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Historical Significance:
SOLDIERS MONUMENT, Riverside Cemetery, Farmington, is significant historically because it is tangible evidence of the honor and respect paid by the community to those who died in service during the Civil War. Lettering on the monument says that it was erected in July 1872, but no information has been found regarding the circumstances surrounding the event.
Artistic Significance:
SOLDIERS MONUMENT, Riverside Cemetery, is significant artistically because of its early date, simplicity, and use of poetry. It is an example of early Civil War monument design, before complex moldings, raised lettering with ornate embellishment, and use of a crowning figure became widely adopted. No information has come to hand regarding the designer and fabricator of the monument.
The source of the poetry quoted on the monument is not known. Such quotations are relatively rare on Connecticut Civil War monuments.
CIVIL WAR MONUMENT
, Derby, is another that quotes poetry in its inscriptions.
The placement of inscriptions in the base of the monument is unusual, and perhaps is unique in Connecticut.
Description:
SOLDIERS MONUMENT, Riverside Cemetery, is a brownstone obelisk with incised lettering and raised embellishment, dedicated in 1872 to those who died in the war. It is one of the few Civil War monuments in Connecticut that quotes poetry in its inscriptions.
The monument's location in the cemetery is adjacent to the roadway into the grounds from the south entrance. The monument lot is defined by low brownstone markers, four at the corners and four in between. Other monuments in the cemetery are as large; SOLDIERS MONUMENT is one of a dozen or so of its size in the 12.65-acre cemetery.
SOLDIERS MONUMENT, Riverside Cemetery, is composed of base, pedestal, two-part shaft, and cap. The base, a single stone, not stepped, has inscriptions in its faces. The pedestal contains names. The lower part of the shaft gives the dedication information. A band of battle names divides the upper and lower parts of the shaft; government shields are in the upper portion. The cap is low-pyramidal in shape, over modest projecting cornice.
The monument received commercial cleaning/conservation in the summer of 1994.
Lettering:
Front (south) face, base of pedestal, incised caps:
THEY GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR
OUR COUNTRY AND FREEDOM
Dado:
SERGEANTS
(3 names)
PRIVATE
(1 name)
CHARLES H. RAVE
SURGEON IN U.S.A.
Shaft:
ERECTED
JULY, A.D. 1872.
TO THE MEMORY OF
VOLUNTEER SOLDIERS
FROM THIS VILLAGE
Above, raised caps in raised band:
GETTYSBURG
Above:
raised crossed rifles
East face, base of pedestal, incised italics, u.c. and l.c.:
"How sleep the Brave who sink to rest
By all their country's wishes blest"
Dado:
(5 names)
Shaft:
ANTIETAM
Above:
Raised Seal of Connecticut
North, dado:
(5 names)
West, base, incised italics, u.c. and l.c.:
God, Preserve the Nation in Peace
Dado:
(5 names)
Above:
FORT WAGNER
Above:
(Raised Shield of the United States)
Sources:
Baruch, p. 10.
Mabel S. Hurlburt,
Farmington Town Clerks and Their Times (1645-1940)
(Hartford: Press of Finlay Brothers, 1943), p. 231.
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