The 32nd Indiana Monument, also known as the August Bloedner Monument, honors the

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

soldiers of the 32nd Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment, also known as Indiana's "1st German" regiment, who died in the

Battle of Rowlett's Station The Battle of Rowlett's Station (also known as Battle of Woodsonville or Green River) was a land battle in the American Civil War, fought at the railroad whistle-stop of Rowlett's in Hart County, Kentucky, on December 17, 1861. The outcome was ...

on December 17, 1861, near

Munfordville, Kentucky Munfordville is a home rule-class city in, and the county seat of, Hart County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 1,615 at the 2010 U.S. census. History The settlement was once known as "Big Buffalo Crossing". The current name came fr ...

. Originally placed at Fort Willich, near Munfordville, in January 1862, the monument was moved to

Cave Hill National Cemetery Cave Hill Cemetery is a Victorian era National Cemetery and arboretum located at Louisville, Kentucky. Its main entrance is on Baxter Avenue and there is a secondary one on Grinstead Drive. It is the largest cemetery by area and number of buria ...

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

, in June 1867. Due to its fragile condition, the monument was removed from the national cemetery in 2008. After undergoing conservation treatment at the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of ...

, it was placed on display at the

Frazier History Museum The Frazier History Museum, previously known as the Frazier Historical Arms Museum and the Frazier International History Museum, is a history museum located on Museum Row in the West Main District of downtown Louisville, Kentucky. An affiliate of t ...

lobby in August 2010. Although it is no longer in its original location, the 32nd Indiana Monument is generally considered to be the oldest surviving memorial to the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. A replacement monument at Cave Hill National Cemetery was dedicated in December 2011.

History

On December 17, 1861, the 32nd Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment experienced its first major action during the

at the Battle of Rowlett's Station, south of Munfordville, Kentucky. Its efforts to successfully defend a crucial bridge received national recognition in the newspapers for its stand against Confederate forces. The battle became notable as one of the few occasions during the war when the Union infantry successfully defended itself in the open against repeated Confederate cavalry assaults. The 32nd Indiana's battle casualties were 46 (13 killed, 28 wounded, and 5 captured). Shortly after the battle, Christian Friedrich August Bloedner of

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, who served as a

private in the 32nd Indiana, carved a

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

memorial to honor his comrades who had died. The monument was placed at the Union soldiers' gravesite at Fort Willich, near Munfordville, Kentucky, in mid-January 1862.Peake, ''Blood Shed in This War'', p. 45. In June 1867, after Cave Hill National Cemetery was established at

, the monument and the remains of 21 Union soldiers, 14 of them from the 32nd Indiana, were moved from the Cemetery at Fort Willich to the national cemetery.Michael A. Peake, "32nd Indiana Monument at Cave Hill Cemetery," in On July 17, 1997, the 32nd Indiana Monument was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. The porous limestone monument has been severely damaged over time by artificial pollutants and natural weathering, and most of the original inscription has faded away. A wooden structure was erected to protect the monument from further decay. Due to its deteriorating condition, the monument was removed from the national cemetery in December 2008 for conservation treatment at the University of Louisville. Conservation Solutions, Inc. (CSI), who treated the monument, recommended that it should be removed to an indoor display. Conservation methods included "cleaning, re-attaching flaking and spalled stone surfaces, removal of inappropriate patch materials and patching". Due to its fragile condition, one plan to preserve the monument suggested that it be moved indoors to the Hart County Historical Society Museum in Munfordville, with

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

copies placed at Cave Hill National Cemetery and at its original location at Fort Willich. In addition to the Hart County museum, the Frazier History Museum at Louisville and the Patton Museum at

Fort Knox, Kentucky Fort Knox is a United States Army installation in Kentucky, south of Louisville and north of Elizabethtown. It is adjacent to the United States Bullion Depository, which is used to house a large portion of the United States' official gold res ...

, vied to display the monument after conservation efforts were completed. The Frazier History Museum was selected to house the monument on long-term loan from the

National Cemetery Administration The United States National Cemetery System is a system of 164 cemeteries in the United States and its territories. The authority to create military burial places came during the American Civil War, in an act passed by the U.S. Congress ...

. In August 2010 the refurbished monument was installed in the museum's lobby, where visitors need not pay to see it. On November 19, 2010, the monument was removed from the National Register of Historic Places. A new monument to the 32nd Indiana that contains German and English inscriptions was dedicated at Cave Hill National Cemetery on December 16, 2011.

Description

The monument was originally intended to lie flat on the ground; however, after its move to Cave Hill National Cemetery, it was installed upright on a stone base, a contribution from Louisville's German community. The base measured wide, long, and above ground. The monument weighs . On the front of the monument, near the top, a relief carving of an eagle clutches a brace of cannon with two stacks of cannonballs paired below. Olive and oak branches border American flags on each side. Below the frieze a stone-carved tablet bears a German inscription and the names of 13 soldiers from the 32nd Indiana who died at the Battle of Rowlett's Station, along with their ranks and birth years. Although the German inscription is no longer legible, the National Cemetery records inscription, transcribed into English, reads as follows:

HERE REST THE FIRST HEROES OF THE 32ND INDIANA GERMAN REGIMENT WHO LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES FOR PRESERVATION OF THE FREE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF NORTH AMERICA. THEY WERE KILLED DECEMBER 17, 1861. IN A FIGHT WITH THE REBELS AT ROWLETT'S STATION, KENTUCKY, IN WHICH ONE REGIMENT TEXAS RANGERS, TWO REGIMENTS OF INFANTRY, AND A BATTERY OF SIX CANNON, OVER 3,000 STRONG, WERE DEFEATED BY 500 GERMAN SOLDIERS.An alternate translation roughly reads: "Here rest the first martyrs of the thirty-second, the first German regiment of Indiana. They were fighting nobly in defense of the free Constitution of the United States of America. They fell on the 17th day of December, 1861, in the battle at Rowlett's Station, in which one regiment of Texas Rangers, two regiments of infantry, and six pieces of rebel artillery, in all over three thousand men, were defeated by five hundred German soldiers." See Michael A. Peake, "32nd Indiana Monument at Cave Hill Cemetery," in ''Indiana's German Sons: A History of the 1st German, 32nd Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry. Baptism of Fire: Rowlett's Station, 1861'', p. 31.

An English inscription on the monument's base reads:

IN MEMORY OF THE FIRST VICTIMS OF THE 32 REG. INDIANA VOL. WHO FELL AT THE BATTLE OF ROWLETT'S STATION DECEMBER 17, 1861

Legacy

Although the 32nd Indiana Monument has been moved from its original location, it is generally considered to be the oldest surviving memorial to the American Civil War. The

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

considers the

Hazen Brigade Monument The Hazen Brigade Monument at Stones River National Battlefield, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, is the oldest American Civil War monument remaining in its original battlefield location. The Hazen Brigade at the Battle of Stones River On December 31, 186 ...

Stones River National Battlefield Stones River National Battlefield, a park along the Stones River in Rutherford County, Tennessee, three miles (5 km) northwest of Murfreesboro and twenty-eight miles southeast of Nashville, memorializes the Battle of Stones River. This ke ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, placed in 1863, a year after the 32nd Indiana Monument's installation at Fort Willich, the oldest intact Civil War monument in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. An earlier monument erected after

First Battle of Bull Run The First Battle of Bull Run (the name used by Union forces), also known as the Battle of First Manassas

(1861) in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

has not survived.

Notes

References

* * * * * Peake, Michael A., "32nd Indiana Monument at Cave Hill Cemetery," in * * * * *

External links