The memorial was built on the property of George Townsend, and paid for by subscription.
George Townsend described the project as follows (
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"In appearance the monument is quite odd. It is fifty feet high and forty feet broad. Above a Moorish arch sixteen feet high built of Hummelstown purple stone are super-imposed three Roman arches. These are flanked on one side with a square crenellated tower, producing a bizarre and picturesque effect. Niches in different places shelter the carving of two horses' heads, and symbolic terra cotta statuettes of Mercury, Electricity and Poetry. Tables under the horses' heads bear the suggestive words "Speed" and "Heed"; the heads are over the Roman arches. The three Roman arches are made of limestone from Creek Battlefield, Virginia, and each is nine feet high and six feet wide. These arches represent Description, Depiction and Photography. The aforementioned tower contains a statue of Pan with the traditional pipes, and he is either half drawing or sheathing a Roman sword. Over a small turret on the opposite side of the tower is a gold vane of a pen bending a sword. At various places on the monument are quotations appropriate to the art of war correspondence. These are from a great variety of sources beginning with Old Testament verses. Perhaps the most striking feature of all are the tablets inscribed with the names of 157 correspondents and war artists who saw and described in narrative and picture almost all the events of the tour years of the war."
Inscriptions read:
SPEED - HEED
Sept. 14 - 62 - 96
To the Army Correspondents and Artists 1861-65
Whose toils cheered the fireside educated provinces of rustics into a bright nation of readers and gave incentive to narrate distant wars and explore dark lands.
Erected by subscriptions 1896
(South Side)
Army Artists
J.A. Becker
F. Beard
C.E. H. Bonuill
S.S. Davis
F. Dielman
G. Ellsbury
S. Fox
C.E. Hillen
E.B. Hough
J.F. Laycock
H. Bensancon
A. Berghaus
A. McCallum
W.R. McComas
E.F. Mullen
Fred Shell
W.L. Sheppard
J.S. Trexler
G.F. Williams
W. Waud
Southern
P.W. Alexander
Durant Daponte
F.g. DeFontaine
D.C. Jenkins
Geo. W. Olney
Geo. Perry
Jas. B. Sener
W. Shepardson
Henry Watterson
Artists
M.B. Brady
W.T. Crane
F.O.C. Darley
Theo. P. Davis
Ed. Forbes
J. S. Jewett
Henry Lovi
Arthur Lumley
Finley Anderson
Adam Badean
Geo. W. Beman
W.D. Bickham
Geo. C. Bower
J.H. Browne
A.H. Byington
S.M. Carpenter
F.G. Chapman
G.W. Clarke
C.C. Coffin
J. Cook
E.E. Cuthbert
E. Crapsey
W.E. Davis
Creighton
L.L. Crounse
J.P. Dunn
C.H. Farrell
R.D. Francis
T.C. Grey
Chas. G. Helpine
B. Harding
J. Hasson
S. Hayes
A.P. Henry
V. Hickox
G.W. Gosmer
D.R. Kem
Thos. W. Knox
P.T. McAlpin
Joseph B. McCullagh
J.E. Norcross
G.H. Osbon
C.A. Page
U.H. Painter
A. Paul
E. Peters
Whitelaw Reid
W.H. Runkle
W.F.G. Shanks
George W. Smalley
Edmund C. Stedman
W.H. Stiner
R.H. Sylvester
Geo. Alfred Townsend
Henry Villard
E.W. Wallazz
Sam Ward
E.D. Westfall
Sam Wilkeson
A.W. Williams
T.C. Wilson
W. Young
F.H. Mason
Larkin G. Mead
Henry Mosler
Frank Shell
Dav. H. Strother
Alfred Waud
J.E. Taylor
H. Vizzitelly
J.N. Ashley
T. Barnard
H. Bentley
A.H. Bodman
Geo. C. Bower
S.T. Buckley
S. Cadwallader
T.M. Cash
E.P. Church
W.C. Church
John A. Cockerill
R.Y. Colburn
T.M. Cook
N. Davidson
E.F. DeNyse
D.B. M. Eaton
J.C. Fitzpatrick
T.B. Glover
C.H. Griffen
C. Hannem
G.H. Hart
John Hay
L.A. Hendricks
F. Henry
A.S. Hill
E.H. House
A. Hutson
W.P. Isham
W.H. Kent
R.C. Long
Richard C. McCormick
W.H. Merriam
C.S. Noyes
B.F. Osborn
Nat'l Paige
Count De Paris
E. A. Paul
Henry J. Raymond
Albert D. Richardson
O.G. Sawyer
R.H. Shelly
Henry M. Stanley
Jerome B. Stillson
William Swinton
Ben. F. Taylor
B.C. Truman
J.H. Vosburg
J.S. Ward
F. Watson
F.B. Wilkie
F. Wilkison
J.C. Wilson
John Russell Young
(North Side)
O wondrous youth
Through this grand ruth
Runs my boy's life, its thread
The General's fame, the battle's name
The rolls of maimed and dead
I bear with my thrilled soul astir
And lonely thoughts and fears
And am but history's courier
To bind the conquering years
A battle's ray, through ages gray
To light to deeds sublime
And flash the lustre of my day
Down all the aisles of time
War Correspondent Ballad - 1865
(North Side Lower)
Directory of Army Correspondent Memorial
Governor Lloyd Lowndee
George Alfred Townsend
John Hay
Richard C. McCormick
Edmund C. Stedman
Henry Watterson
Whitelaw Reid
Joseph B. McCullogh
Crosby S. Noyes
Nathaniel Paige
Edward W. Mealey
John L. Smithmeyer, Architect
Junius Henri Browne
James Elverson
Francis A. Richardson
Victor Lawson
John G. Moore
Daniel Houser
The HMDB includes more pictures (
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