Today, Monday, Nov. 11, is Veterans Day—the day to honor military veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces. Officials with the Cuyahoga County Soldiers’ & Sailors’ Monument will host its annual Veterans Day Service today at 11 a.m. at the monument at 3 Public Square.

Highlights of the service include a Placement of Wreaths by members of the “Stillwaters” Buffalo Soldiers’ Motorcycle Club and a presentation of the Civil War dog Harvey statue by sponsor Parker Hannifin Veterans Business Resources Group.

Captain Daniel M. Stearns, a Berea native, and Harvey served the 104th Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Battle of Franklin in the Civil War. Harvey served as a comfort dog to Stearns and other soldiers, and Harvey’s original statue is in the visitor's center of the battle of Franklin Trust in Franklin, Tennessee. That statue has been recast for placement in the Soldiers and Sailors Monument.

Remarks will be made by Pernel Jones Jr., president of Cuyahoga County Council; Ted Prasse, president of the Soldiers’ & Sailors’ Monument Commission; and Greg Palumbo, executive director of the Soldiers’ & Sailors’ Monument.

In honor of the holiday and for respect of our veterans, we are re-running Tom Matowitz’ 2022 Masterworks story, “The Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument: Honoring Cuyahoga County’s Civil War veterans.”

Thirty years after the Civil War ended, the young veterans of the late 1860s were middle aged men with time to reflect on the war experiences that defined their lives between 1861 and 1865.

Their service was far flung and included every theater and branch of service. Young men from Cleveland fought at Antietam and Gettysburg and served aboard naval vessels enforcing the blockade. They marched to the sea with William Tecumseh Sherman. They rode horseback in elite cavalry units and fired many rounds of ammunition from field artillery pieces on dozens of well-known battle fields.

By the early 1890s old soldiers wanted to remember the sacrifices they made and honor the memory of fallen comrades. This was a national trend as Civil War monuments began to appear on court house squares across the country.

Interest in this concept began early with the creation of a pyramid of stone on the battlefield of Stones River in Tennessee, shortly after the battle was fought at the end of 1862. This marker—the Hazen Brigade Monument—is said to be America’s earliest Civil War monument and it survives to this day.

Here in Cleveland a commission was formed in order to determine the city’s best response to this perceived need. The need was fulfilled by Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument in Public Square.

One of the most important figures to serve on this project was Levi Scofield. One of the city’s top architects at the time of his selection, 30 years earlier he was part of the throng of young Clevelanders who rushed to the sound of the guns.

The massive cast bronze “Lady Liberty” top of the granite shaft is forty feet in height and weighs over fifteen tons by sculptor, Levi Scofield -circa 1892. A generation later, Scofield was a community leader with strong ties to Union veteran organizations. He was involved with the proposed Public Square monument from its earliest planning stages.

Clevelanders staunchly supported the Union war effort, and one of the first Civil War monuments in the country was a memorial placed in Cleveland’s Woodland Cemetery to honor men who lost their lives serving in the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. This monument was completed in July 1865, just months after the war was over. Two future presidents were present for the dedication, Rutherford B. Hayes and William McKinley. Both served in the regiment during the war.

In 1868, the Federal government purchased two parcels of land in the cemetery to bury Civil War dead. Today, these parcels are knowns as Woodland Cemetery Soldiers’ Lot and host the remains of 48 Union soldiers.

Woodland Cemetery has three monuments dedicated to the service and sacrifice of Union men in both the 23rd and 7th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiments, and the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.).

Given the iconic status of the Soldier’s and Sailor’s Monument it is hard to believe that there was initially resistance to placing it on Public Square.

Opponents argued that it would disrupt traffic patterns and reduce property values. In the proposed monument’s favor was the vast influence of the G.A.R. This Union veteran’s organization held great political power in the early 1890s. Local chapters strongly supported the monument which proposed to honor everyone from Cuyahoga County who served.

Scofield was selected to design the monument. His work included a number of bronze statues illustrating various scenes of the war. These sculptures are notable for their inclusion of Black combatants—long before their service was generally recognized.