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Soldier Monument, Evergreen Cemetery, Pierpont, Ohio

1889

Ohio’s American Civil War soldiers and civilians sought to commemorate the troopers’ devotion to and service with the United States by constructing monuments and other memorials.

During the American Civil War, Ohio provided the federal government with 260 regiments of men, including infantry, artillery, and cavalry units. Ohioans also served in several other regiments from other states, most notably from Kentucky, West Virginia, and Massachusetts, as well as in federal units. Almost 330,000 Ohio men, including 5,092 African Americans, served in the Union military during the conflict.

Ohio’s soldiers and civilians sought to commemorate the troopers’ devotion to and service with the United States by constructing monuments and other memorials. Ohioans completed the first of these commemorations during the Civil War, with hundreds more being built after the conflict. Ohioans have built at least 295 monuments to commemorate Civil War veterans, civilians, political leaders, and war-related events in the state. Eighty-six of the state’s eighty-eight counties contain Civil War monuments, with Hamilton County, Lucas County, Lorain County, Brown County, and Franklin County each boasting ten or more memorials each. Only Clinton County and Noble County do not contain Civil War monuments.

In 1889, Pierpont, Ohio residents completed a monument to honor the community’s veterans of the Civil War. The memorial’s base stands ten feet tall and consists of granite. The base is topped with a six-foot tall copper sculpture of a soldier standing at parade rest. Engraved on the monument are the following words: “In Memory of the Soldiers of Pierpont.” The Wiltsie & Son Company of Jefferson, Ohio designed the monument.

The memorial was dedicated on January 19, 1889 and was originally located in the Pierpont town square on State Route 7. During the 1930s or the 1940s, officials relocated the monument to Evergreen Cemetery, off of Cemetery Road in Pierpont, due to numerous automobiles colliding with the memorial. Purportedly, the son of a local minister crashed a car into the monument on multiple occasions, prompting his father to lobby government leaders to relocate the memorial. It remains unclear if the pastor was more upset with the damage to the memorial or the damage to his automobile. At some point, thieves stole the soldier’s gun, but it has been replaced. The monument is in very good condition.

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