Kennedy Square in Providence, Rhode Island is a major bus terminal for the whole city. The City Hall, erected in 1878 and the Federal Court House stand at opposite end of the square. Across the street from City Hall is the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument dedicated to the the Rhode Island dead who lost their lives during the Civil War.
Providence was founded in 1638 by Roger Williams, an advocate against the church controlling the state in his former home of Massachusetts. During the colonial period Rhode Island became a refuge for dissident Protestant sects. Abolition became a popular cause there, but so was making money by having ships from Rhode Island engaged in the slave trade. In 1652 a law was passed outlawing slavery, but it was largely unenforced. In 1784 the state began “gradual emancipation” designed to end slavery At that time, roughly ten percent of Rhode Islanders were held as slaves..
Rhode Island slave traders began their voyages early in the 18th Century and over the next century about a thousand voyages were made. While the number of slaves held in the colony declined in the 1700s, slave voyages did not.
Because slaves had been brought to Newport and Providence in the 17th Century, a large Free Black community developed in those two places, as well as in smaller towns. During the American Revolution Blacks joined the Revolutionary Army. When the Civil War broke out and Lincoln lifted the restriction by race, hundreds of Rhode Island African Americans joined the Union forces. They are honored in the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument.
When the monument was dedicated on September 16, 1871, just a half decade after the war ended, more than 2,000 Civil War veterans from Rhode Island marched to honor their fallen comrades. The veterans were led by Major General Ambrose Burnside. Colonel Elijah Hunt Rhodes was the Chief of Staff of the “Veterans Division.” Rhodes and his diary were featured in Ken Burns’ Civil War history.
The veterans assembled included both whites and African Americans. For example, “The Burnside Guards” was made up of forty-five Black men. In addition, immigrants were represented in units like the Wolfe Tone Guards with forty-two Irishmen in it.
Alongside the veterans marched the family members of the deceased soldiers.
There were several bands providing musical accompaniment. These included The American Brass Band with thirty instrumentalists, the Newport Brass Band with nineteen musicians, the Taunton National Band with twenty-four musicians, the Warren Drum Band with ten drums, Gilmore’s Band from Boston, and several other bands.
Coverage of the parade said that the buildings along its route were covered in United States flags with people calling out to the passing veterans from the buildings and the sidewalks. When the parade got to Exchange Place, now called Kennedy Square, a choir of three hundred singers were arrayed on stands overlooking the square.
While Rhode Island is the smallest of all our states, the names of the 1,747 Rhode Islanders who gave their lives were listed on the monument. The Morning Star, Providence’s newspaper, said that these men gave their lives that their country might live:
“They were husbands, sons, fathers, brothers, and citizens. They were the descendants of the first settlers of the state; they were the state’s children by adoption; they were from the Green Isle [Ireland], and from the German fatherland. Color and race were lost were lost in the courage which battled to the death for country.”
As The Morning Star says:
“The private who fell on the field with his face to his country’s foe, or who was murdered by inches in those infinite dens of horror and death at Andersonville…stands in the roll of honor…”
The dedicatory words on the front of the monument say “ERECTED BY THE PEOPLE OF RHODE ISLAND TO THE MEMORY OF THE BRAVE MEN WHO DIED THAT THEIR COUNTRY MIGHT LIVE.”
On the base of the monument are written out the names of those who died. In the Dedicatory Speech delivered by Rev. Augustus Woodbury it is noted that these were not united by a common racial nationalism, but by diversity in the service of the idea of the Union. The speaker says:
“men of all creeds, of all parties, of all occupations, trades and professions; of various nativity and different race — all these met and mingled, fused together in the fire of a common patriotism. Remember, that this was not a compulsory, but rather a voluntary service.”
The minister says that the objectives of both sides in the war were clear:
"On the one side were liberty, human rights, civilization, the consecration of a continent to constitutional freedom. On the other side were slavery,human wrongs, the barbarism which is always inseparable from an irresponsible despotism, the dominion of a continent in the interests of oppression. The stronger and better ideas triumphed, as they always will and always must."
The achievement was clear half a decade later said the Rev. Woodbury:
"It destroyed slavery, secession and treason. It made the Union secure. It commanded, as well for the finally successful cause as for the emancipation of the slaves, "the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God."
This struggle, the orator said, had transformed the United States Republic:
"It is not simply as a nation, but it is as a nation of free men, that we stand in our place to-day. How short a time ago it was that the institution of slavery, cruel, aggressive, defiant, ruled the land ! So powerful it seemed, that good men mourned and wise men feared, when they contemplated the future of the Republic. It was so strong in its founda- tions, so well-supported, so fully fortified in public opinion, so confident in itself, that the most clear-sighted could scarce- ly discern a ray of hope for its extinction. The most san- guine of its opponents only ventured to believe, that its fur- ther extension could be stayed. But Divine Providence had decreed better things for us. In the fire of the war the chains of the bondman were melted. Baptized with blood, the slave arose from his degradation a free citizen of the Republic."
On each of the four corners are statues representing an Infantryman, a Cavalryman, an Artillerist, and Sailor. These were cast in German and sent to Rhode Island. There are also four Civil War mortars.
There are also five female figures on the monument. All are allegorical. On top is a full sized woman who represents America.
On the base of four friezes. The one above represents Peace.
Near the back is a plaque honoring the 1st Rhode Island and the 14th Rhode Island Heavy Artillery (Colored). These two units included many Black volunteers. Some guides say that the whole monument was erected to memorializes these Black soldiers. That is not correct. However, the men who died from the two units have their names listed with other fallen Rhode Islanders.
Below is a panel called History, but is now called Emancipation. It shows a Black woman casting off her chains. Putting the names of African American men on the monument and depicting a Black woman as an allegorical figure made this unique among monuments put up during Reconstruction.
You can see in the photo below how her hands had broken the chains that held her.
Her other had shows a similar depiction of her emancipation.
The sculptor tried to depict an African American woman with attention to detail and did not try to create a stereotype.
The Artilleryman.
The Eagle of the United States.
Below is the Sailor. Rhode Island likely contributed more sailors per capita than any other state.
The Cavalryman.
The allegorical woman Peace.
The names of the Black soldiers are to the left of Emancipation. While most of the monument is in good condition, the names are not visible without special equipment.
You can see how difficult it is to read.
Here is a close-up.
Across the square is an antique trolley terminal which now houses bus riders.
Note: All color photos in this post were taken by Patrick Young except as noted.
Sources:
Proceedings at the Dedication of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument in Providence (1871).
The Morning Star [Providence, R.I.] Sept. 18, 1871.
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