Soldiers' Memorial Monument, (sculpture).

Soldiers' Memorial Monument, (sculpture).

Pausch, Edward Ludwig Albert, 1856-1931, sculptor.

Bottinelli, A., sculptor.

Olgeati, Louis, sculptor.

Smith Granite Company, fabricator.

Soldiers' Memorial Monument, (sculpture).

Peiffer Memorial, (sculpture).

Sergeant Peiffer Memorial, (sculpture).

Commissioned Feb. 13, 1890. Dedicated July 4, 1891.

Digital Reference:

Sculpture: bronze; Base: blue granite.

Sculpture: approx. H. 8 ft.; Base: approx. 15 x 4 x 4 ft.

(On proper left back corner of bronze base:) EPausch / Smith Granite Co./Westerly, R.I (On front of base, raised letters:) CRAWFORD/COUNTY'S/TRIBUTE/TO HER/LOYAL SONS (On wreath, back left side of base:) 1861 (On wreath, back right side of base:) 1865 (On wreath, front left side of base:) ERECTED (On wreath, front right side of base:) 1890 signed Founder's mark appears.

The tall cylindrical monument is topped by a Union color bearer holding a flag on his proper left side and reaching across his body with his proper right hand to pull his saber from its sheath. The soldier is dressed in the uniform of an infantry foot soldier. The sculpture is mounted on an elaborate base consisting of a cylindrical upper section, an octagonal middle section, and a stepped lower section. The cylindrical part of the base is decorated with a row of stars and an eagle with its wings spread. The octagonal part of the base is decorated with alternating wreaths and military insignias for the cavalry, navy, and artillery branches.

History -- United States -- Civil War

Figure male -- Full length

Occupation -- Military -- Soldier

Dress -- Uniform -- Military Uniform

Animal -- Bird -- Eagle

Emblem -- Military Insignia

Outdoor Sculpture -- Pennsylvania -- Meadville

Administered by City of Meadville, Parks Department, 984 Water Street, City Building, Meadville, Pennsylvania 16335

Located Diamond Park, South Main & Chestnut Streets, Meadville, Pennsylvania

The monument honors those from Crawford County who served in the Civil War. The monument was named after Sergeant Samuel Peiffer, a color bearer from Company I-150th Pennsylvania Infantry who was killed on the first day of the battle of Gettysburg and became a local hero. The effort to erect this monument was spearheaded by GAR Post 331 (Peiffer Post), but the figure is not a portrait of Sergeant Peiffer. The monument cost $1,275. A. Bottinelli and Louis Olgeati carved the eagle and military insignia at a cost of $473.91.

The Edward Pausch sculpture of the color bearer was ordered through the Smith Granite Company, which more often produced the figure in granite rather than bronze. Unfortunately, there is no record of the company that cast the figure. IAS files contain copies Smith Granite Company archival material; February 1995 correspondence with Isaac G. Smith, Jr. (great grandson of the Smith Granite Company founder); a draft for an article to be published in the Crawford County Historical Society's spring newsletter; and an article from the Tribune-Republican (Meadville, PA) July 6, 1891. For additional information see the Crawford County Historical Society's Photographic Collection, Places File: Diamond Park and the Crawford County Historical Society's Post Card Collection.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Pennsylvania survey, 1995.

SOS Assessment Award, 2001.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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