Explore New York History (2024)

22/07/2024

Every week I post a monument to the Civil War in New York and beyond.

The Ulysses S Grant Statue in Brooklyn stands at the intersection of Bedford and Roders in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. It was commissioned in 1895 by the Union League Club of Brooklyn, a pro-Union and pro-Republican club founded during the Civil War. It was sculpted by William O.Partridge. It was dedicated in 1896 with Julia Grant, his widow, in attendance.

The Union League building still stands across the street. Some features have been removed but it still has terracotta relief busts of Abraham Lincoln and Grant.

17/07/2024

. Every week I post photos of the grave related to the or evolution.

The Prentiss brothers served on opposite sides of the Civil War. They were from a wealthy Baltimore family. Clifton Kennedy Prentiss joined the NY 7th Militia, then served in the 5th Maryland Infantry. He rose in the ranks of the U.S. Army to Major and was posthumously promoted to Colonel. His brother William Scollay Prentiss joined the 1st Maryland Infantry of the Confederate army.

In 1865 both were wounded at the Siege of Petersburg and taken to Armory Square Hospital in Washington. Both were injured and on strechers. William recognized his brother and asked to see him. According to one account, Clifton at first responded, “I want to see no man who fired on my country’s flag”, but later relented and held his brother’s hand.

Walt Whitman served at the hospital as a nurse and met both brothers. He wrote an entry in his diary entitled ‘Two Brothers, One South, One North’

“It was in the same battle both were hit. One was a strong Unionist, the other Secesh; both fought on their respective sides, both badly wounded, and both brought together here after a separation of four years. Each died for his cause.”

They both died from their wounds in 1865 and were buried together in The Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn NY in a family plot. Many years later the cemetery commissioned VA headstones for the two bothers. William’s is the distinctive pointed Confederate headstone while Clifton has a U.S. Army headstone.

09/07/2024

Every week I post a grave of a figure related to the Civil War or abolitionism.

(1811-1872) was arguably the greatest American newspaper editor ever. He founded the New York Tribune in 1841 which would rise to a circulation of 300,000 across the United States during his lifetime. In his newspaper he advocated for many progressive causes, including women’s rights, socialism (he employed Karl Marx as a European correspondent for the paper) and abolition of slavery. During the Civil War he pressed Lincoln to be more aggressive in defeating the Confederacy and freeing the enslaved, particularly in his open letter in 1862 “The Prayer of Twenty Millions” demanding Lincoln “fight slavery with liberty.”

He died in 1872. His funeral was attended by Ulysses S Grant (whom Greeley had opposed in the 1872 Presidential Election) and held at the Church of Divine Paternity—now 4th Universalist.

08/07/2024

Every week I post photos of a monument in or beyond.

The Monument was built in 1865 opposite the Flushing Town Hall (pictured last) and dedicated to “patriotic volunteers from Flushing. Three of the sides list names of local men who served in the US army, including Captain William Dermody, an immigrant abolitionist. The obelisk was commissioned by the Grand Army of the Republic, a veterans organisation.

The was built from 1862-65. Frederick Douglass spoke there in 1865.

06/07/2024

This bust of at the was sculpted by as a study for his 1881 commission of a statue of at Madison Square. #

03/07/2024

Every week I post pictures of a grave related to the Civil War or abolitionism.

Henry Wagner Halleck was a Civil War general who was named General-in-Chief of the U.S. Army from 1862-1864. He replaced George McClellan. He was noted as a skilled military administrator but less capable in the field; he was later replaced by Ulysses Grant as General-in-Chief but continued his administrative duties.

He married Elizabeth Hamilton, granddaughter of Alexander Hamilton and he’s buried in The Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, the cemetery where many of Elizabeth’s relatives are interred.

02/07/2024

Every week I post pictures of a memorial to the Civil War in New York or beyond.

The Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch at Grand Army Plaza Brooklyn was built from 1889 to 1892. It was designed by John H. Duncan who would go on to design Grants Tomb. A number of bronze sculptures were added in later years by Frederick William MacMonnies, an apprentice of Augustus St Gaudens. He added two sculpture groups dedicated to the US Army and the Navy. On top of the arch he added a Quadriga with the figure Columbia being driven on a chariot by four horses. Inside the arch are two bas-reliefs of Ulysses Grant and Abraham Lincoln on horseback. The relief of Lincoln is an extremely rare sculpture of an equestrian Abraham Lincoln. Those were sculpted by Thomas Eakins and William Rudolf O’Donovan (O’Donovan had fought for the Confederate Army).

Across from the arch, four columns were constructed and were designed by Stanford White. They later had bronze victory eagles added on top designed by MacMonnies.

Grand Army Plaza was originally known as Prospect Park Plaza. The name was changed in 1926 in honor of the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal organization of Civil War veterans.

25/06/2024

Every week I post a different Civil War Monument in New York and beyond.

The Woodlawn Union Monument in Woodlawn Cemetery was erected in 1888 by the Oliver Tilden Post of veterans organization the Grand Army of the Republic. 17 veterans of the Civil War are buried nearby. Oliver Tilden was a 34 year old captain and carpenter from Morrisania, then a village in Westchester County.

19/06/2024

Delated for . Every week I post a grave of a figure from the Civil War and abolitionism.

Harriet Tubman (later Harriet Tubman Davis after her second marriage) is an American icon of liberty. She personally led 70 enslaved persons on the Underground Railroad to freedom. She later participated in the Civil War for the U.S. in various roles, including providing intelligence for the U.S. Army. During the Raid on Combahee Ferry in June 1863 she helped free 750 enslaved people. After the war she lived in Auburn NY. Despite enduring discrimination and financial hardships she continued to advocate for women’s suffrage. She died in 1913 and was buried in Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn with military honors.

18/06/2024

Every week I post a monument to the Civil War in New York and beyond.

The statue of Admiral at in New York City was sculpted by Augustus St Gaudens and dedicated in 1881. it is one of the first of his works. The sculpture was considered so wee received that some fellow sculptors believed it was someone else’s work. It was the first to an individual soldier in New York City.

04/06/2024

Every week I post a grave of a person related to abolitionism or the .

General was the commander of US forces at the , leading them to a costly victory. However, Lincoln would feel he failed to pursue Robert E Lee sufficiently and would prefer General Ulysses S Grant.

After the war he would serve as commissioner of Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park. He’s buried in .

04/06/2024

. Every week I post a different monument related to the . Today I’m posting one in .

The All Wars Memorial to Colored Soldiers and Sailors was installed in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park in 1934. It honors African-American soldiers in every war the US had fought up to World War I. It was the idea of Samuel Beecher Hart, a member of Philadelphia’s National Guard Unit known as the Grey’s Invincibles’ and later a member of the Pennsylvania State Legislature.

The monument by depicts full body soldiers in uniform as they had fought.

In 1994 it was moved to a more prominent location on .

29/05/2024

. Every week I’m posting a grave of a figure related to abolitionism or the .

Eastman Johnson was an American mid-19th century artist noted for his paintings of African-American life. His painting A Ride to Liberty depicts a family of enslaved people escaping to freedom during the 2nd Battle of Bull Run and now hangs at the . He’s buried at .

27/05/2024

Every week I’m posting a monument to the Civil War in New York and beyond.

This this I’m honoring the monument in The to Clarence McKenzie, a 12-year-old boy who joined the 13th New York regiment as a drummer boy and was killed by a stray bullet in 1861. He was Brooklyn’s first casualty in the Civil War. A monument to him was erected in the Soldier’s Lot in in .

24/05/2024

Happy Birthday to the , opened on this day in 1883. The bridge was opened to a celebration of fireworks, parade boats, and electric lights that were installed by Thomas Edison. President Chester Arthur came to walk across the bridge.

23/05/2024

Photograph by 1) Alexander Gardner in 1862; and 2) me, 2024. Dunker church, MD. This is one of many historic photographs taken by Alexander Gardner and his assistance two or three days after the in 1862 during the . It was the first time ever a was photographed with dead soldiers still unburied.

21/05/2024

. Every week I’m posting a grave of an important figure from abolitionism or the .

Jacob Duryee (or Duryée or Duryea) hailed from an old Huguenot family in New York. His father Abram formed the Fifth New York regiment known as Duryee’s Zouaves. He later was transferred to the Second Maryland and was the acting commander during the Battle of Antietam. The Second Maryland suffered incredibly heavy losses during the famous assault on the . After the battle, Duryee resigned his command, despite objections by General Burnside.

He’s buried at with a non-VA issue .

20/05/2024

Every week I post a different Civil War Monument in New York and beyond.

The statue to former NY Governor, NY Senator and U.S. Secretary of State William Henry Seward at Madison Square Park was sculpted by Randolph Rodgers and dedicated in 1876. He was the first New Yorker to be honored with a monument. The pedestal was replaced in 2019 (my first 2 photos show the old pedestal.)

William Seward was Lincoln’s great rival for the 1860 Republican presidential nomination. Lincoln won the nomination in a surprise and later chose him as Secretary of State. Seward served as one of Lincoln’s closest advisors, helping him with the Gettysburg Address and many other matters.

The statue depicts Seward seated on a chair with a quill in one hand and a parchment in the other; stacks of books are seen underneath his chair.

15/05/2024

Thank you for posting a photo of me and my tour group on your wall.

14/05/2024

. Every week I’m posting a grave of an important figure in abolitionism or the Civil War.

Admiral David Glasgow Farragut (1801-1870) is buried in in the Bronx. His naval career would span from the War of 1812 to after the Civil War. He was the first American to achieve the rank of Admiral.

At the beginning of the Civil War, Farragut stated many times secession was treason. Born in Tennessee and married to a Virginian, he and his wife moved to Hastings-on-Hudson before the war.

He captured the port of New Orleans in 1862, leading eventually to full control of the Mississippi River by the U.S. military. In 1864, he attacked Mobile Alabama, the Confederacy’s last port in the Gulf of Mexico. Mobile Bay was heavily mined with torpedos. Famously, he ordered, “Damn the torpedoes. Four bells, Captain Drayton, go ahead. Jouett, full speed.”

His grave monument is shaped like a wooden ship-mast and is draped in a U.S. flag. It has many nautical symbols and a faded depiction of the USS Hartford, his ship for most of the war.

13/05/2024

. Every week I’m posting a monument in New York to the Civil War.

The 7th Regiment Monument is nestled in the trees on the West side of Central Park. it was dedicated in 1874 and was sculpted by John Quincy Adams Ward. The pedestal was designed by Richard Morris Hunt. It is dedicated to the 58 members of New York’s famed 7th Regiment who died in the Civil War. The statue is based on an actual member of the regiment who later became an actor—Steele Mackaye.

07/05/2024

. Every week I’m posting in grave of an important figure in abolitionism or the Civil War.

Thomas Downing (1791-1866) was a successful black restaurateur and owner of Downing’s Oyster House near , which was popular with New York’s elite. The restaurant was also a secret station on the .

He’s buried in in at his family plot, but unfortunately, his stone is missing.

06/05/2024

. Every week I’m posting a monument related to the Civil War. The Civil War Soldiers Monument in was erected by the City of New York in 1869 to honor all those from New York who served and died in the Civil War. The four bronze monuments represent an artillery, cavalry, engineering, and infantry. They were sculpted in 2002 to replace the original zinc statues. The monument was placed at the highest point in Brooklyn with commanding views of Manhattan.

30/04/2024

Every week I’m posting a grave of someone related to the Civil War or abolitionism.

Samual Eli Cornish (1795-1858) was a leader of New York’s free black community, a Presbyterian minister and a newspaper editor. He was the founding minister of the New Demeter Street Presbyterian Church, New York’s first black Presbyterian church. It would later become Shiloh Presbyterian Church in Greenwich Village and survives today as St Luke’s Presbyterian Church in Harlem.

Cornish co-founded the Freedom’s Journal, the first African-American owned newspaper. He also was a founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society. His home was a stop on the Underground Railroad.

He’s buried in .

29/04/2024

. Every week I’m posting a different Civil War monument.

The statue of Abraham Lincoln on Union Square was dedicated in 1870. It was paid for by the Union League Club, a gentleman’s club formed during the Civil War to support the Union cause. It was sculpted by Henry Kirke Brown, who also did the equestrian statue of George Washington on the same square. Lincoln is holding a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation. The stone pedestal has 36 stars representing the U.S. states at the time of Lincoln’s presidency.

Though the people loved the statue, over the years placing laurels and gathering there for Decoration Day, the critics hated it. Brown opted to depict him wearing a contemporary suit but holding a Roman toga over his shoulder—this choice wasn’t well received. The New York Times called it a “frightful object” and offered to raise money to sent it to Chicago.

Later a stone wall was added engraved with the famous line from his 2nd Inaugural, “with malice towards none, with charity to all.” This was was lost when the Lincoln statue was moved from the square’s southwest corner to its present location in 1930. Today it’s aligned with the George Washington statue and the Independence Flagstaff.

29/04/2024

in NY. Saw the graves of Henry Villard, the Bronze Lady—a grave of Civil War General Sam Thomas, Andrew Carnegie, Dry Goods salesman Owen Jones, and the cemetery’s Civil War monument.

24/04/2024

Every Tuesday I’m posting a grave or tomb of a person related to the Abolitionism or the Civil War.

John Cook was one of John Brown’s men on his ill-fated raid on Harper’s Ferry in 1859. Brown had hoped to capture weapons and then lead an armed slave revolt. The raid was crushed and Brown and his men were killed or executed. John Cook initially escaped but was recaptured and hanged on Dec 19 1859. He his buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in his brother-in-law’s plot.

22/04/2024

. Every week I’m posting a monument to the Civil War.

This is the first statue of Abraham Lincoln ever dedicated in the United States. It was originally unveiled in Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza in 1869 but was moved to Prospect Park’s Concert Grove in 1896. It was sculpted by Henry Kirke Brown, who also designed a statue of Lincoln at Union Square at the same time. The letters ‘USN’ stand for U.S. Navy. It reads ‘USA’ on the reverse side for U.S. Army. Lincoln is depicted holding the Emancipation Proclamation.

16/04/2024

every Monday I’m posting a Civil War monument in NY.

The Calvary Monument in Calvary Cemetery in Queens was erected by the City of New York in 1866 to honor US Army soldiers who died in New York hospitals, 21 who would be buried nearby. It is surrounded by 4 statues representing Infantry, Artillery, Cavalry, and Engineering. These statues sculpted by Daniel Draddy are identical to those at The Green-Wood Cemetery’s Civil War monument, installed in 1869. The monument is technically inside an NYC park, purchased by the parks department in 1863 to build the monument on. It is the oldest Civil War monument inside a city park.

16/04/2024

every Monday I’m posting a Civil War monument in NY.

The Calvary Monument in Calvary Cemetery in Queens was erected by the City of New York in 1866 to honor US Army soldiers who died in New York hospitals, 21 who would be buried nearby. It is surrounded by 4 statues representing Infantry, Artillery, Cavalry, and Engineering. These statues sculpted by Daniel Draddy are identical to those at The Green-Wood Cemetery’s Civil War monument, installed in 1869. The monument is technically inside an NYC park, purchased by the parks department in 1863 to build the monument on. It is the oldest Civil War monument inside a city park.

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