Editor’s Note: Bill Morgan, the author of The Civil War Lover’s Guide to New York City (published by Savas Beatie), was kind enough to offer up his list of the top 5 most overlooked Civil War sites in the Big Apple as a series of guest posts here at TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog. Bill’s introduction will be followed by one overlooked NYC site per week, every Monday for the next five Mondays. Join Bill here at TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog, as he counts down his list.
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The Top 5 Most Overlooked Civil War Sites in New York City
by Bill Morgan
#3 SOLDIERS’ AND SAILORS’ MEMORIAL
Riverside Drive at West 89th Street
Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Memorial.
Manhattan’s Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Memorial was unveiled on Memorial Day 1902, the work of architects Charles (1860–1944) and Arthur Stoughton (1867–1955). It consists of a particularly beautiful 96-foot-tall, circular, white-marble temple that is ringed by a colonnade of a dozen Corinthian columns and guarded by two cannon. Originally this “Temple of Fame” in honor of the Civil War dead was to be located in Grand Army Plaza on Fifth Avenue at 59th Street, where the Pulitzer Fountain stands today, but city officials later selected this spot instead. Around the top of the monument are carved the words, “To The Memory Of The Brave Soldiers And Sailors Who Saved The Union.” The memorial also displays the names of Farragut, Sherman, Porter, and others, along with the names of battles in which New York regiments saw action.
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