THE   PRESERVATION OF THE   

GRANBY    CIVIL   WAR   MONUMENT

by Carol Laun

The Civil War brought sorrow to many Granby homes.  The town was small, only 1720 people, and most of these people either were related to one another, or were friends and neighbors.

 Enlistment records show Granby as the home town for 153 recruits, exactly half of the men between the ages of 18 and 45 living in Granby at that time. (Information from a Civil War data base, compiled by author Mark Williams, from all available sources.)

 The casualty rate was horrendous - 48 Granby soldiers died in the war, and many more died soon after the war, from injuries or disease.

 When these numbers are translated into the names of sons and brothers, husbands and lovers, it is quite evident why the people of Granby decided to erect a monument to honor their dead.  This wasn't done by the government or by any other institution, but by contributions from the people.  They gave gifts or held activities to raise funds.  A clergyman from the Universalist Church on North Granby Road (now the American Legion Hall) organized an exhibition that raised $100.  The inscription on the monument tells the story.

THIS MONUMENT IS ERECTED BY
 VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS
IN COMMEMORATION OF THE BRAVE MEN
 FROM THE TOWN OF GRANBY
WHO LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES FOR THE UNION
 IN THE WAR OF THE GREAT REBELLION
  Erected July 4, 1868

 The men of Granby even helped put the monument in place.  Addie Holcomb, who lost two cousins in the war, wrote in her diary on July 1, 1868 that her brother Starr "has been to help draw up the monument."  The dedication was held three days later, on the Fourth of July, and included a clambake, strawberries and ice cream, lemonade, as well as many toasts and speeches. The names on the dedication program match many of the names on the monument.

 The Granby Civil War Monument was the first one in the state of Connecticut to have a figure of a soldier.  There is only one other statue, located in Deerfield , MA , with a figure like ours.  Later statues stood straighter, were more heroic, and were not as sorrowful as ours.

 With this history, it is fitting that the present campaign to preserve our Civil War Monument should also be done by the people of Granby .

 A committee formed by the American Legion, Shannon-Shattuck Post No. 182, and the Salmon Brook Historical Society, is leading the drive to preserve and possibly restore the Monument.  The committee (Jerry Dickerson, Karl Van Valkenburgh, and Carol Laun) has received the approval of the Board of Selectmen for this project.

 We obtained a list of accredited conservators and have requested resumes from four in our area.  We hope to choose a conservator and complete the necessary evaluation as soon as possible.  The evaluation will provide recommendations for treatment and maintenance, cost estimates, and treatment priorities. from four in our area.  We hope to choose a conservator and complete the
necessary evaluation as soon as possible.  The evaluation will provide recommendations for treatment and maintenance, cost estimates, and treatment priorities.

 The American Legion dedicated the profits from their annual Pancake Breakfast to the Monument Fund.  The Historical Society is selling note cards, featuring a c.1900 picture of the statue, for $1.00 each.  They are available at the Historical Society on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 9 to noon .
Breakfast to the Monument Fund.  The Historical Society is selling note cards, featuring a c.1900 picture of the statue, for $1.00 each.  They are available at the Historical Society on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 9 to noon .

 Individuals may make tax deductible donations payable to American Legion Post 182 and write Granby Civil War Monument Fund (or GCWM Fund) on the memo line.  Please mail your check to The American Legion, P.O. Box 182 , Granby , CT 06035

 After the conservator provides a cost estimate, fund raising will accelerate.  We hope to emulate the Granby citizens of 1868 and invite the participation of every group in town to help with a variety of fund raisers. We also will apply for grants.

 The Civil War Monument belongs to all of us.  It is a part of our history. It is Leland Barlow who died in Andersonville Prison, but lives on in his letters and diaries.  It is young Roswell Allen, who enlisted at 17, filled with patriotic fervor.  He died six months later from an enemy worse than the rebel soldiers - disease and inadequate care.

 It is Roswell 's brother Elbert Allen who contracted tuberculosis in the war.  He had been studying medicine at Yale until illness forced him to return home in July 1868.  He married his betrothed, Emory Barlow, in late August, and two days later, the bride became a widow.

 It is Lewis Holcomb, a poetry quoting romantic, who returned from Andersonville "almost a skeleton."  "We nursed him back to life," said a boyhood friend, Frederick Williams, "only to return to the army, unfit." The war was over, he had survived Andersonville only to die one month before his regiment was mustered out.  

 It is Richard Henry Lee, who died of tuberculosis at 35, leaving a wife and two young daughters.  Andersonville continued to kill prisoners even though they were free.

 And it is George Elkey, an African-American who lived at 24 Notch Road and worked for Riley and Maria Spring Dibble.  He married Susan Freeman in 1863 and they had a little girl named Georgia Anna.  He was made a Corporal in the 11th US Colored Heavy Artillery Regiment.  George and his cousin Henry Elkey both died in the war.

 Our somber soldier is the symbol of all these men and you can be a part of  helping to preserve the Granby Civil War Monument .

               Names on the Granby Civil War Monument

Col. Richard E. Holcomb
Surg. W. Horatio Goddard
Henry Saunders
Lafayette Tillotson
Cyrus R. Bunnell
Edwin W. Jones
George W. Terrill
Eugene Wilcox
Lyman U. Church
Linus E. Webster
Leonard Percy
Albertus Case
James H. Dibble
Francis L. Smith
Lorenzo K. Le Moin
James Hayes
Frederick A. Pettibone
Algernon Griswold
Joseph W. Roberts
Diedric Day
Orey Gains
Henry Elkey
George Elkey
Milo J. Holcomb
William Weed
Roswell M. Allen
Leland O. Barlow
Franklin Clark
Ebenezer S. Emerson
Asher A. Holcomb
Lewis M. Holcomb
Alden Messenger
Robert P. Morgan
Austin Goodman
George F. Sands
Edwin W. Thompson
Ira Wood

Other Granby Men Who Died in the War

Duwaine Brown
Edward Freeman
Thomas B. Holcomb
Woodruff Hoskins
Dennis Hoy
William Hunter
Stephen D. Kittle
John Rapp
Cornelius Reeder
Austin Elkey
James Jackson