Bronze figure with granite base, canopy, and shaft, 1887
North Inscription (base): This monument is erected in honor of the men who volunteered in the Union Army from Mason County, Ky., and served in the War of 1861-1865.
North Inscription (shaft):Joseph Heiser Post, No. 13, G.A.R.
South Inscription:We remember with gratitude the noble Union women of the war time.
East Inscription:A People's Tribute.
West Inscription:Erected A.D. 1887.
One of the few Union monuments in Kentucky, this forty-two-foot-tall tribute was erected by the Joseph Heiser Post of the Grand Army of the Republic, the largest Union veteran organization in the nation. A committee was formed to raise funds for a Union monument after some community members attended a monument dedication in Ripley, Ohio. It was dedicated July 4, 1887, on land donated by Maysville Cemetery.
A base of Vermont granite supports a granite canopy with arched openings on all four sides. Looking through the arches, supported by columns on each corner, is a female figure personifying Memory. The figure is portrayed in the act of dropping a flower on a soldier's grave. The main shaft, also of granite, tops the canopy. On the north side of the shaft is a bronze relief of the badge of the G. A. R., and an inscription identifying the Heiser Post. The shaft supports a nine-foot bronze figure of a soldier holding a flag.
Thomas Stantland and Company of Dayton, Ohio, produced the monument at a cost of $3,700.
Questions/Activities:
Discuss the inscription on the south face of the monument. Do other monuments recognize the role of women in war?
What does personify mean? Why is the figure beneath the arched canopy appropriate to this monument?
