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Identification:
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Preferred Structure Name:
| Soldiers' National Monument
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Structure Number:
| MN288
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Other Structure Name(s):
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Other Structure Name(s)
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| No records. |
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Park:
| Gettysburg National Military Park
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Park District:
| GETC Gettysburg National Cemetery
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Historic District:
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Historic District
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| No records. |
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Structure State:
| Pennsylvania
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Structure County:
| Adams
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Region:
| Northeast
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Cluster:
| Chesapeake
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Administrative Unit:
| Gettysburg National Military Park
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LCS ID:
| 009949
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Historical Significance:
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National Register Status:
| Entered - Documented
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National Register Date:
| 01/23/2004
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National Historic Landmark?:
| No
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Significance Level:
| Contributing
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Short Significance Description:
| First monument erected at Gettysburg to honor all soldiers at Gettysburg. Sits on site of speaker's platform where Gettysburg Address was orated. Sculpted by Randoph Rogers.
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Construction Period:
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Construction Period:
| Historic
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Chronology:
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Physical Event
| Begin Year
| Begin Year AD/BC
| End Year
| End Year AD/BC
| Designer
| Designer Occupation
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1.
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Built
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1865
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AD
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1869
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AD
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Batterson, J.G.
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Architect
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2.
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Built
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1869
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AD
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Randolph Rogers
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Sculptor
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Function and Use:
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Primary Historic Function:
| Outdoor Sculpture (Statuary)
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Primary Current Use:
| Outdoor Sculpture (Statuary)
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Structure Contains Museum Collections?:
| No
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Other Functions or Uses:
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Other Function(s) or Use(s)
| Historic or Current
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1.
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Monument (Marker, Plaque)
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Historic
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2.
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Monument (Marker, Plaque)
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Current
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Physical Description:
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Structure Type:
| Outdoor Sculpture
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Material(s):
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Structural Component(s)
| Material(s)
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1.
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Superstructure
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Granite
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2.
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Substructure
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Granite
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3.
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Superstructure
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Marble
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4.
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Superstructure
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Bronze
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Short Physical Description:
| Mn w/ statue. Stepped base, 25'sq. Square multipart shaft w/ 4 statues at each angle apex representing war, history, peace, & plenty. Topped w/ statue. Mixture of excised & incised inscriptions. All 60'H.
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Long Physical Description:
| This monument is the only memorial in the cemetery to be erected as part of Saunders' plan. The cornerstone was laid on July 4, 1865. It is a central focal point on the high ground from which the semicircular rows of graves radiate. The monument was meant to tell a story of peace and plenty under freedom and the blessings of liberty following a heroic struggle. It contains a sixty-foot-high granite pedestal set on a twenty-five-foot-square stone base. A large statue representing the concept of Liberty surmounts the pedestal. Eighteen large bronze stars circling the pedestal below this statue represent the eighteen Union states with buried dead. Four statues are located at each corner near the base. They represent War, History, Peace, and Plenty. War is represented by a statue of an American soldier who recounts the story of the battle to History. In turn, History records, with stylus and tablet, the achievements of the battle and the names of the honored dead. A statue of an American mechanic and his tools illustrates Peace. Plenty is a female figure with a sheaf of wheat and the fruits of the earth that typify peace and abundance as the soldier's crowning triumph. George Keller who worked for Batterson-Canfield is thought to be the monument's designer. Randolph Rogers sculptured it.
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