Oldest Civil War Monument - Murfreesboro, TN
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 35° 52.574 W 086° 25.683
16S E 551629 N 3970372
Built by Union soldiers in 1863
Waymark Code: WMP4M1
Location: Tennessee, United States
Date Posted: 06/30/2015
Views: 9
County of marker: Rutherford County
Location of marker: Old Nashville Hwy, ¼ SE of Stone River National Cemetery, Murfreesboro
Marker erected by: National Park Service
Marker text:
Remembering Sacrifices -- In Stone
"...around the spot where the monument was erectd ...to the best of recollection 113 of our regiment were killed and wounded...it is hoped taht the monument will remain standing as a memorial to the gallent and patriotic men of General Hazen's brigade who fell...in defense of Union and Liberty"
Edward Crebbin, 1st Lieutenant, 9th Indiana Volunteer Infantry
in charge of building the Hazen Brigade Monument in 1863
It may surprise you to learn that the monuments you see on most Civil War battlefields were built 30 or more years after Appomattox. As battlefield veterans entered the final chapter of their lives, they wanted to honor and preserve the memory of the sacrifices they had seen.
The Hazen Brigade Monument you see ahead is unlike any other . Union soldiers built it in 1863, just six months after the battle. At that time, the outcome of the war was still impossible to predict. Comrades of the men buried here -- not civilian contractors -- laid up these stones. Before the famous marble monuments of Shiloh, Chickamauga, or Gettysburg existed, travelers riding the Nashville & Chattanooga railroad would see this somber stonework -- a constant reminder of what it cost Hazen's Brigade to sstand fast all day long at Stones River. It is the oldest intact Civil War monument in the nation.
War correspondent Alfred Waud did this quick sketch [see gallery] of the Army of the Cumberland fighting in Tennessee in 1863.
Colonel William B. Hazen
This 31-year-old, no-nonsense West Pointer commanded a brigade of four volunteer infantry regiments: the 6th Kentucky, the 41st Ohio, the 9th Indiana, and the 110th Illinois. Over 400 of Hazen's troops fell in battle here at Stones River.
Soldiers Buried Here
[Please see listing photo in gallery]