The Owen Soldier's Monument - Scituate, Rhode Island
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N 41° 50.050 W 071° 35.216
19T E 285192 N 4634600
The Owen Soldiers Monument was dedicated in 1913, a gift from Scituate native Benjamin T. Owen. A soldier statue of Westerly (RI) granite, sculpted by Edwin G. King, sits on a Millstone (CT) granite base carved with names of the town's war dead.
Waymark Code: WM102YM
Location: Rhode Island, United States
Date Posted: 02/15/2019
Views: 3
From the Rhode Island Historical Preservation Commission to the National Park Service:
"Owen Soldiers Monument (1913): This monument, sculpted of Westerly, Rhode Island granite by Edwin G. King, portrays a light artillery-man of the Civil War standing beside his gun and is dedicated to those men from Scituate who lost their lives during the Civil War. Contributed by Benjamin T. Owen, a stone cutter born in Scituate, the monument was placed on this lot of land contributed for the purpose by the Congregational Church Society on "Old Home Day," August 20, 1913."
Source: National Register of Historic Places Inventory --
Nomination Form (1979)
The cenotaph is inscribed on three faces. The front side faces to the East and reads:
TO THE LOYAL MEN OF
SCITUATE
1861 - 1865
DIED IN THE SERVICE
JAMES C. NICHOLS
ALMOND C. RICHMOND
DAVID B. KING
CHARLES H. KIMBALL
ALBERT N. COLWELL
LEMUEL A. GREENE
LEWIS A. MEDBURY
ELISHA E. POTTER
CRAWFORD A. SAYLES
WILSON ALDRICH
WILLIAM GREENE
HENRY C. LAWTON
STILLMAN T. MATTISON
ANDREW McLANE
REST SOLDIERS IN THINE HONORED GRAVES
THY DUTY NOBLY DONE
LONG AS THE COUNTRY'S BANNERS WAVE
THE LAND WHOSE LIFE THOU DIED TO SAVE
SHALL BLESS THE MEMORY OF THE BRAVE
AND PRIZE HER PATRIOT SONS
The South side is inscribed with the names:
SAMUEL W. WIGHT
PITTS S. WINSON
ANDREW J. REMINGTON
AMASA N. CORBIN
GEORGE A. FIELD
WILLIAM HARRINGTON
DARIUS A. HOPKINS
ALFRED S. KNIGHT
EDWARD S. REYNOLDS
JOHN COLVIN
R. EDWIN TAYLOR
THOMAS H. POTTER
THOMAS M. TINKHAM
WILLIAM H. MEDBURY
HENRY M. DAVIS
PATRICK H. MURPHY
ALBERT H. STONE
WILLIAM D. LITTLEFIELD
The North side is inscribed with the names:
JAMES SEAMANS
WARREN EDDY
HENRY S. ANGELL
WILLIAM W. WINDSOR
JASMES A. COLE
ALFRED CASWELL
GEORGE H. SMITH
JOHN O'BRIEN
Text below the names on the North side:
A.D. 1913.
PRESENTED TO THE TOWN BY B.T.OWEN
The Rhode Island USGenWeb Project offers a thorough record of the day the monument was dedicated. It can be read
here. Some of the eloquent highlights include:
- A brief biography of Mr. Owen (born January 29, 1848), a stone cutter, who counted several of the casualties as school friends.
- A description of the monument's history from inception through proposition to the participants in the dedication ceremony; "The Glenford Cornet Band made sweet music...Vivien and Evelyn Tucker and Dorothy E. Moore pulled the cord; the flag fell and the beautiful soldier statue with its pedestal bearing the honor roll appeared amid the cheers of the multitude."
- Full text of speeches by:
Rev. Gideon A. Burgess --
"...here let it stand beside the Church, whose teachings brought the conflict. It is a sermon in granite against slavery, and greed.";
Col. Daniel R. Ballou --
"This town is fortunate in having a friend, a former citizen, who, in appreciation of the patriotic services of the young men who enlisted from Scituate in the civil war, has generously caused to be erected at his own expense a splendid memorial statue to the memory of those of the number who were either killed or who died of wounds or disease while serving in the Union armies."; and
Town Council President Charles K. Clark -
"The monument to be constructed of white Westerly granite, representing an artillery man of life size in full uniform. The conditions were that the Town should place the same upon a suitable substructure in a satisfactory location to be selected by a committee appointed for that purpose and given perpetual care. These conditions were accepted."