Patchogue, New York is on Long Island. A bustling village that tens of thousands use as a port to travel to Fire Island in the summers, it is home to a beautifully restored Civil War monument. The zinc statue was deteriorating significantly in the 21st Century. In 2017 it was removed and sent to a facility in Ohio for restoration. In 2019 the statue was reinstalled at its site in the village’s Veteran’s Memorial Park. While published sources date the statue to 1870, just five years after the Civil War, the historic marker on-site says it was “Dedicated” in 1885 by the veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic. The monument was made by the Monumental Bronze Company of Bridgeport, Ct.
At the time of the Civil War, Patchogue men organized The Kansas Brigade (“Not a brigade and not from Kansas” according to a local history), which became a company of the 12th New York Infantry. Men joined other units throughout the war and at least fourteen local men died in the service.
Not all Patchogue residents were loyal to the United States. Appleton Oaksmith was jailed for trying to ship supplies to the Confederacy. He escaped and fled to the United Kingdom. Before the Civil War he had supported William Walker’s attempt to establish a slave-regime in Nicaragua. After the war, Oaksmith moved to North Carolina where he was elected to the state legislature in 1874.
Below the statue are four bas relief images of figures identified with the Union cause. On the front is the portrait of Abraham Lincoln. Beneath Lincoln is the badge of the Grand Army of the Republic, the largest Civil War veterans’ organization.
The base identifies the monument as having been erected by the local “Patriotic Citizens” under the auspices of the Grand Army of the Republic lodge, G.A.R. Post No. 210, the Richard J. Clark Post, in 1885.
To Lincoln’s left is a portrait of William T. Sherman.
The rear of the statue shows a portrait of Admiral David Farragut, the Union naval leader at Mobile Bay and New Orleans.
Farragut’s image is highly detailed.
Beneath the admiral is an anchor symbolizing the Navy. While some Civil War monuments neglect the navy, Patchogue is a port village.
As you might expect, Ulysses S. Grant is also on the monument. In the background on the left is the parish house of the local Catholic church.
Here is a close-up of Grant. It was raining moderately so the photos are a little dark.
Beneath Grant are the names of local men who served in the Union forces. Seven men named “Mott” are listed. I was at the monument on a cold and rain December day, and you can see the rain streaks on the monument.
The bottom faces of the monument memorialize those who served the Union cause and those who “Died in the Service.” Fourteen were killed or died of disease during the war. There is also a list of men who died after the war. I will discuss a few of those named as having died in the war.
Henry E. Ackerly was a teenager who enlisted in the 12th NY Infantry Regiment from Patchogue was only 19 years old when he began his military service. He enlisted on November 17, 1861,at Patchogue as a private in Company O, for three years. He died, February 7, 1863, from wounds received in battle of Fredricksburg, Va . on December 14, 1862.
Cyrus Danes was another teenager who served in the 57th NY Infantry Regiment enlisting at 18 years of age. He enlisted at Dobbs Ferry in the Hudson Valley, for three years service in Company I on August 14, 1861. He died on May 5, 1863 after being wounded in action on May 2, 1863, at Chancellorsville, Virginia.
Horatio Mott was a cavalryman who was 21 years old when he enlisted as a private in the 2nd New York Cavalry regiment in August 1862. An Edgar Mott, who may have been a brother or other relative enlisted in the same unit on the same day. Horatio was wounded on June 17, 1863, at Aldie, Virginia. He died two days later in Alexandria, Va. where Union military hospitals were located. The Battle of Aldie, fought two weeks before the Battle of Gettysburg, involved Union cavalry under Judson Kirkpatrick pursuing Lee’s Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the Gettysburg Campaign. Fighting between the cavalry regiments of both sides lasted nearly four hours and left more than 300 Union troopers as casualties.
Michael Reardon enlisted in the 12th NY Infantry Regiment when he was 23 years old. He enlisted, on October 18, 1861, at Patchogue and he served in Company C. He was killed on August 30, 1862, in the Second Battle of Bull Run, Va. Two other Reardons, named Dennis and William, enlisted in the same unit on the same day in Patchogue.
The very bottom of the pedestal has the names of battles and campaigns of the Civil War. This photo shows the names “New Orleans” which was captured in 1862, “Mississippi” referring to the long campaign to control the river, “Newport News” which may refer to fighting at that Virginia port or to the battle between the Monitor and the C.S.S. Virginia in 1862, and “Mobile” referencing the 1864 Battle of Mobile Bay in which Union forces were led by Admiral David Farragut.
A second side displays the names of men from the community who “Fought for the Union.” Beneath their names are the names of “Atlanta” representing Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign, “2nd Bull Run” where a number of local men fought, “Chancellorsville” where at least one Patchogue man was killed, and “Cold Harbor,” a disastrous battle for the Union fought in 1864.
Here is the face with the names of some of the local residents who served in the army and navy. In looking at local lists compiled of men who served, in some instance the lists say that the only record of the man is this monument!
The front face of the monument shows the name of more Patchogue men who served during the war.
According to one local historian, there were more than 80 of this particular statue made for monuments across the North, so you may have seen this image in another village!
I am not sure if the images of Farragut, Lincoln, Sherman, and Grant are included with the statue in other locations.
The statue was moved years ago to the Veterans Memorial Park. It is in front of the American Legion Post. While the building is nice enough, the plastic sign is unattractive for photographs.
More names of those who served in the Union Army. Also, the identification of Grand Army of the Republic Post No. 210 as the group that was responsible for the monument.
Here you can see the bottom panel listing the battles of Spotsylvania and Gettysburg. In the background, to the right of the statue, you can see the Patchogue Long Island Railroad Station. The statue is just a block away from the train station. During the summer it is not unusual for thousands of vacationers to get off at the station every day to walk to the ferry a few blocks away to travel to Fire Island.
The area near the monument has recently been redeveloped, but the new housing there is in tune with the existing 19th Century buildings of the neighborhood.
The park is located on the corner of South Ocean Avenue and Baker Street. It is next to Patchogue Village Hall, about five blocks south of Montauk Highway. It is across the street from the Patchogue Long Island Rail Road Station.
On Montauk Highway are a number of places to eat ranging from good Ecuadoran and Columbian restaurants to my son’s favorite, Local Burger. Brick House Brewery and Restaurant is a favorite of mine. About ten blocks away from the monument is the Blue Point Brewery.
In recent years a “New York State” Historical Marker was erected near the monument.
Here is a close-up of the Grand Army of the Republic emblem on the statue.
Here is another view.
Five years ago, Scott McKendrick and the Sons of Union Veterans led a campaign to restore the statue. As with many century and a half old zinc statues, the statue had begun to lean decades ago and the situation had grown worse in the last decade. McKay Lodge Fine Arts Restoration was selected to perform the $60,000 restoration, half of which was contributed by Suffolk County.
The park is well maintained. There are also places to sit. I have seen people picnicking here is the summer.
In the 20th Century this was made into a more general veterans memorial park.
Displays include two World War I artillery pieces.
Across the street is St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church.
Here is the Parish House next to the church.
I spent a lot of time in Patchogue during the early 2000s. The Patchogue train station was the scene of the hate killing of Ecuadoran immigrant Marcelo Lucero by four teenagers from outside the village. While the village is peaceful today, twenty-two years ago teens from nearby Medford were involved in more than a dozen attacks on immigrants in Patchogue. Whenever I visit Patchogue I remember Marcelo and his family.
I wrote a story for AP on these types of CW statues. This particular model/design was known as Silent Sentinel. There are hundreds of them throughout the Union states, plus many Confederate versions across the South.