Dedication
“This simple inscription – ‘to our heroes’ – fully expressed the large-hearted liberality of the builders, and yonder sentinel upon its top, scanning with earnest and watchful eyes, will recall the careless citizen to a sense of the duty he owes to his country. Long may it stand to teach that lesson. May its white marble gleam athwart the landscape long after these primeval oaks shall have moldered into earth. May other generations come here to whom this war will be a tradition of the past, but who will have inherited the freedom our age has defended.”
With these words, General Davis dedicated the Our Heroes: Civil War Monument at right.
The monument goes by many names -- Our Heroes, General Soldiers’, Soldiers and Sailors -- but has one mission, to honor the memory of all of the deceased Union soldiers of Chicago and Cook County.
Built in 1869-1870 and costing approximately $12,000, Our Heroes sits at a central focal point, just inside the cemetery’s eastern gate, near the soldiers’ lot where most of the Union soldiers are buried. The monument, which stands approximately forty feet tall, consists of a granite column topped with a marble figure of a Union standard bearer and decorated with bronze plaques designed by sculptor Leonard Wells Volk.
The complete details of the dedication services that took place on Decoration Day 1870 can be found in the Chicago Tribune article below.
Chicago Tribune, May 31, 1870
DECORATION OF THE MONUMENTS.
Both monuments were handsomely decorated with wreaths and flowers. Especially noteworthy was a monster wreath, furnished by the ladies of Evanston, which was twined about the general soldiers’ monument, reaching from the cap of the soldier’s figure to the base. Bridges’ Battery monument was fairly covered with beautiful wreaths, and showers of red roses surrounded the base.
THE DEDICATION.
The principal event of the day was the dedication of the two monuments – the first generally commemorative of the deceased soldiers of Chicago and Cook Country, and the second a special tribute to the noble dead of Bridges’ Battery. An immense train, composed of twenty-three cars, was found necessary to transport the people who desired to attend the ceremonies. These, added to the number which had taken the forenoon train, as well as those who had proceeded to the spot in carriages, swelled the attendance to over five thousand persons, there being about an equal number of ladies and gentlemen. Arrived at Rosehill the crows formed into a procession and, headed by Nevans & Dean’s full band, marched to the music of a dirge to the vicinity of the monuments, where a few moments were occupied in the inspection of the structures.
THE GENERAL MILITARY MONUMENT.
About one year ago the joint committees of the Board of Supervisors and the Board of Trade, appointed for the purpose, made choice of a design, submitted with many others, for a monument to be erected in Rosehill Cemetery in memory of the deceased soldiers buried there, and to cost in the neighborhood of $12,000. The monument is erected on the site of the old greenhouse, fronting the main entrance to the cemetery, near which many of the soldiers are buried, and consists of a solid granite structure from the New England quarries, about forty feet in extreme height. A broad base, die and cap form a massive and substantial pedestal, upon which rests a column in the octagonal form, upon the summit of which stands a statue of heroic size in fine Italian marble, representing a Color Sergeant or standard bearer holding a partly unfurled flag by his left side, with right hand resting on the hilt of his sword, and dressed in the regulation uniform. The pedestal is ornamented with four high bas-reliefs in standard bronze, representing the four principal branches of the military service – the infantry, cavalry, artillery, and marine. The infantry is represented by a soldier standing guard in front of a camp; the artillery by “Man No. 1,” with swab in hand, standing by the side of his gun, and apparently watching for its discharge; the cavalry by rider and horse taking a reconnaissance; while the marine is represented by a sailor, capstan, and anchor. A number of appropriate ornaments are carved in solid granite, and the words, “Our Heroes,” are cut in raised letters on the cap-stone of the pedestal; and on each side, at the base of the shaft, are four circular panels, which are inserted with the seals of the United States, State of Illinois, Cook County, and Board of Trade, in bronze metal. The monument was designed and erected by the Chicago Marble and Granite Manufacturing Company. The statute of the “Standard-Bearer” and the bas-reliefs for the pedestal are the work of Leonard W. Volk. The reliefs are the first works in bronze ever produced for any public work in the Northwest, and were cast in the metal from Mr. Volk’s models by Robert Wood & Co., of Philadelphia.
At this point the general monument, which has been draped with American flags, was unveiled, and the speaker proceeded as follows:
My sole remaining duty here is to dedicate this artistic tribute to the sacred purpose for which it has been erected. This towering shaft is a symbol of faith as old as the race. This simple inscription – “to our heroes” – fully expressed the large-hearted liberality of the builders, and yonder sentinel upon its top, scanning with earnest and watchful eyes, will recall the careless citizen to a sense of the duty he owes to his country.
Long may it stand to teach that lesson. May its white marble gleam athwart the landscape long after these primeval oaks shall have moldered into earth. May other generations come here to whom this war will be a tradition of the past, but who will have inherited the freedom our age has defended. Here may the young learn that the love of country is a no less noble impulse than the love of family, and that any nation is weak whose citizens prefer commercial prosperity to national honor; that, pure and holy as is the love of family, of father and mother, of wife and children, the keystone which holds all together is the love of country, without which there is neither hearth nor home, neither church nor school, but a nation dwindles and becomes despicable and its people slaves.
Nor should we fear war as a calamity. It is well sometimes for these clouds to burst upon a nation. The sordid and short-sighted see only the ruin it causes, the farms untilled, the houses burned, the blight of industry, the desolation and woe which falls upon those across whose path the bloody trail is drawn. They forget that long prosperity and drowsy peace, by some subtle law, breeds discontent, while it enervates and saps the vital force of a people. It might even be said that it is better to fight than to become disused to fighting; it is better to have war than a spirit averse to war, a commercial timidity which would rather buy a peace than have its gains interrupted. For see how short a time heals the wounds, and almost effaces the scars of war! Already the harvests wave over the old fields of battle, trade resumes its channels, and in most things the nation seems born again. Let moralists explain it as they may, what we call a scourge is, like other evils, often a thinly masked blessing. It vindicates national honor. It has given the world great inventions and discoveries. A wise nation prepares in peace for war, and every good citizen is a willing solider of the republic.