Looking Back
By James Rada, Jr.
Vandal Attacks Monuments on Multiple Nights
In 1913, Gettysburg prepared to welcome tens of thousands of veterans back to the battlefield to remember the 50th anniversary of the battle and to celebrate the peace between North and South. Amidst this hopeful time, someone let it be known that he didn’t agree.
“The worst outrage ever committed on the Gettysburg Battlefield was perpetrated early Tuesday evening in the vicinity of Round Top and the Valley of Death when three handsome monuments were battered and broken by a vandal who evidently used a heavy hammer for his work,” the Gettysburg Times reported on March 5.
The granite 5th Corps Monument on Sedgwick Avenue was six feet tall and had a Maltese Cross on four sides. The vandal knocked the top of the monument off and damaged the corners where the Maltese Crosses met.
The 10-foot-tall granite 37th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Monument featured a tree with a rifle propped against it, as well as a bag and other pieces of equipment. The vandal broke the rifle off.
The granite 96th Pennsylvania Infantry Monument featured a soldier lying on his stomach and holding his rifle at the ready. The vandal destroyed the soldier’s face and the visor of his cap.
The damage was discovered early in the evening of March 4. The pieces of the monuments that had been knocked off had been left on the ground. They were cataloged, collected, and taken to storage.
The (Frederick) Evening Post reported, “That the destruction was the result of malice, and not one of a craze or a relic hunter, is evident from the fact that the broken pieces were not carried away, but littered the ground.”
Col. Emmor Cope, who was in charge of the park, said, “This is the worst thing that has ever happened to battlefield property, and we sincerely hope that all good citizens will put forth every effort to assist the commission in learning the names of the persons concerned.”
No motive could be determined for the destruction, although rumors abounded. “The kindest interpretation which has been put upon it is that someone mentally deranged must have visited the section and that the crime was the result of a disordered mind,” the Gettysburg Times reported.
The next morning, residents woke to discover that six more monuments of the battlefield’s 500 monuments had been vandalized; “two of them being among the best pieces of sculpture on the battlefield,” according to the Gettysburg Times.
The granite 40th New York Infantry Monument featured a soldier with a rifle concealed behind rocks. The soldier’s face had been battered, his foot crushed, and his rifle broken.
The granite First Vermont Brigade monument depicts a lion with his mouth open laying atop a pedestal. The vandal had broken the lion’s lower jaw off and crushed his tail.
The monuments for the 6th Maine Volunteers, the Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, 6th New Jersey Volunteers Infantry, and 49th Pennsylvania Infantry all had their corners and hammers of rifles chipped away.
The pieces were collected and taken to the National Park Commission office. The goal was to repair the monuments, but each one had to be evaluated to see if it was possible.
One possible reason for the vandalism—a man on a drunken rampage—was dismissed because it was doubtful such a person would have done the same thing two nights in a row. More and more people believed that someone was doing the damage out of spite for being fired from or not hired for a battlefield job. However, no person seemed to fit that description.
“Numerous false rumors gain currency about town almost every hour in connection with the vandalism,” the Gettysburg Times reported. “One of these reports more monuments desecrated almost hourly while another is that the guilty party has been apprehended.”
One reason no one suggested, but seems obvious, is that the damage was done by someone who supported the South. All the damaged monuments honored Union forces.
The park usually had five men who worked on the battlefield overnight. Eight more were added to the overnight detail to try to prevent additional vandalism. A $100 reward (about $2,600 today) was offered for the capture of the vandal. Since the destruction was a federal crime, the vandal also faced a $10 to $1,000 fine for each monument and/or 15 days to 1 year in prison.
Meanwhile, all clues were investigated to try to find the culprit. Measurements taken of the damage led investigators to believe that the vandal had used the butt end of an ax. Footprints and hoof prints were also found in the vicinity of the damage to some of the monuments.
News of the vandalism spread to other areas of the country, and editorial pages criticized the vandals. The Harrisburg Telegraph compared the damage to slashing classic paintings. “The sight of these mutilated memorials will wound the old soldiers deeply, and there is not sufficient time to repair the damage, even though there was unlimited money at hand to do it,” the newspaper reported.
It was determined that all the damaged monuments could be repaired using a mixture made up of wax, dust from the original granite used in the monuments, and other materials that were boiled together. The result was supposed to be harder than the original and last 50-60 years.
“When cooled it has the exact appearance of the original and can be carved to the design of the monument before damaged,” the Gettysburg Times reported.
The cost of the repairs was estimated to be $7,032 (about $180,000 today). Portions of seven of the monuments were sent away to be repaired by Van Amringe Granite Company in Boston. “Where possible, the damaged portions will be sent back to the quarries from which they were originally cut, and the stone and work will be duplicated as nearly as possible,” the Gettysburg Times reported.
The pieces were then returned to Gettysburg to be attached to the original. The repairs to the 5th Corps and 6th Maine monuments were done entirely onsite by L. H. Meals.
As the days crept on without a suspect, many editorial writers placed the blame on Gettysburg and its residents in general.
Despite the outrage, no one was ever charged with the destruction.
