The Battle of Fort Fisher, N.C.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Civil War on Mississippi River Trip-- July 2010

Cruising through Illinois right now, not actually a hotbed of Civil War history, although there are many memorials to Union soldiers.

Yesterday, in Oregon, I saw a different kind of Union soldier statue at the Ogle County Courthouse. Actually, it was two Union soldiers made out of concrete by noted sculptor Lorado Taft who made the more famous Blackhawk statue up the Rock River from town.

In addition, there is a plaque with the names of soldiers who served from Ogle County during the war.

Directly out front of the courthouse door are two cannons that were placed there by the local GAR post around 1900. GAR, of course, stands for Grand Army of the Republic, the organization offormer Union veterans formed after the war. Southern soldiers had the UCV United Confederate Veterans.

The plaques on the cannons did not say if they were Civil War cannons or not, but they may well have been.

Real Pretty Courthouse. --Old B-Runner

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