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Civil War memorial · Dedicated October 1, 1891

Soldiers' & Sailors' Monument (Schuylkill County Civil War Monument)

Location
Garfield Square (W. Market St. & N. 5th St.), Pottsville, PA
Dedicated
October 1, 1891
Designer / maker
August Zeller (sculptor / designer) · Richard C. Collins (granite contractor)
Status
Extant
Coordinates
40.68399, -76.19889 · Open in Maps

The Soldiers’ & Sailors’ Monument is the most ambitious public monument in Pottsville and one of the finest Civil War memorials in the Pennsylvania anthracite region. A granite-and-bronze ensemble rising roughly 60 feet at the center of Garfield Square, it was conceived as Schuylkill County’s collective tribute to the Union volunteers it sent to the Civil War, and was unveiled on October 1, 1891.

Whom it honors

The monument commemorates the county’s Civil War service; its inscriptions record that, from a population of about 90,000, Schuylkill County furnished some 13,000 volunteers. It is bound up with the legend of the First Defenders — five militia companies that, days after Fort Sumter, became the first volunteer troops to reach Washington on April 18, 1861. Two were Pottsville units, and the south face records that 246 Pottsville men were among the 530 First Defenders. A 1951 bronze plaque honors the First Defenders and Nicholas Biddle, a free African American attached to the Washington Artillerists who was bloodied by a Baltimore mob and is remembered locally as “the first man to shed blood in the Civil War.” The four faces of the upper die read Fort Sumter, Emancipation, Gettysburg, Appomattox.

Origins

The drive began on June 15, 1887, when county soldiers and sailors resolved to erect a monument; the chartered Soldiers’ Monument Park Association of Schuylkill County managed fundraising. After several sites were debated, the association settled on Garfield Square and, in December 1887, engaged August Zeller to design the work and Richard C. Collins to execute the granite.

Design and makers

August Zeller (1863–1918) trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts under Thomas Eakins, then studied in Paris and worked two years in the studio of Auguste Rodin; the Pottsville monument and his 96th Pennsylvania Infantry Monument at Gettysburg are considered his most important commissions. The design called for granite stonework and bronze figures — an infantryman, cavalryman, artilleryman, and sailor at the corners — surmounted by a bronze Goddess of Liberty. The structure comprises 33 pieces weighing more than 100 tons, on a Quincy- and Barre-granite base.

Dedication and after

The unveiling on October 1, 1891 drew special trains from across the state; the veil was drawn by four wounded veterans, and General Horace Porter delivered the oration. On November 9, 1897, the association transferred the monument and park to the Borough of Pottsville, which promised its “perpetual care.” It has remained the focal point of Garfield Square for more than 130 years; the city’s Garfield Square Committee replaced a sword element in 2010, and a 2022 Sons of Union Veterans assessment found it intact. It stands a short walk from the 1927 Spanish War Veterans “Hiker,” making Garfield Square a two-monument stop.

Sources

Frequently asked

When was the Soldiers' & Sailors' Monument dedicated?
It was unveiled on October 1, 1891, before a crowd reported in the tens of thousands; the Monument Park Association formally transferred it to the Borough of Pottsville on November 9, 1897.
Who designed the monument?
The sculptor and artistic designer was August Zeller (1863–1918), who had trained under Thomas Eakins and worked in Auguste Rodin's Paris studio; Richard C. Collins was the granite contractor.

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