Civil War Monument restoration gunning for authenticity

The stoic old Civil War soldier -- cast in limestone and known only as “Western Soldier on Guard” -- unceremoniously has endured the past 45 years or more towering above Forest Hill Cemetery unarmed.

But no more. The newly restored historic monument in the Greencastle cemetery has reissued the soldier his weapon.

“The monument is done, and he has a rifle now,” Cemetery Supt. Ernie Phillips told the City Council, reporting from the City Hall podium, “I can’t even remember the last time he had one.”

Nor can most anyone else.

But they all share the same story about how the original rifle managed to disappear.

The common thread is that some overzealous DePauw University students -- fraternity boys or dorm rats, take your pick -- climbed the 29-foot-tall monument one dark and not-so-stormy night. There they relieved the Civil War soldier of his weapon and possibly his ammo pack as well since that’s been missing from his belt for these many years.

“That’s the story,” Phil Gick, president of the Heritage Preservation Society of Putnam County, said, “nobody disputes it.”

And apparently it had happened more than once, Gick notes. Which is why when the rifle was ultimately returned to the cemetery office after two or three thefts, frustration had set in and it was decided to leave the old soldier unarmed.

While that seemed like a logical conclusion at the time, there proved to be a fatal flaw in that plan. The cemetery building in which the sandstone rifle was being kept caught fire and burned down, destroying the rifle in the process.

Which is why a replacement rifle had to be created from berea sandstone to make the monument restoration completely authentic. A new ammo pack was also crafted and now adorns the right side of the soldier’s belt.

The result is as close to the original as it is going to get.

The only known photograph of the monument with the rifle intact is actually an old postcard on which the rifle “looks bronzish,” Gick said, agreeing that could just be some misguided colorization rather than its true pigmentation.

Further proof of the rifle’s origins were confirmed in checking out the sister statue sculpted by Thomas David Jones who basically erected a twin in Pomeroy, Ohio. It was determined that the Ohio rifle was made of sandstone and not a replica rifle or an actual real weapon that had been decommissioned and plugged.

Meanwhile, representatives from the restoration firm Blakley Corp., Indianapolis, which began work on the project in late April, sent someone to museums to check out Civil War artifacts to determine the proper measurements of the weapon before the rifle was created, Gick said.

The rifle portion of the project was the last piece of the Forest Hill monument puzzle to come together to complete the restoration.

Getting the rifle positioned was tricky itself, Gick said, especially in making sure it remains intact.

“I don’t know how those students got it out before,” he said, “but they’re not getting it out this time. It’s epoxied in there.”