Our mission is to secure at least one monument for American Civil War Veterans buried in the United Kingdom, (UK) and where possible obtain individual headstones for veterans too.

Surprisingly despite approximately 50,000 people from the UK serving in the American Civil War, there is no monument sited in the United Kingdom for all the 1-2 % for who returned to the home of their birth.

We feel that that should change - all Civil War veterans surely should some form of remembrance. Men and Women returned to the UK after the conflict with nothing more than the thanks of a grateful nation, but they carried with them life-long mental and physical ill-health burdens related to their service.

Many lived in poverty, often in workhouses, and relied on the goodwill of peers who had served too, One veteran was John Davis, a London City Mission worker, and former veteran himself. John managed to connect over 100 former veterans living across London. He formed the London Branch of American Civil War Veterans in 1910 for peer support, fellowship and to share experiences.

The London branch veterans were successful in helping to secure for some their Federal Pensions. However, despite their success many were still buried in unmarked plots,. For example, until recently despite their "London Branch" work after the war, its founder Ensign John Davis and member Major Seth Herrick did not have any headstones to honour their service. We aim to carry on where they left off - we plan to honour them and all other veterans who returned to the UK.

Where will the monument be sited?

It has been agreed in principle that our monument will be placed sited in a North London cemetery that has at least eight known veterans interred there, who served in either the Civil War or Mexican war.. We know of over 520 veterans but they are buried all over the United Kingdom. The cemetery provides an accessible location, and is close to our nations capital where the Lincoln Memorial is all sited.

What is the cost?

We've already commissioned and had built the sculptured bronze centre piece that forms part of the monument, (its in our current banner, on display at Lincolns tomb in Springfield , Illinois). This has ,cost in excess of £1500 , paid for by private means, so far. To pay for construction costs of one single monument we estimate it will cost between £4000-£5000, this Just Giving page provides a "kick start" to the whole venture. We know we cannot accurately predict final cost as material prices fluctuate For example, casting in preparation for the bronze sculpture has cost $839.72 in materials.

What will it say, I want to know who it will represent?

. We will not be naming individual veterans, but rather seek to recognise veterans as a whole. What they faced on return to the UK, their struggles etc. The memorial will be designed to allow individuals to place "time capsules" inside with any particular veterans or units names. "Known only unto them". To accompany our mission a book will be published naming as many veterans that we can identify. The three figures are symbolic, they represent men and women, (nurses, widows, orphans) white and black culture. The branches of service symbolise service on land and sea. We are completely non-political in terms of our project aims. Inclusion is important to us, without judgement, we seek to simply remember and honour people, who have been forgotten in the mist of time.

The bronze casting now completed says, :“We have shared the incommunicable experience of war, we have felt, we still feel, the passion of life to its top. In our youth our hearts were touched with fire” (Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr)

The marble centre-piece will say -"In remembrance of the men and women of the United Kingdom who served in the American Civil War"

"Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.

"If other eyes grow dull, other hands slack, and other hearts cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep it well as long as the light and warmth of life remain in us."

#TheMonumentalProject story so far....

The sculpture has now been completed by Stuart Stefany, an artist and member of the Sons of Union Veterans of the American Civil. His ancestry shares .people who served on both sides of the conflict. We now need to take the project forward and that means more fundraising, obtaining the marble centre piece, and then commissioning the monuments construction. We are making progress, but there is still much to to do.

I want to know more about your ethos, and what #Themonumentalproject does?

You can follow us on Facebook (we have a closed group too)

https://www.facebook.com/AmericanCivilWarUKMonumentalProject