NewsJuly 12, 2007
A mosaic of monuments
When Cape Girarardeau was torn apart by Civil War strife culminating in the four-hour battle waged on what is today part of the Southeast Missouri State University campus, the town secured its place in American war history. More than a dozen memorials honoring the American men and women who served in war have been erected at various locations in the county...
Cape Girardeau County War Memorials
When Cape Girardeau was torn apart by Civil War strife culminating in the four-hour battle waged on what is today part of the Southeast Missouri State University campus, the town secured its place in American war history. More than a dozen memorials honoring the American men and women who served in war have been erected at various locations in the county.
A plan by the VietNow organization to add more memorials on the lawn at Common Pleas Courthouse will be discussed at a public meeting at noon today at the Osage Community Centre in Cape Girardeau. Opposition to the location of the memorials arose after VietNow unveiled the overall plan to construct a 1,500-square-foot "Octagon of Honor" in the park.
A memorial erected more than half a century ago commemorates the Battle of Cape Girardeau, which was waged April 26, 1863. The battle occurred after Union Gen. John C. Fremont ordered the construction of four forts to make the city a Union stronghold.
"The Confederacy decided to test Cape and see what Cape had," said Hal "Burt" Lehman, second vice commander and historian for the American Legion in Cape Girardeau. "Cape had too many big guns and too much manpower and ran the Confederates off."
Although the two forts involved in the battle are no longer around, Fort D overlooking the river remains standing, the only original Civil War fort left guarding Cape Girardeau. Fort D was built in 1861 and was the most heavily armed of the four, equipped with cannon that fired shots weighing as much as 32 pounds for keeping any northbound Confederate gunboats at bay.
Today, the historic fort serves as a site for Civil War re-enactments and is open daily to visitors free of charge as part of the Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department.
The historic battle site at Broadway and Caruthers Avenue near Grace United Methodist Church in Cape Girardeau is another piece of hallowed ground upon which visitors may tread, said Lehman.
A Civil War marker erected by the Cape West Rotary Club in 1951 commemorates the artillery duel and the 53 people killed, 104 wounded and 120 missing as a result of the skirmish.
Courthouse Park at the Common Pleas Courthouse boasts a Civil War memorial that was actually relocated by crane from its old Morgan Oak Street address in the early 1990s. The courthouse is a monument in its own right, having served as a base of operations for the Union provost.
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"The courthouse is as significant a Civil War site as there is," said Joel Rhodes, a professor at the Southeast Missouri State Center for Regional History.
Missouri was under martial law during the Civil War, and citizens were required to take an oath of loyalty, Rhodes said.
The courthouse not only served as Union headquarters, but those considered sympathizers of the Confederacy were imprisoned in the courthouse dungeon.
Another Civil War marker between Kent Library and Academic Hall on the Southeast Missouri State University campus shows visitors where Fort B once stood, said Rhodes.
At North County Park an enormous flagpole stands in honor of fallen police officers, its base inscribed with the names of the civic and veterans groups that sponsored it, Lehman said.
The Old Lorimier Cemetery, three blocks north of Broadway on Fountain Street in Cape Girardeau, has become something of a memorial because it contains a number of unmarked graves belonging to fallen Civil War soldiers.
It's not only those fallen and wounded during the Civil War who have been commemorated through Cape Girardeau County's collection of monuments.
Freedom Corner at the intersection of Broadway and West End Boulevard in Cape Girardeau is a four-column structure that includes names of those who lost their lives in World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, with a column devoted to each war, Lehman said.
Brookside Park in Jackson features a memorial devoted to people from the area who have served in the military, many of whom are still alive.
"It's a unique idea, honoring not only those who have passed but those of us still around," said Lehman, whose own name is inscribed on the memorial.
bdicosmo@semissourian.com
335-6611, extension 245
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