The Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument in Newport, Rhode Island is in Congdon Park. Newport is a beautiful city set next to the Atlantic Ocean which is filled with 19th Century homes and businesses. As you walk to the monument, you will see many of the same sites that those who came to the 1890 dedication saw nearby. The monument was created by William Clarke Noble. The sculptor lived from 1858 until 1938. Born in Maine, you may have seen his Gettysburg statue of Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtain.
The monument is located at Broadway and Everett St. When I went to visit there was street parking within one hundred feet of the monument. Of course, if you go on a weekend in the Summer it will be very crowded. The First Presbyterian Church behind it was built in 1892.
The figures are posed very dramatically, if only symbolically. The were a few occasions where soldiers and sailors fought together on the land, but the sculptor was not trying to represent those battles. Instead, he was showing us the two branches of the service involving human warfighters.
In other statues that show both soldiers and sailors together, the sailor is typically looking out, unarmed with field glasses for ships on the horizon, or, is heading into battle with a cutlass drawn. In this monument the sailor is aiming his gun to be fired at an enemy.
Below the two men is the star medal of the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.), the principal veterans’ organization for Union troops.
At the base is the dedication “Erected by Charles E. Lawton and the Citizens of Newport In memory of the brave men who fought for their flag, that the nation might live.’’
At the time of the Civil War, Rhode Island had only 175,000 people living in it. 25,236 Rhode Islanders went off to war. Newport had a population of 10,508. It was small city, but its position on the sea made an important port for New England. The imposing Fort Adams, safeguarded the city from attack from the sea. It was also used a training ground for newly recruited Union soldiers and it briefly served as the Naval Academy.
Fort Adams is a nearby site, reachable in fifteen minutes from the monument by car. I will post about the fort over the Summer of 2026.
The base of the monument has its own decoration. For example, here is depicted the cavalry with a saddle, saber, and flags.
Next is depicted the artillery with a cannon, the wheel of a caisson, and two ramrods.
Half of the monument is devoted to the Navy. Because Rhode Island had the largest proportional seafaring population of any state, many men enlisted as naval personnel. Also, after the attack on Fort Sumter, the Federal government moved the Naval Academy to Newport.
While most sites in Newport have to do with defending the Union, John Wilkes Booth met with his girlfriend here just nine days before he shot Abraham Lincoln.
Sources:
Hidden History of Rhode Island and the Civil War by Frank Grzyb published by History Press (2013)
Note: All color photos of buildings in this post were taken by Patrick Young except as noted.
