Connecticut's Civil War Monuments

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Plymouth Green
31 Maple Street
Plymouth, CT

Dedicated: Date unknown, perhaps as early as ca.1865
Type: Granite pedestal and obelisk
Height: Approximately 20'

SOLDIERS' MONUMENT, Plymouth, is significant historically because of its probable early date as a Civil War monument and because it mentions President Abraham Lincoln's name. While no historical information about the monument is known, its almost stark appearance suggests an early date. The use of Lincoln's name is rare, but does occur on the early CIVIL WAR MONUMENT, Cheshire (1866).

Moreover, the reference to the "war of 1861," without the year of the war's completion, as usually found, suggests the possibility that SOLDIERS' MONUMENT, Plymouth, was erected before 1865, in which case it would become a contender with SOLDIERS MONUMENT, Kensington in Berlin, for being the earliest Civil War monument erected in Connecticut.

Atwater shows a picture of the monument, but does not mention it in the text. The Plymouth municipal historian, the postmaster of the post office near the Green, and the pastor of the adjoining Congregational Church could offer no information about the monument's history.

SOLDIERS' MONUMENT, Plymouth, is significant artistically because of its overall simplicity, the heavy cornice of the pedestal, which projects boldly, and the cannon carved at the four corners of the pedestal. The recessed panels of the pedestal and of the obelisk base have segmental rather than the usual straight edges.

SOLDIERS' MONUMENT, Plymouth, is sited on a low mound in the center of Plymouth Green, in front of the Greek Revival First Congregational Church. It consists of a pedestal and obelisk, dedicated to the memory of those who lost their lives in the Civil War.

The substantial plinth is 15" high. The base of the pedestal is topped by an ogee molding which forms the transition to the dado. A distinctive feature of the monument is the four cannon carved in recessed niches at the corners of the dado. The niches are finished with lamb's tongue stops at top and bottom. Above the cornice of the pedestal, the base of the obelisk displays recessed panels, in one of which is the lettering LINCOLN, before rising in tapered shaft to pyramidal top.

The plinth and base of the pedestal are a lighter shade of gray granite than the balance of the monument.

Front (south) face of base of pedestal, incised caps:

    Above, recessed panel in dado, incised caps:

    Above, recessed panel in base of obelisk, raised caps:

East face of dado:

North:

West:

Note: Names are arranged alphabetically, aligned left, each name followed by a comma, with a period after the last name on the west.

Francis Atwater, History of the Town of Plymouth, Connecticut (Meriden: Journal Publishing Co., 1895), p. 424.