The Indiana State Soldiers and Sailors Monument is the tallest and largest monument in Indiana. I had never visited Indianapolis before and as we came down the streets from the Interstate, I was impressed by the public areas of the city that we passed. Several visitors from other countries had told me that the city impressed them with its beauty and I was looking for it. The attractiveness of many of its parks and buildings did turn out to verify my friends assessment. As we drove into the center of town, my wife and I were overcome by the magnificence of The Indiana State Soldiers and Sailors Monument at Monument Circle.
Monument Circle comes at the intersection Meridian and Market streets. The Circle is made up of three lanes of traffic and is surrounded by offices, businesses, and restaurants. Honestly, I hate monuments built on islands enclosed by traffic lanes like Grant Army Plaza in Brooklyn where every year visitors get hit by trucks and cars speeding around them. This plaza was, however, more relaxed. There was less traffic than I would have seen around similar sites in Washington or New York, and the traffic control system seemed to be better than other places I have visited. The Circle is large, tables and chairs around it, as well as several food vendors and a truck selling wine and beer. Unlike some other monuments, this was surrounded by people looking at it, taking pictures, or having their lunch al fresco. If you are looking for directions on how to get to the monument, just type “Monument Circle” into Google Maps.
The monument is 284 feet and six inches tall, just twenty feet shorter than the Statue of Liberty. It was dedicated on May 15, 1902 after work of more than thirteen years. Bruno Schmitz was the German architect who designed it. He was famous for his monuments to military conquests in Europe. While the original purpose was to honor Indianans who served it the Civil War, its final form, while concentrating on the Civil War, also honors veterans of other wars. The memorial is built from oolitic limestone from Owen County, Indiana.
At the top is Lady Victory. She is 38-feet tall. She holds a sword for protection, and a torch symbolizing civilization.
When the monument was dedicated, a number of local luminaries attended, including the governor of the state. Veterans who had served in the Civil War included Gen. Alexander McCook and Gen. Lew Wallace. The railroads brought 25,000 visitors to participate in the dedication from outside the city.
A local paper described the entrance of the flags of the dozens of regiments the veterans had served in; “The pent-up enthusiasm of the waiting multitude broke its bounds when the Circle resounded with the stirring strains of fife and drum heralding the approach of the
great flag parade. As the grizzled and feeble veterans marched into view, stepping with unwonted alacrity beneath the rejuvenating influence of the presence of their cherished standards of battle, cheer after cheer burst in unison from thousands of throats and the eyes of the gallant old heroes brightened with the joy that gave their blood once again the Impetus of youth.”
That night the German community also organized its own parade to honor the veterans. The marchers were fitted out with torchlights and they set off at 8 o’clock. The Indianapolis Journal reported that; “The torchlight procession of the German societies in the evening was the third big attraction of the day that brought to the central thoroughfares a crowd that numbered as many as the one on the streets in the afternoon.”
Monument Circle was originally created as the center of Indianapolis. Before the late-20th Century the obelisk could be seen from anywhere in the city, however with modern high-rise office buildings that is no longer the case. The city is now called “Circle City.
Before the monument was constructed, the area was called “Governor’s Circle.” The governor’s house was placed at the site, but the quality of the structure was so low that governors avoided it and it was torn down. As you can see in the photo above, the state capital can be seen behind the monument. According to the Indianapolis Journal, when the state began to contemplate where to place the monument, “The Circle was regarded as the spot where such a monument should be built.”
Even the lamps around the monument are impressive. They are forty feet high. There are different designs on them. In the photo above, bison heads create a fountain with water coming our of their mouths. Above the bison heads are baby bears. The figures are of Eurasian brown bears, which are not native to Indiana. They were chosen by the artists designing them because they were all working in Germany.
There are several sculptures on the obelisk. In the example below, there two wooden ships with cannons sticking out. In the middle is the Monitor. Beneath them is the aftermath of a land battle with the wreckage of war. A soldier lies dead on the right side.
Below is the figure of War. This goddess is leading the men in their charge. Behind her is the mythical Columbia carrying the Stars and Stripes. Beside her are the soldiers shooting their enemies. In front of her is a statue group called The Dying Soldier in which two comrades tend to a third soldier in death’s grip. For all the horror of this scene, there is a lovely fountain flowing in front of War and the Dying Soldier.
With all the symbolic figures on the statue, there are several real men depicted in the Circle. One is Oliver Morton, the Civil War governor of Indiana. In the early 1850s, Morton was an anti-slavery Democrat. In 1854, he was expelled by the Democratic Party because of his opposition to slavery. He helped to set up the Indiana People’s Party, an anti-slavery party. Two years later he was a delegate to the first Republican presidential convention in 1856. In 1860, he ran as Lt. Governor with Henry Lane heading the ticket. They won. However, when Lane became Senator, Morton became governor. In 1860, he had said that the Federal government should make no compromises with the slave-owning South and he prepared for war.
After the firing on Fort Sumter, Morton organized more than 12,000 men as volunteers to fight the Confederates by the end of April 1861. Even before Sumpter was attacked, Morton had set up an armory where 700 people produced weapons. Morton had supported Lincoln during the elections of 1860 and he supported the Union in 1861. Morton did this even though he believed his state had a large portion of Southerners and he mobilized the state even with strong Democrats in the legislature.
Morton supported the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation and he began to lose support among the Democrats. In 1863, John Morgan launched a raid into Indiana and he expected to be helped by the Knights of the Golden Circle, a secret underground of Confederate sympathizers. Very few aided the raiders, which reassured Morton that his state was still loyal. In 1864 he was reelected. In 1867 he became a Senator and he supported the Radical Republicans.
Morton’s monument says:
Oliver P. Norton
The War Governor
Of Indiana
War Of The Rebellion
1861-1865
The north side has a roll of honor with the head of Victory over a dedication “To Indiana’s Silent Victors.” There is a recounting of the men who fought. Below it does the same thing for the Spanish American War. On the right is a cavalryman and on the left is an infantryman.
In the photo below, you can see Victory having a raised up torched while extending her sword in an effort to make peace. Below her is the date 1861, the start of the war. On the opposite side is “1865.”
While the monument is 125 years old, it fits in well with the modern buildings all around it.
In the photo above, work was going on on the pavement. While there were workers there, they don’t interfere with visitors.
Below, you can read the inscriptions and see the two soldiers.
At several spots there is the seal of the United States.
There are also the Corps Badges of the Army.
There are also badges showing the artillery and the infantry.
More Corps badges.
The West Side shows Peace. Next to the goddess is Columbia unfurling her American flag.
Below Peace is a slave making himself free.
The symbols of the Signal Corps and the Cavalry.
One of the most notable groups of sculptures is The Return Home shows a common soldier coming home after the war is over. His former warlike appearance does not betray his familial feelings as he embraces his mother and his old father listens to his son’s accounts of the last four years and extends his hand out to touch his long absent child.
From behind, you can see that the father is resting on his plow. This tool that feeds the whole family through hard work, is now a place where pater can gain support through this emotional homecoming.
Both the son and the mother are overcome with emotion as they reach out to one another. By the time the monument was built, most of the fathers and mothers of the Civil War veterans were dead, but the soldiers still remembered that greeting that told them that their families would help them reintegrate into civilian life.
The Dying Soldier offers another way of coming home. The mortally wounded man is living out his last moments of life on the battlefield He has no family offering comfort, but two comrades give him a last embrace.
More Corps badges.
Before the Civil War, Indiana was a contested state. The state had grown to a population of 1.3 million people by 1860. Many of its residents had come in from New England, New York, and Pennsylvania, but in the southern part of the state were migrants from the Southern states. There were also a large number of German immigrants. For the decade and a half before the Civil War, Indiana had been ruled by the Democratic Party. It’s first Republican governor was elected in 1860, The state voted 51% for Abraham Lincoln in 1860, but the nearest opposition candidate was Stephen Douglass who got 42% of the vote. So the people of Indiana cast votes overwhelmingly for candidates dedicated to preserving the Union. Fewer than 5% cast votes for the Secessionist candidate John C. Breckenridge.
During the 1850s, the Knights of the Golden Circle, a secret society in support of spreading slavery to new lands gained through United States conquest, had a few members in Indiana. After the war began, the Knights began to recruit men from those opposed to the war effort. By December of 1862 the Federal authorities had found that the Knights were encouraging soldiers stationed around Indianapolis to desert. The Knights increased their activities when the Draft was imposed in 1863. Armed Knights actively resisted conscription officers sent to draft men. By 1864, the Knights had changed their name to The Sons of Liberty. That year, Federal troops captured a large amount of weapons that the Sons of Liberty supposedly was likely to use to free Confederate prisoners at Camp Morton. Arrests followed and a military commission sentenced three of the conspirators to death. This helped break the Knights of the Golden Circle/Sons of Liberty. By revealing that several of the leaders of the Knights were Democrats, it also led to a collapse in support for the Democrats.
On the North Face of the monument is a sailor.
Across from the sailor is an artilleryman.
More Corps badges including the “Shamrock” of the II Corps.
When I visited the monument, fellow viewers were surprised when I told them that the posts around the monument supporting the chain were really Civil War cannon, with a cannon ball attached to the top.
A side view of the figures of War.
The North Face with its roll of honor and the artilleryman and sailor guarding it and War is to the left.
One of the most important aspect of Monument Square is this sign banning skateboards.
As you can see in the photo below, The Circle is quite large with pools and fountains.
There are two large waterfalls that fascinated many visitors.
The ramped area on the right in the photo below is a pathway that you can take all around the upper part of the monument’s base. This gives you and opportunity to observe the Homecoming and the Dying Soldier.
The fountains and waterfalls are as attractive when view from down the block.
One thing that you don’t see in the photos is that eight staff members were performing regular maintenance work, including being in the fountains and raking them cllean.
I like the sculptural works of art, even those that are not magnificent. The backing of the statehouse could be seen in many pictures.
Apart from the maintenance crew, there were also several construction workers at the site.
For a monument that is over a century old, it was very kept up.
When the war broke out, Morton said in his proclamation “Whereas, An armed rebellion has been organized in certain States of this Union, having for its purpose the overthrow of the Government of the United States. . .Now, therefore, I, Governor Oliver P. Morton…call upon loyal and patriotic men of this state…[so that they] may be speedily mustered into the service of the United States.”
The Indianapolis Daily Journal published an editorial reflection of Republican sentiment the Fort Sumter was attacked:
“. . . The forces of the seceding States have attacked Fort Sumter. . . . they have begun a conflict which may last for years.– They have determined that no peaceful separation shall be made. . . . they have attacked our fort . . . . They have gathered nearly 10,000 men to attack 70. . . . We heard more than one or two or three men last night rejoicing in the prospect of the massacre of Major Anderson and his band.—They were already laying out a plan of submission to the seceded States, and the adoption of their government. . . . Such men are traitors, and the meanest of traitors. . . . If we must fight the seceding States let us at least have no traitors at home. . . . ”
The Indiana Daily Sentinel reflected Democratic opinion at in April 1861:
“ . . . . Civil strife has commenced. The Abolition and disunion administration have attempted the coercion of the Confederate States. . . . MR. LINCOLN will seek to evade the responsibility of inaugurating civil war . . . . If war was not intended, why was a military and naval expedition fitted out, with the men and appliances to reinforce and occupy Fort Sumter at all hazard? This was not a peaceable mission. . . . It was known that the demonstration would be regarded as an act of war and the men of the South would have been regarded as mere braggarts if they had not resisted unto death. Their honor was at stake. . . .
“What will war accomplish? . . . . And the Confederate States, not we, have the right to judge whether our Government is oppressive to them . . . . Our heart sickens at the terrible calamities which civil war will visit upon the country. . . . If we can not live in peace with the seceding States we say ‘Let them go out.’ . . . .”
In spite of its divisions, Indiana raised 210,000 men for Union service. 25,028 Indiana men died while in service, about two-thirds from disease.
The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) had started the campaign for the memorial soon after the war. They became very powerful in the late 1870s onward up until the 20th Century. Being a member of the GAR meant you were much more likely to vote Republican which made Union veterans’ votes highly desirable to Republican officeholders.
I visited the monument on a Monday and I found parking along the street for just a few dollars.
Apart from the food trucks at Monument Circle, there were also a number of restaurants within two blocks of the Circle.
Note: All color photos of buildings in this post were taken by Patrick Young except as noted.
Thanks to Michele Ascione for recommending this site.
Sources:
The Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument
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