Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument (Indianapolis)

North face of the monument.

The Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument (or Garfield Park Confederate Prisoner of War Monument) is a large granite monument that sits at the south entrance of Garfield Park in Indianapolis to commemorate the Confederate prisoners of war that died at Camp Morton. At 35 feet (11 m) tall and located in the city's oldest public park, it is the most prominent of the very few Confederate memorials in the Union state of Indiana.

Background

Shortly after the start of the Civil War, the original Indiana State Fairgrounds site in present-day Herron–Morton Place Historic District was converted into a Union mustering ground and training camp known as Camp Morton. In 1862, the U.S. government assumed control of the camp and established a prison camp for Confederate soldiers. It quickly became one of the largest prison camps in operation; at its height in 1864, it housed nearly 5,000 prisoners. Due to poor conditions—which included overcrowding, lack of sanitation, malnutrition, disease, and lack of medical care—the mortality rate was high. By the end of the war, more than 1,700 prisoners had died at Camp Morton.

Origin and placement

A small number of the Confederate dead from Camp Morton were identified and returned to their families after the war, but 1,616 soldiers were buried in a mass grave at Greenlawn Cemetery. It was here, in 1912, that the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument was first commissioned and placed by the U.S. federal government. However, with Greenlawn Cemetery set to close, the bodies and monument were later moved with the help of the Southern Club of Indianapolis. In 1928, the monument was separated from the grave and moved to its present location near an entrance of Garfield Park. The Confederate dead were reinterred, between 1928 and 1931, at a new plot known as the Confederate Mound in Crown Hill National Cemetery, with a small grave marker bearing no names.

Description

The monument is located within a circular walking path north of Pagoda Drive, just within Garfield Park's south road entrance on East Southern Avenue.

It is made of white granite, and measures 35–40 feet (11–12 m) tall and 20 feet (6.1 m) wide. On its north face, the granite shaft contains the following inscription: "ERECTED BY THE UNITED STATES TO MARK THE BURIAL PLACE OF 1616 CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS AND SAILORS WHO DIED HERE WHILE PRISONERS OF WAR AND WHOSE GRAVES CANNOT NOW BE IDENTIFIED". Six wide bronze plates along the north and south sides of the base list the names and regiments of the dead.

• 
  Inscription
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  Plaque listing names
• 
  Modern tour marker

Recent developments

In the early 1990s, the local Sons of Confederate Veterans organization began lobbying federal officials to move the monument from Garfield Park to Crown Hill Cemetery to mark the actual Confederate grave site, which had no names listed.^[1] While ultimately unsuccessful in moving the monument, the effort resulted in a new memorial being installed in 1993 at Crown Hill's Confederate Mound that includes a all of the soldier's names and regiments on 10 new markers with bronze plaques.

In 2014, the local Sons of Confederate Veterans organization partnered with Indy Parks and the Indy Parks Foundation on a plan to restore the monument, which had fallen into disrepair.^[2] While some members expressed dissatisfaction with the monument, the Indy Parks board ultimately voted unanimously for the proposal to allow SCV to raise funds for the project on behalf of the Indy Parks Foundation.^[3]

In 2015, the Friends of Garfield Park, with funding from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust, launched a new audio tour throughout the park, which includes two soundbites discussing the monument.^[4] Vista markers shaped like phonograph speakers are at tour sites within the park, including one northwest of the monument.^[5]

In 2017, there was renewed public interest in the monument in the wake of the Charlottesville Unite the Right rally and the removal of Confederate monuments in other cities. On August 17, City-County Council President Maggie A. Lewis released a statement expressing a desire to start a conversation about the monument's location in Garfield Park.^[6] Monroe Gray, the Council's Democratic majority leader, separately stated that he does not believe Garfield Park is an appropriate location, and noted that the monument "holds no historical significance to President Garfield," the park's namesake.^[7] Lewis and Mike McQuillen, Council's Republican minority leader, suggested an inventory of all public monuments in Marion County be conducted, so there can be a better understanding of their content, and whether they might cause offense.^[8] Following councilors' remarks, the city's Department of Parks and Recreation stated that the monument was "not in a location appropriate for its original purpose," and that it intended to work with the Council and partners to "explore all available options to remove the monument from Garfield Park" so that it can be displayed in a setting that provides historical context.^[9]

On August 19, 2017, a man was reportedly arrested in the act of vandalizing the monument with a hammer.^[10][11] After the incident, the monument was put under watch by park rangers; it was also reported that a man armed with an AK-47 was guarding the monument, along with others.^[12] On August 21, the city added a fence around the monument.^[13] That same day, Maggie Lewis stated that there had been "productive discussions" about the monument's potential relocation, and she urged calm.^[14]

References

Coordinates: 39°43′51″N 86°08′38″W / 39.73074°N 86.14397°W / 39.73074; -86.14397