Ohio’s First Civil War Monument

Side A: With the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, many young men of Bristol Township enlisted in the army when President Abraham Lincoln issued his call to defend the Union cause. The death toll of some of these men at the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee in April 1862 touched the local community as did the loss of Bristol Township lives at the Battle of Perryville in Kentucky, the Battle of Cedar Mountain in Virginia, and other theaters of war later in the year. The local citizenry responded to a plan for a lasting public memorial at the Town Park through a fund raising campaign. In 1863 the town square was transformed with a marble monument placed on an elevated mound at its center. The monument was designed by local artist Frank J. Hammond and manufactured by Myers, Uhl & Company of Cleveland at a cost of $500. [continued on other side] Side B: [continued from other side] The names of Bristol Township’s fallen heroes and their service records are inscribed on the monument’s main block with symbols of the various military branches decorating the base of the pedestal holding a draped funeral urn. The foundation stone proclaims “Defenders of the Union from Bristol, Ohio.” The monument memorializes the sacrifices of fourteen of its citizens. Battle of Shiloh 14 OVLA Battle of Cedar Mountain 7 OVI Battle of Perryville 105 OVI Western Theater 2 OVC Jacob A. Kagy Charles A. Brooks James Sage, Jr. Charles Munson Truman E. Chaffee Calvert C. Miller Henry M. Collar George H. Crozier James B. Thorp Jacob Ryan Almanza H. Chaffee James D. Hottel Lester F. Sprague George F. Sprague