I drove down to Camden, New Jersey at the start of November to see the Camden Civil War Memorial. The Historical Marker Data Base has an entry for the monument, but it says that it was REMOVED. The entry says that the memorial “will not be replaced.” I have seen monuments removed for preservation, or moved to a safer location, or taken down because the structure is unsafe or the person being honored no longer deserves the honor. But I have never seen a statue removed without explanation.
During my first two hours in Camden I spoke to two gentlemen about the statues removal. Both were in the history profession, but neither of them knew what had happened to the memorial. I went to the location where the monument had stood for 140 years to see if there was some sign explaining where it was relocated to, but to no avail. Honestly, I thought I would go back to New York with nothing to show for my two hundred mile journey.
Before I left town I stopped in at the Camden Historical Society. I asked the caretaker of the collection if he knew what had happened to the monument. He had the answer. He said that Cooper University Hospital wanted to expand
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