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 and that the memorial was in the way.
Below is the Historical Marker Data Base notice on this. Rest assured, we do know what happened to the statue. Unfortunately I could not find out what happened to the cannons that guarded the monument.
The entrance to the memorial can be reached by driving along Kaighns Ave. to Vesper Blvd. Vesper is a road inside the Camden Veterans Cemetery. In the photo below you can see the entrance. Drive down Vesper a few hundred yards and you will see a traffic circle with a large memorial.
The monument is encased in a star-shaped arrangement of shrubbery. The tall plinth, which must be at least 25 feet high, supports a statue of a common soldier standing at parade rest on top.
Camden was settled by Europeans in 1673 when Quakers moved to the site escaping religious persecution. It was a small settlement until ferry service united Camden with Philadelphia. During the 1830s, the Camden and Amboy railroad was built which took freight and passengers from Amboy in northern New Jersey across from New York City to Camden where products and people could be put on ferries for Philadelphia.
As Camden became an important transportation hub, Quakers in the city along with the African American population began to help escaped slaves on their way north.
In 1840, Camden had a population of only 3,371. By 1860, its population was 14,358, four times what it had been just twenty years earlier.
The memorial was called “The Soldiers’ Monument” when it was unveiled on June 9, 1873. The initiative to build it came from the local Grand Army of the Republic Post 5, which was called the Sedgwick Post which contributed the first three hundred dollars. The Board of Freeholders of Camden contributed $1,000. Eventually $5,500 was raised, about $145,000 in 2024 money. It was constructed out of granite by Krips and Shearman and stands thirty-nine feet six inches high and weighs 47 tons. The dedication was less than a decade after the close of the war and many veterans and their families came out for the dedication, as did the governor of New Jersey.
Here is an illustration drawn shortly after the dedication.
The monument is dedicated to “OUR HEROIC DEAD.” The names of those men from Camden County who died in the war are inscribed on the monument and they number at least 430.
New Jersey was very deeply divided over the war. The state split its electoral vote in the 1860 Election with four votes going to Lincoln and three to Stephen Douglas. Unlike some other Northern states, the government of New Jersey was not preparing for war during the Secession Winter after Lincoln was elected but before war broke out. When Fort Sumter was fired upon, however, Camden’s citizens issued a call to arms for her sons. By April 20th, 1861, several units were organizing, including the Camden Zouaves, the Union Guards, the Washington Grays, Stockton Cadets, and the Camden Light Artillery. The infantry companies became part of the Fourth New Jersey Regiment. By the first week on May, the regiment was on its way to Washington. With the Camden companies filled up so quickly, men from the city crossed over the Delaware River to enlist in Philadelphia regiments. Most of these early units dissolved after three months service, so after the defeat at Bull Run, many men from Camden enlisted in the First, Second, Third, and Fourth New Jersey Regiments in the Summer and Fall of 1861.
Over next three years, men from Camden enlisted in at least a dozen New Jersey regiments, the Excelsior Brigade and other units from New York, and various Pennsylvania regiments.
The new location is in some way a great location for display. It is quiet, with greenery around it. It is in a veteran’s cemetery, although there were no Civil War graves within site of the monument. However, I was thinking of its former location on Cooper Square in the heart of the small city and wondered if it was more on people’s minds when it was in the vital center of the city.
I also think that now that the memorial is in a new place, the city or the state should put up an interpretive sign on the more than adequate grassy area surrounding it on the outer edge of the traffic circle. The signage would not hinder viewing of the monument.
The granite work is fairly clean, except for the dedication side for “OUR HEROIC DEAD,” however there are signs of age and chipping on the statue itself.
I also found that the names of the local dead have been worn away, likely by rain and pollution. Some can no longer be read. The list of the names exists and could be put on a wayside sign.
Here is the list of those from Camden County whose names were listed on the monument:
I found these in The History of Camden County New Jersey by George Prowell published in 1886.
Hi Patrick — I read this blog entry with interest. I am in the Public Relations office at Cooper University Health Care and I wanted to fill you in a little bit more about the monument and the cannons that used to surround it.
Yes, the monument was moved and the hospital will be expanding in that area eventually but that was not the primary reason it moved. We recognized the historical significance of this moment. When the statue was first placed in the location near the hospital, it was a much less urban environment. There used to be annual parades to honor fallen veterans in the city of Camden and it was a place of quiet reflection. Over the years the city and hospital grew. It became much more urban with the accompanying noise and traffic. The site was no longer a quiet serene place of reflection, espcially with ambulance sirens and other city noises at all hours of the day and night. When we learned that the County had planned/developed (this goes back many years) a Veterans Cemetary nearby, it only seemed fitting that this monument be moved to these more sacred grounds. The cannons (which were Navy cannons to my best knowledge) were donated to the Battleship New Jersey (also nearby) as it seemed fitting that these historic cannons be located near another piece of NJ’s Naval history. I hope this helped fill in some of the gaps.
Thanks for the info on the cannons. Are they on display at the New Jersey Battleship site?