Union Soldiers Monument, (sculpture).

Union Soldiers Monument, (sculpture).

Tennessee Producers Marble Company, contractor.

Geddes, David H., designer. (possibly by)

Southern Monument Company, contractor.

Union Soldiers Monument, (sculpture).

1896. Dedicated Oct. 24, 1901. Destroyed Aug. 22, 1904.

Bronze eagle on a stone base.

A monument which consisted of a miniature medieval fortress with an inner room, stained glass window, and mosaic star. The fortress had crenelated bastions, turrets, corbelled table, decorative frieze, round-arch openings, and rusticated wall surfaces. At the top of the central turret, facing south, was a ferocious bronze eagle.

History -- United States -- Civil War

Animal -- Bird -- Eagle

Architecture -- Castle

Formerly located Knoxville National Cemetery, 939 Tyson Street, Knoxville, Tennessee 37917 1901-1904.

The idea for the monument was first publicly outlined March 22, 1893, by Dept. Commander H. C. Whittaker, during the annual G.A.R. encampment at Harriman. The monument might have been suggested as a counterpoint to a Confederate Memorial being erected in Bethel Cemetery. A design for the Union memorial was approved May 8, 1896 and cornerstone exercises held Oct. 15, 1896. The memorial was then claimed to be the only public monument to the memory of Union Soldiers in the entire South. Close to $11,000 in funding was raised, with contributions from the Women's Relief Corps and veterans, averaging $1.00 each. Cost 12,000. A contract was signed with William B. McMillen, President of the Tennessee Producers Marble Company and the Southern Monument Company for material and construction, with Col. William A. Gage named as engineering consultant.

Substantial revisions to the original concept took place, possibly influenced by David H. Geddes, chief carver and foreman at the Southern Monument Company. The result was a miniature medieval fortress and and chapel, with stained glass window and mosaic stair. The central turret was topped by a bronze eagle with outspread wings. On August 22, 1904, lightning struck the monument (attracted to the steel pad which anchored the eagle) and toppled the monument. Only the steps and part of the foundation remained.

In 1906, the destoyed sculpture was replaced with a new "Union Soldiers Monument" created by Fenton Construction Company (IAS record TN000128). Federal funding was secured for a replacement memorial.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Tennessee survey, 1992.

National Park Service, American Monuments and Outdoor Sculpture Database, TN0072, 1989.

Monumental News, Dec. 1905, pg. 816.

Moffatt, Frederick C., "A Tale of Two Monuments: Civil War Sculpture in Knoxville," East Tennessee Historical Society's Publications 50, (1978): pg. 3-20.

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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