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The monument commemorating New Paltz’s Civil War dead is in the town’s New Paltz Rural Cemetery. If you drive in through the main car entrance just drive to the end of the entrance road and you will see it sitting by itself in a small display area. The monument, a granite obelisk, was erected right after the Civil War in 1870. Later a flag pole was put up behind it.
The only engravings on the monument are a heraldic representation of the United States and the names of soldiers carved into the sides of the base.
Unfortunately, 152 years after they were carved, only a few of the names are still readable.
The town did place a plaque on the monument to honor those who died in the war. The largest number of dead had served in the 156th New York Volunteer Infantry, and the second largest in the 120th New York.
Men who died in the war had also served in at least nine other regiments, including the 20th United States Colored Infantry.
The monument is well-maintained although reduced by weather erosion, but there is no historical interpretation offered on it or of New Paltz’s role in the Civil War. It is in a location off the beaten path in an otherwise heavily visited small town. Being a mile from the downtown section of New Paltz, the only people who see it are the few visitors to the cemetery.
The photo above shows Civil War veterans gathered at the monument in the early 1900s.
