News Release Date: November 9, 2023
Antietam National Battlefield completes preservation maintenance on the Private Soldier Monument in Antietam National Cemetery with funding from the Great American Outdoors Act
Sharpsburg, MD – The https://www.nps.gov/subjects/infrastructure/gaoa.htm(GAOA) Legacy Restoration Fund recently funded a preservation project on the Private Soldier Monument located within Antietam National Cemetery. Three smaller monuments within the national cemetery were preserved as well. The preservation of these monuments is a park priority due to their historic significance and their role in telling the story of those who fought and died in the Civil War.
The project included the preservation of granite on the Private Soldier Monument and on the 4th New York, 20th New York, and Vermont Sharpshooters Company F monuments. The crew meticulously cleaned each monument and replaced loose or missing mortar joints. The crew also re-waxed and buffed the bronze elements on the 4th New York Monument to protect the bronze from corrosion as well as protect adjacent stone surfaces from cupric oxide staining.
The work was performed by a GAOA funded https://www.nps.gov/subjects/infrastructure/maintenance-action-teams.htm (MAT) composed of skilled craftspeople from the National Park Service Historic Preservation Training Center (HPTC). HPTC recruits, trains, and employs people in traditional historic restoration and preservation techniques and trades. Geographically based MATs travel to national parks to train and work alongside park staff to complete small, but critical, maintenance rehabilitation and repair projects on historic structures. MATs enable the National Park Service to complete projects that require knowledge and competency in traditional trades in a consistent and cost-effective manner.
“We are thankful for the outstanding work of the dedicated MAT and the partnership with HPTC,” said Acting Superintendent Corey Wolfensberger. “Utilizing Great American Outdoors Act funding to address an important preservation project of these significant resources enables the park to reduce its maintenance backlog and ensure these monuments are maintained for the education and enjoyment of future generations.”
GAOA is part of a concerted effort to address extensive deferred maintenance and repair needs in national parks. Supported by revenue from energy development, GAOA provides the National Park Service with up to $1.3 billion per year for five years to make significant enhancements in national parks to ensure their preservation and provide opportunities for recreation, education, and enjoyment for current and future visitors.
The colossal Private Soldier Monument is a structure of granite standing in the center of the cemetery that reaches skyward 44 feet-7 inches, weighs 250 tons, and is made up of 27 pieces. The soldier, made of two pieces joined at the waist, depicts a Union infantryman standing "in place rest" facing homeward to the north. The soldier itself is 21½ feet tall and weighs about 30 tons. Designed by James G. Batterson of Hartford, Conn. and sculpted by James Pollette of Westerly, R.I. at a cost of over $32,000, the "Private Soldier" first stood at the gateway of the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876. It was disassembled again for the long journey to Sharpsburg.
On September 17, 1880, the statue was finally in place and formally dedicated. The journey of "Old Simon," as he is known locally, had been delayed for several months when the section from the waist up fell into the river in Washington. When retrieved, it was transported on the C&O Canal, and dragged by using huge, wooden rollers through Sharpsburg to the cemetery. The inscription on the monument reads, "Not for themselves, but for their country.”
Located in Sharpsburg, Md., Antietam National Cemetery is one of 130 cemeteries of the National Cemetery System, a system that began during the Civil War. There are 4,776 Union remains (1,836, or 38%, are unknown) buried here from the Battles of Antietam, South Mountain, and Monocacy as well as other nearby action. A majority of the unknowns are marked with small square stones. These stones contain the grave number, and if you look closely on a few stones, a small second number represents how many unknowns are buried in that grave. There are also a few larger, traditional stones that mark unknown graves.
In addition, more than 200 non-Civil War dead are buried here. Veterans and their wives from the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, and the Korean War were interred until the cemetery closed in 1953. An exception to the closure was made for the burial of Keedysville, Md. resident Patrick Howard Roy, United States Navy. Fireman Roy was killed during the attack on the USS Cole and was buried in the cemetery on Oct. 29, 2000.
Antietam National Cemetery is managed by Antietam National Battlefield. This park and Cemetery are open daily from dawn to dusk. The Antietam National Battlefield Visitor Center is open daily from 9 AM to 5 PM (except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day). For more information, please visit the park’s website at http://www.nps.gov/ANTI, find us on Facebook or call the park at 301-432-5124.
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