Hillsdale, New York is a scenic locale about two hours north of New York City. I arrived there during Christmas on a rainy morning. There is a unique Civil War monument there for such a small town. Across from the monument there is an old inn dating back to 1797 called Hillsdale House where you can have an afternoon drink. The inn and the monument are at the intersection of Route 22 and Route 23. This is a very small town and there is adequate parking. The town is in the middle of the Taconic Mountains with the Berkshires east of the location.
People coming to the town today are coming to hike to the nearby Bash Bish waterfalls or they are skiers at Catamount. There are a number of buildings near the monument that date back to the Civil War and Reconstruction, many of which are popular with tourists.
When I went there, there was a temporarily erected Christmas Tree that is the center for Holiday celebrations. In front of it was a cannon from the Civil War Era. Back in 1776, Henry Knox organized the transfer of cannons from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston. The artillery passed through Hillsdale. This piece is from nine decades later than Knox’s cargo.
Right across from the monument is a general store which has an attached coffee shop where you can get coffee and lunch.
The monument is actually fairly beautiful. It shows a flag bearer and an infantryman. Some local reporters say that the man on the left is a sailor.
What I found out is that even though Hillsdale was a small town in the 19th Century, it has a large monument because of the efforts of one man. The monument says who was behind it:
ERECTED BY JOHN K. CULLIN IN MEMORY OF THE SOLDIERS AND SAILORS WHO DEFENDED OUR COUNTRY AND FLAG 1861 – 1865
John Cullin was not a particularly rich man, but he was devoted to Hillsdale. Cullin was an immigrant from Ulster in Ireland. When he was 22 years old, Cullin and his mother immigrated to Hillsdale, where they settled. He found work with another Irishman named James Doherty, but soon the Civil War broke out. Cullin enlisted with the 14th New York Infantry soon after and, according to a local reporter, he was mustered in on the same town green where the monument is located now.
In 1864, Cullin was mustered out and he returned home.
Cullin worked in a dry good store in Hillsdale for eight years, then he moved to Troy, New York, and later he moved to Florida. Cullin was a hard worker and parsimonious. When he died his estate supported charitable works. One was his gift to the town he had lived in as a new immigrant to honor the men of the town who served with him in the war. He gave $10,000 for the monument, roughly a quarter-million dollars today. The next year, in 1916, the monument was dedicated.
The front of the monument has a frieze at the bottom that does not attract much attention. Unlike the rest of the monument, this is tarnished and eroded. It shows the Battle of the Monitor and Merrimac.
Below is the Monitor.
I wish that experts on the navy could tell me whether the man bearing the flag is a sailor. He looks like an infantry color bearer. I think the monument is called “The Soldiers and Sailors Monument” not because one of the figures is a sailor, but rather because there are names on the monument of sailors and they are honored by the frieze of the Monitor.
In any event, Cullin seems to have gotten back what he paid for. The monument shows a great deal of detail in the two men depicted. You can tell that the town values Cullin’s contribution as it has devoted quite a bit of tender loving care to maintain the statues and to keep up the “town green.”
Back when Cullin first arrived in Hillsdale the village had 2,552 people in it in the 1860 Census. Today, it has only 1,831 people. As the town went from being a working-class mountain community, to a tourist destination, its population has declined, but visitors help keep the place lively.
The 14th New York Infantry Regiment (not to be confused with the 14th Brooklyn) was raised throughout Upstate New York, but with one company, Company K, from the Hudson Valley. It suffered the bulk of its casualties during the Seven Days Battles in 1862.
In 2015, the statues were rededicated. Supervisor Peter Cipkowski told the audience that :
On this site, on September 18, 1861, a crowd gathered and the first 30 men from Hillsdale were “mustered into service” for the Union cause. Hillsdale would eventually send 125 men. Our neighboring town of Copake, already larger in size with its bustling ironworks, sent 166 men. All in all, Columbia County sent some 2,700 men and New York State sent more men – and lost more – than any other state in the Union.
The monument was commissioned by John K. Cullin who lived here and was executed by sculptor Edwin E. Codman, of Rhode Island, where the piece was cast in bronze. It was delivered here by train – and carted up Anthony Street (in those days called Railroad Street) assembled here and, on July 4, 1916, dedicated.
Sculptor Codman was an English immigrant born ten years after the Civil War.
Mount Washington House was built after the Civil War, but it witnessed the dedication of the monument. Today it is an AirB&B inn.
The 13-foot high bronze statue weighs 3,500 lbs. In 2000 it was taken to Rhinebeck, New York to be conserved.
Even though it was raining when I took the photos, you can see the exquisite quality of the original sculpture as well as the work a quarter century ago by the restorers.
You can see the stripes on the flag of the United States.
Each part of the monument is minutely detailed.
The belt pulls in the soldier’s tunic.
The back side shows the body in motion.
The bronze also displays the names of men from Hillsdale who suffered, were wounded or died, and who ultimately triumphed.
Cullin’s name is at the top.
Many of the names reflect the Dutch or Germanic families of the area. Of course, there are also Irishman like Cullin. Kells and Flanigan, Corcoran and Welch may have formed a recently arrived immigrant community.
The cannon appears in old photographs before the statue was erected. A Civil War artillery piece, it appears in photos taken in a different location outside the city hall. The 12 Lbs. cannon arrive in 1914. During World War II, Hillsdale scrapped the old cannon, so I am not sure if this is, or is not, the original.
Here is a photo of the 1916 dedication.
All color photos were taken by Pat Young unless otherwise noted. To see more sites Pat visited CLICK HERE for Google Earth view.
Follow Reconstruction Blog on Social Media:
I recently discovered that a distant ancestor, Peter Norton, who was part of the 164th NY Regiment died in 1864 in a prisoner of war camp. I noticed on the monument an Abner Norton who was part of the 81st NY Regiment. Peter was from somewhere around Albany but I don’t think it was Hillsdale. However, I wonder if he and Abner were related……..cousins maybe.