The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-11-20
MONUMENT FOR GEN. sEDGwIcK
Handsome Memorial Being Erected Il

MONUMENT FOR GEN. SEDGWICK
 Handsome Memorial Being Erected IT. His Native Town.
 memorial to Major General Sedg-
 wick, who was killed by a confederate
 sharpshooter at Spottsylvania Court
 house, Va, May g, 1864, is being erected
 in his native town, Cornwall Conn.
 This Is the first monument in any wise
 commensurate with the character and
 rank of the man to be erected in Con-
 necticut. The United States recognized
 the military genius of General Sedgwick
 by erecting at West Point in 1868 a
 statue of him, cast from the metal of
 cannons captured by the Sixth corps,
 which he commanded
 z The present memorial is due in part
 to the generosity of the national gov
 ernment. Early in the present year a
 howitzer which accompanied General
 Sedgwick in his southern and Mexican
 campaigns, was offered by the war de- | partment for use as memorial upon
 or near the grave. There being insuffic-
 lent space for the relic near the grave,
 the town of Cornwall gave triangular
 piece of ground opposite the cemetery
 for its use. This gift suggested the erec- tion of more elaborate memorial with
 the howitzer as a feature, and steps
 were taken toward the execution of the
 proposed project by friends of General
 Sedgwick's only surviving sis CT, Mrs | cf
 Conn. Carl Stoeckel of Norfolk headed
 this movement, and the monument is being erected and will be dedicated next spring.
 The monument is simple and appro- priate in design. It consists of Greek stella of granite about twelve feet in
 height, bearing upon it's face a bronze medallion, on which is profile in relisf of the bust of General Sedgwick. The monument and the howitzer stand on rectangular stone platform, and on either side are ranged pyramids Of can non balls. Behind the whole, in the place of the New England liberty pole which now marks the triangle, will be erected bronze gonfalon
 | The bronze work, besides the gonfal- on and the medallion on the stella, con sists of two wreaths placed on either side of the gun mount below the trun- nions, and an eagle with outspread wings attached to the front of the car riage beneath the barrel of the gun. The eagle bears the badge-a Greek cross-of General Sedgwick's corps
 The portrait on the medallion is con- sidered to be a good likeness of the general. The modeler has departed somewhat from Launt Thompson's con- ception of General Sedgwick as indicated in the statue made by him for West Point. The features have been cast in gentler mould The figure is garbed in the uniform of a major general. Be- low the portrait is half wreath, part of which is of oak leaves, signifying strength and stability, and part of lau- rel, indicating victory. An inscription to be composed by President Gilman and Professor Welch of Johns Hopkins university, will be cut in the granite beneath the medallion.
 The design is by George Keller. of Hartford, the designer of the Garfield memorial a Cleveland Ohio. The bronze work including the portrait was modelled by James J. Hawley, of New York, pupil of Augustus Saint Gaudens.
 Major General John Sedgwick occu- pies one of the most prominent inches in Connecticut's gallery of military he- roes. His life, from the date of his graduation from West Point in 1887, at the age of twenty-four years until his | death in 1864 was spent in the regular i and UO1I1ptppr Of fhn Trnitod States. Among the fifty cadets of his | class at West Point were Generals Jo- seph Hooker, Pemberton, Braxton 1 Bragg, Jubal A. Early and Benham. | He saw first active service in the Semi- 1 nole war, he was successivey brevted | captain and major. At the beginning of the civil war he attained the rank of ! lieutenant-o colonel. His rise in rank | from this date was rapid. December 23, 1862, he was nominated by President 1 Lincoln. At this time he was suffering from two wounds received in the bat tie of Antietam. In February, 1S63 he was appointed to the command of the Sixth corps. One of the most extraor- dinary forced marches on record thirty five miles in twenty-four hours, was made by this corps under his command while on it's way to the assistance of the Union army al Gettysburg. On Mo- vember '. 1868, the troops under his succeeded in capturing an entire Confederate division, with guns and colors, He was thanked in general orders for this by General Meade. He took part in the spring campaign in the under General Grant, and on May and 6, 1864, was stationed on right wing, where the hardest fighting took place. Three days later while di- recting the placing of some pieces of in the intrenchments in front 0f Spottsylvania Court House. he was struck in the head by bullet from a gun, and was instantly killed General Sedgwick was a strict disci- and his corps was, in conse- luence, one of the best in discipline and morale in the Army of the Potomac i al Meade's appointment to that post i The command of the Army of the Poto-