Grand Army of the Republic Monument, Knoxville, Tennessee - American Civil War Monuments and Memorials on Waymarking.com

Grand Army of the Republic Monument - A 60-foot-high monument, prominently displayed in the northeast corner of the national cemetery, was erected by members of the Department of Tennessee, Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.). Department Commander H. C. Whittaker first publicly outlined the plan on March 23, 1893, during the tenth annual G.A.R. encampment at Harriman. A memorial committee was chaired by William Rule, influential editor of the Knoxville Daily Journal, who later wrote that plans for the memorial were first presented at the Athens encampment in 1892. There was little hope that the state would sanction funding for a Union monument; this sadly was a burden each veteran and his friends would have to bear. After a promising beginning in 1893, the funding campaign became dismally inactive. Three years later, only $1,300 had been collected. In the spring of 1896, the group forwarded, for the approval of the United States Quartermaster General, the chief supervising agency for all G.A.R. construction, a design for the monument. The structure was to be a 50-foot Tennessee marble shaft, embellished with unidentified bronze figures on the corners, and a single statue at the summit. A design was agreed upon and, on May 8, 1896, approved by the United States Quartermaster’s Office. Approval was on the condition that no part of the expense attending the work be made a charge against the United States.
In the summer, the memorial committee signed a contract with William B. McMullen, president of the Tennessee Producers Marble Company and the Southern Monument Company, for material and construction, and with Colonel William A. Gage for engineering consultation. The design showed that flanking entrances were to lead, as if from drawbridges, into a small sanctuary dressed entirely with marble. In its west wall was to be an “art glass” window. The east wall would be hung with tablets detailing regimental histories. The monument was a miniature medieval fortress complete with its unique inner room, stained glass window and mosaic star. David H. Geddes, chief carver and foreman at the Southern Monument Company, and his assistants apparently had admirably sculpted the crenelated bastions, turrets, corbelled table, decorative frieze, round-arch openings, and rusticated wall surfaces. But, looking high over Holston Street to the central turret, one found not only a sentry peering steadfastly toward the southern horizon, but a ferocious bronze eagle with wings widely spread. The monument cost $11,300 and was nearly paid for by soldier residents of the state. Of the estimated 7,000 donations, most came as one-dollar offerings from dutiful pensioners. The monument was formally turned over to the Government and accepted by the Secretary of War on October 24, 1901.
On August 22, 1904, a powerful bolt of lightning struck the monument. Only the steps and part of the foundation remained, and these were scarred. The stones and eagle, its wings “closely cropped at its body as evenly as if the work had been done by an instrument,” were flung to the ground and into the street. Lightning had apparently been attracted to a steel rod that anchored the eagle to the shaft; consequently, the sculpture had sustained a direct hit. Through the state department, the committee sponsored G.A.R. General Orders No 2, calling for immediate re-construction. United States Representative Henry R. Gibson introduced before the House a bill calling for $10,000 to secure the repairs. The bill passed on April 25, 1905, but the appropriation was for a maximum of $5,000 or “so much thereof might be necessary to repair the monument.”
In November 1905, the committee retained Baumann Brothers, Incorporated, of Knoxville as the consulting architect. The Baumann design was to have closely duplicated the original plan. Re-construction began the next May, following acceptance of a $4,300 bid submitted by the Fenton Construction Company. The bronze eagle was replaced with an eight-foot-tall soldier, taking his post on top of the castle’s main turret. The coat of arms was left off, for fear it would draw more lightning. The project was completed on October 15, 1906. A fanciful local legend identified the soldier figure with General John T. Wilder, who was the only ranking general on the memorial committee. Union General Wilder first came to Tennessee in 1863, when he marched his Indiana brigade through what is now Rockwood to join the Union Army at Chattanooga. He took part in the Battle of Chickamauga and, on that battlefield, there is an imposing monument to him and his brigade. While camping in what is now Rockwood, General Wilder, a mineralogist and engineer, noticed signs of both coal and iron ore in close proximity. After the war, he came back to Knoxville, established the Roane Iron Company, and operated it for several years. During the McKinley Administration, he was appointed Federal pension agent and maintained an office in the old post office. Every three months, he issued pension checks to hundreds of Union veterans.

Date Installed or Dedicated: 10/24/1901 Name of Government Entity or Private Organization that built the monument: United States Quartermaster’s Office & Tennessee Producers Marble Company Union, Confederate or Other Monument: Union Rating (1-5): Related Website: [Web Link] Photo or photos will be uploaded.: yes

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