The news of the firing on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, reached Topsfield about five o'clock that afternoon. Topsfield sent 113 soldiers to the American Civil War and appropriated funds for recruiting and supporting them. Dow adds, "The ladies of Topsfield worked heartily in the cause of the soldiers during the war, and forwarded to the army, money, clothing and hospital stores". The Topsfield soldiers – many of whom may never before have "travelled with a steam horse" or left town at all – fought and died in places far from home: Bull Run, Virginia; Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; and Port Hudson, Louisiana, to name just a few. Several men of Topsfield died as prisoners in the Confederates' notorious Andersonville Prison in Georgia. In 1860, Topsfield had a population of 1,292, but in 1865 that number had fallen to 1,212. In his will, Dr. Justin Allen left money to the town to erect a monument to honor Topsfield soldiers of the Civil War. Alphonso T. Merrill's design, called "The wounded color Sergeant", is a prominent landmark on the Topsfield Common, dedicated in 1914.