The Old Sacramento City Cemetery in the California state capital is about twenty blocks south of the Capitol Building on Riverside Drive and Second Ave, It was established in 1849, just as the Gold Rush was reaching its peak. As people from all over the world passed through Sacramento on their way to the Gold Fields just a few miles east, dozens of new arrivals died from disease, exposure, mining accidents, or violence. The cemetery’s land was donated by John Sutter, Jr., an immigrant from Switzerland.
In 1878, the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) began burials of Civil War veterans in the cemetery. In 1865, there was a Civil War cemetery at New Helvetia Cemetery by the next decade the veterans’ bodies were disinterred and moved to the Old Sacramento City Cemetery. The GAR plot is located in the north-east section of the City Cemetery. It is at the top of a small hill with the Civil War soldier statue guarding it.
In 1889 the GAR erected a monument of a common soldier guarding the plot. Guidebooks say it is made of “white bronze,” in fact it is made out of zinc. Zinc was used because it is cheaper than bronze and it makes superb statuary. However, Zinc statues in cold, damp climes deteriorate and many have had to be restored or removed over the last 150 years.
The statue is about six feet tall and it stands on a plinth of granite that is twelve feet tall. The figure of the soldier “at rest” has become known in Sacramento as “Old Eli.” Unusual for Civil War memorials, this statue has color.
The front of the plinth says “Erected to the memory of our soldier dead,” with the letters “G. A. R.” showing this to have been put up by the Grand Army of the Republic. On the side is the G.A.R. medal.
I brought friends with me to the site. Geoff, Mary, Michele accompanied me to the cemetery.
As you can see in the photos below, color has been used to create realistic depictions of hair, beard, musket, and uniform.
On the left side of the memorial is a portrait of Ulysses S. Grant with the words “Our General.”
When the G.A.R. was raising money for this memorial, a separate committee was raising money to have a memorial to Ulysses S. Grant. By 1889, both fundraising projects had only raised about half the money they needed. The two groups met and decided to combine their memorials into one monument. They pooled their money to honor both the G.A.R. dead and General Grant.
The monument was dedicated in 1889 with a parade that started at the Grand Army of the Republic headquarters at 10th and K Streets. The parade of police, soldiers, bands, and Civil War veterans processed down 10th Street and into the cemetery. Judge W.C. Van Fleet turned the memorial over to the G.A.R. at the dedication to honor those who loved the Union and “towards all who bared their breasts in the cause of human liberty.” This combining of the preservation of the Union and the ending of slavery was common at Union memorial ceremonies.
The statue was made at the Monumental Bronze Company of Bridgeport, Conn. That city saw many Civil War memorials manufactured there in the late 19th Century.
At the bottom of the plot is a flagpole erected by the G.A.R. in 1935 on the 125 Anniversary of the Civil War. There was no flag flying from the pole when I visited it.
At the base of the pole it acknowledges those organizations which supported the erection of the flagpole. He is the GAR.
I could not figure out what the WRC was. Anyone know?
This acknowledges the Daughters of Union Veterans.
The Ladies of the GAR were the wives and daughters of Union veterans.
Newton T. Gould is buried at the foot of the memorial. He was given the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions during the Vicksburg Campaign in 1863. He was a private in the 113th Illinois Infantry Regiment at the time. On May 22, Ulysses S. Grant ordered a volunteer group to build a bridge over a moat protecting the Confederate works at Vicksburg and plant scaling ladders for following infantry to use in this “forlorn hope.” Gould volunteered and he was awarded the Medal of Honor “For gallantry in the charge of the volunteer storming party on 22 May 1863.” Gould lived until 1925 and died in Sacramento.
Typically when there is a G.A.R. plot all of the men are buried with a military headstone, but in the Sacramento plot some have custom designed headstones.
Still, most use the traditional military headstone.
The cemetery is now protected as an historic site and there are markers interpreting the history of the cemetery and of individual graves. Unfortunately there is no signage at the G.A.R. burial plot, and there should be. The statue is handsome, the collection of graves from many Union states is a story that should be told, as is the presence of a Medal of Honor awardee.
However, the cemetery is beautiful, as are the Redwood Trees that sheltered us from the sun.
All color photos taken by Pat Young.
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