of the Day was the Reverend Samuel Fessenden. In the evening, James Montgomery Bailey delivered an address in the Opera House.

SOLDIERS' MONUMENT, Danbury, is patterned after Hadrian's Column in Rome. It is significant artistically because it is different from most soldiers' monuments in several respects. It is a round column, rather than an obelisk or square shaft; the battle names are arranged in a spiral; the figure is of Italian marble, carved in Italy; and the standard-bearer holds the flag with his right hand instead of the left as is customary in Civil War monuments. (In drill manuals, by contrast, the colors usually were held in the crook of the right arm.)

The firm that supplied the monument was Carpenter & Raymond of Dayton, Ohio, about which little information is at hand. How the firm happened to secure the contract and why Hadrian's column was chosen as its model are not known. The moldings are strong, and the monument has stood well the test of time, although there is no report of recent close inspection of the marble. Cost was $3,500.

SOLDIERS' MONUMENT, Danbury, is sited in the center of the city in a small triangular park at the intersection of Main and West Streets, in front of the Public Library. The park is newly landscaped with concrete and stone squares, ballards, benches, and evergreen shrubs. A historic view indicates that the monument has always been surrounded by a small park; the park is now slightly larger than it was.

The monument consists of base, die, and column of Westerly granite and surmounting standard-bearer of Italian marble. It is dedicated to those who died in the war. The three-stage base is capped by cavetto, fillet, torus, and fillet moldings in transition to the dado. The front and back of the dado are polished and lettered as recorded below; the sides are plain, without lettering, and the surfaces are not polished. Cavetto and torus moldings form the architrave under the cyma reversa crown molding of the cornice. The top of each side of the cornice is made of a curved surface terminating in arrises; the arrises intersect at each corner. Height to this point is 10'.

The pedestal as described above supports a 12' tapered round column which rises from a base of torus, cavetto, and torus moldings. Diameter is 26" at the base. Battle names are spelled out in raised caps in a continuous spiral, reading from the top: BULL RUN WILDERNESS ANTIETAM FREDERICKSBURG GETTYSBURG CHANCELLORSVILLE APPOMATTOX PETERSBURG PORT HUDSON. The column's capital is in a wide overhanging foliated design, characteristic of the Victorian era. The standard-bearer figure stands in front of an unidentified object resembling a beehive in appearance. His feet are even with one another. Wearing an overcoat with cape thrown back, he holds the colors, straight up, with his right arm. His left arm and hand are at his side. Wearing moustache and kepi, he looks to his right. Overall height to the top of the flagstaff is 32'.

Front (east) face of dado, raised polished caps within raised polished border:

Back:

James Montgomery Bailey, History of Danbury, Conn., 1684-1896 (New York: Burr Printing House, 1896), pp. 426-429.

Danbury News, May 27, 1880.

Danbury News-Times, The Sunday Magazine, May 30, 1993, p. 4.

William E. Devlin, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form for Main Street Historic District, Danbury, Connecticut (Washington, D.C.: National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1983), pp. 7-10.