Yes, everyone in Wilmington, Delaware calls this memorial the “Coffee Break Monument” with a little bit of amusement. The monument shows the future president William McKinley serving coffee to Union soldiers at Antietam. You might think that that is a strange moment to put on a memorial for the president, but this is not the only monument to recall that event. At Antietam there is also a monument to William McKinley that shows the “coffee break” moment during the Battle of Sharpsburg.
The memorial is at 300 South Park Drive in Wilmington, Delaware in a narrow riverside park next to the Brandywine River. It was erected in 1908, less than a decade after the president had been assassinated in Buffalo, New York. It was sculpted by James Edward Kelly, a well-known artist specializing in Civil War related scenes. He is famous for his depiction of John Buford at Gettysburg, Fitz John Porter in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and the Civil War monument in Troy, New York.
McKinley was born in 1843 in Niles, Ohio. His father owned iron foundries throughout the Western Reserve and the family was prosperous. Like many in the area, the McKinleys were opposed to slavery and they were abolitionists. In his teens, William became a schoolteacher. After the Civil War broke out, McKinley enlisted in the Union Army in June of 1861. He was only eighteen years old.
McKinley’s local company was incorporated into the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment. William Rosecrans was given command. McKinley was a teenaged future president but he was outranked by Rutherford B. Hayes who was a major at the time McKinley joined. So this regiment had two future presidents. It also had one future Senator, a future Supreme Court Justice, and a future Congressman.
The unit was sent to help occupy what is now West Virginia where it conducted guerrilla warfare against Confederate irregular forces. In the Summer of 1862, the 23rd was transferred to the defenses of Washington as Robert E Lee defeated John Pope at the Second Battle of Bull Run. The unit was sent from the capital to join the Army of the Potomac after Lee invaded Maryland and were assigned to the XI Corps under General Ambrose Burnside in the Kanawha Division.
On September 14, 1862 the 23rd was ordered into its first large-scale battle during the Battle of South Mountain. The regiment lost nearly a third of its men in this first major engagement. After the Confederate retreat, the regiment continued to pursue the enemy.
Three days later, the Army of the Potomac caught up with Lee’s army at Antietam Creek at Sharpsburg, Virginia. While you might think that the statue is to commemorate William McKinley’s presidency or his death, the heroic monument has a bas-relief of McKinley’s commissary services. It is to honor McKinley’s actions at Antietam administering a coffee break.
Shortly before Antietam, McKinley had been promoted to the post of a Commissary Sergeant, responsible for feeding the regiment.
On the monument, the text notes that McKinley was a President, Governor, and Member of Congress, but it also recounts his Civil War ranks, including being a nineteen year old sergeant at Antietam.
William McKinley may have fought to reunite the Union and to end slavery, but as president he also presided over the Spanish-American War. He was goaded into declaring the war when the battleship Maine was supposedly sunk by Spanish agents in Havana Harbor in Cuba. Most modern analysts say that sabotage had nothing to do with the disaster. McKinley used the war to gain colonial possessions in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, which were administered badly from the view of the natives and led to thousands of deaths in the Philippines over the next decade.
McKinley was shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz at the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo in 1901. Because of his foreign-sounding name, the United States put in new restrictions on immigration. In fact, Czolgosz was born in Michigan.
In the scene depicted, McKinley is followed by two volunteers carrying supplies to the men in the ranks. McKinley is carrying a bucket of coffee which he is distributing to the wounded. He is stepping over the body of a fallen comrade.
You can see in the background Union soldiers in the fight with their Confederate opponents.
To the right of McKinley is the corpse of a dead soldier and two volunteers bringing up rations.
Another view of the Union firing line.
Across from the monument is a viewing stand above the Brandywine River.
From its height, you can see the waters rush by.
All of these views are from a city street.
After you visit the McKinley Coffee Break monument, you may want to go for a coffee break on your own at the Charcoal Pit, a hamburger stand built in 1956 and seemingly unchanged since then. Basic food is available here, with an 8 ounce cheeseburger served with fries for $12.00. They also serve ice cream and fresh-made shakes. The Pit is located at 2600 Concord PikeWilmington, DE 19803.
Note: All color photos of buildings in this post were taken by Patrick Young except as noted.
Sources:
Styple, William B. Generals in Bronze: Interviewing the Commanders of the Civil War. Kearny, NJ: Belle Grove Publishing, 2005.
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