Feature on Sgt. Baker. TOPIC: CIVIL
WAR, PEOPLE, DOWNTOWN
Written by Barbara Adams in September, 1998
FRAGMENTED IN 1976, SGT. BAKER TWIN IN RICHLAND COUNTY RESTORED TO DUTY |
|
| A legend persists that the Fiske Company cast
three Civil War soldiers from the same
mold. When the third soldier was removed, so the story goes, the mold was accidentally
broken. If true, then somewhere there may be another replica of Sgt. Baker. In the town square of Mansfield, Ohio, is a statue of a Civil War soldier standing at parade rest. He looks very familiar. If you look closely, you will see a marked resemblance to Shelby County’s Sgt. Baker who stands guard atop the Monumental Building in Sidney. The Monumental Building, finished in 1876 to honor the county’s Civil War dead, received its crowning touch in 1900 when the statue of a Civil War soldier was hoisted into place 83 feet above Ohio Avenue. Looking even more closely at the Mansfield soldier, you will see that the statue was cast by the same company as his Shelby County counterpart, J.W. Fiske of New York. The Richland County Soldiers’ Monument was unveiled on November 10, 1881. It was donated to the citizens of Mansfield and Richland County by Michael D. Harter, a local business man, as an enduring memorial of the valor and sacrifices of the men who had lost their lives in the various wars to that year. The soldier guarded Mansfield’s Central Park and town square for nearly 100 years. In 1976, it was being removed to facilitate a change in the route of downtown streets when it was dropped and fragmented into about 40 pieces. |
Shelby County's
"Sgt. Baker." [Back] [Next] [Up] [New Search] |
