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 The
author is known to many of us for his in-depth Civil War programs and we will
see him in March (2006) when he speaks on George Armstrong Custer. George has
photographed and indexed more than 270 Ohio Civil War monuments; 66 are
featured here.
Most of the illustrations are large enough
for the viewer to see much detail. Each photo includes the memorial's
location, cost and dedication date.
Uniformed men are the most common memorial
subject. Most are a symbolic ‘everyman’, but some are familiar Civil War
patriots, e.g., Lincoln, McPherson, Steedman, John Clem (the youngest Union
volunteer), and Custer.
There are lots of cannon, of course, and an
assortment of obelisk types. There are some unique memorials, too, including a
beautifully sculpted bronze and stone featuring the effigy of the grandfather
of the family who paid for the statue.
In Canton, a bronze draped woman, “Peace,”
bows at the base of a large stone and places a palm frond on its surface.
George includes the Confederate POW cemetery in Columbus with its huge boulder
crudely cut with the words “2260 Confederate Soldiers of the War of 1861-65
buried in this enclosure.”
Although “Monuments” is essentially a
picture book, George relates some human interest stories collected, he told
me, from people he met on thousands of miles’ of travel researching this
book. He includes quite a bit of incidental monument information. The complete
index of monuments, categorized by region and county, is in the book,
also.
There are thousands of Civil War books, but I
doubt if there is another quite like this one, dedicated to the memorials
honoring those who served in a cruel war that left millions of broken hearts,
bodies, and lives. As I spent time with the book, I felt that it is also a
testimonial to the grief and pride of citizens who raised these memorials so
that the generations will remember.
Civil War Monuments in Ohio is
privately published. If you cannot find a copy at your favorite book
store, copies can be purchased directly from the
author at $25.00 per copy.
Purchase this book:
Civil War Monuments of Ohio
by Harold A. George
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