The Importance Of Monuments In The Civil War

Even though most may not even think about them as they drive or walk past, that does not mean they are not there. Monuments. Many wonder what exactly they do and ponder the message that the artist was trying to convey through it. Almost all wars have been commemorated in this way, but many wonder if it is the best way to commemorate those who served, and the monuments made for the Civil War are not any different. Throughout this essay, I will describe a monument that I have created that I believe best represents the Civil War as a whole, and proves that monuments are the correct way to memorialize the people who were involved in it. Monuments are the best way to do this because of the different aspects that they are made of, and the thought
process that they invoke when one visits them. When thinking about making a monument, one thinks hard about what to include, what not to include, what it should be made of, etc. However, one does not normally think about the meaning behind what they are creating until they have created it, and it was the same for me during this process. By deciding on my monument, I felt that I was sealing my fate in stone, and I was so wrong. By creating this, I was able to express how I wanted these people to be remembered, and it allowed me to realize the purpose behind these monuments. It has been said that battlefield parks tend to provide the best way of memorializing wars because, ‘’ they [battlefield parks] provided a key forum for remembrance of the war as a series of military movements, rather than a political conflict, and for celebration of the valor of troops on both sides (Brown, 18). However, it is my belief that monuments provide a better memorialization method because they allow the people to really think about what the inscription says, what the monument as a whole looks like, and allows them to come to their own conclusion about what the monument means to them. The whole goal of commemoration is to, ‘’ give meaning to these deaths and define the relationship between the dead and the living (Brown,15). Meaning that we are not trying to recreate what happened, rather trying to remember them for what they did, and that because of wha they did, where we are today is because of their sacrifices that they made. For my monument, I have decided that it will be based in Washington D.C., near the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington Cemetery. I have decided that it will go here because it is a well trafficked area, meaning that a lot of tourists and native D.C.-ers will be able to experience it. Another reason is because Washington D.C. is our capitol, and having it be present there symbolizes the importance that our capitols holds, now and before. My monument will be really big, mainly because I want its size to amaze people as they first behold it. To have it be really big, my monument will sit on top of a concrete platform that is 35 feet in length and width. The bottom of the monument will hold the inscription and it will be half the size of the platform that it is sitting on top of. My monument will be built using concrete and granite. On top of that, I will have Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant standing together with their respective flags on their backs, for Lee a Confederate flag, and for Grant a Union flag. Then, on a pedestal a little higher up from them, about a foot, will be Abraham Lincoln standing with a woman on his left and a former slave on his right. I want to create it so that it looks like Lee and Grant are walking towards these three figures. The figures will be lifelike with most of these characters being the height that they were in real life, except for the woman and the former slave. Respectively, the woman will stand at 5’3’’ and the former slave will be 5’8’’. The generals will be in their uniforms, the woman will be wearing an antebellum dress with a nurses apron tied over it with blood stains on it, and the former slave will be wearing torn pants and no shoes on the bottom, and a nice shirt and tie on the top. The woman will be wearing what I have described because she is a nurse during the war. Before it, she used to be the normal woman, dressing up to go to balls and having a gay time, but she gave all of that up to help the soldiers who were fighting to keep the nation together. The former slave will wear what he is because it describes where he started in life, and where he ended up. He will also be wearing a top hat as a nod towards Abraham Lincoln and all that he did for him and his fellow slaves. The two generals will be dressed in their uniforms symbolizing that North and South can come together as one. Abraham Lincoln will be dressed as he always was, very solemnly, almost as if he is taking viewers back to the night that he was assassinated. Now for the inscription, this is a part where, I believe, it ties a monument together.
The inscription will read, “This monument is meant to signify the unity of both the North and South. During the war, both sides were at odds with one another, and were fighting for their own reasons. This monument honors all of those who served whether they be man, woman, or slave. These statues are meant to signify those who were respected and honored by all, and to remind us that even in times of turmoil, we can count on one another to make it through the end. To help us with this, we only need to look at a penny that most of us has in our pockets. The penny says on the back, “E pluribus unum” (Out of many, one). The traditionally understood meaning of the phrase was that out of many states (or colonies) emerges a single nation and I feel that this phrase can be used to describe what was happening during the war and after it. We were separated and fighting, but in the end, we managed to forgive and become united
again. I have included all of these elements for a couple of different reasons.
First off, I shall explain why I have included the figures that I did. I felt that the woman needed to be included because the woman who helped during the Civil War did not get the recognition that they deserved. By depicting her the way that I did, I had hoped to have her come across as an antebellum lady who had gay times before the war, but during the war gave it all up to serve her country in the way that she was able to. Now women also did their part by sponsoring some of these monuments but I felt that that was not as important as actually helping out during the war (Brown, 22). The former slave was necessary because they often they too do not get included in monuments, so I felt it was necessary for him to be included to show viewers all aspects of the Civil War. Now, for what I feel were the three most important characters, General Lee, General Grant and President Lincoln. I decided to include all three of these because I felt that between the three of them, everyone could find a person to respect and honor. They were widely reviled throughout the nation, and I believe it was the three of them together that brought our nation back together. The inscription has been included because it helps visitors grasp an understanding of the monument from the artist’s perspective before creating one of their
own. Even though there are many different ways to commemorate those who fought, died, and served during the war, I will continue to believe that monuments are the absolute best way to pay respect to these people. They deserve some of our time and attention because without what they had done, who knows where the world would be today? Besides, “memory is the treasure of the mind wherein the monuments thereof are kept and preserved” (Brown). While many of us may remember the past with our minds for now, there will come a time when others do not and these monuments are one of the ways that they can learn about what happened, and learn to appreciate what was done for them, while also allowing them to come to their own decisions on the monument.