Location: In park at Park Ave & Bull St, Savannah, GA 31401

Visited: August 13, 2009, 8:20am

Transcriptions of markers:

East face:

In grateful remembrance of
Stephen N. Harris
who served his country well
as a soldier and citizen
Private, Co. B 2nd Ga. Infantry
1898
Cdr. Worth Bagley Camp No. 10 Dept. Ga. U.S.W.V.
1932
Commander Dept. of Ga. U.S.W.V
1900       1931
Adj. Gen. United Spanish War Veterans
1928       1929
Chief of Staff, Council Of Adm. Ga. U.S.W.V.
1937       1938
His character and leadership inspired his
comrades and fellow citizens.

North face: [Spanish War Veterans’ insignia]

West face:

A tribute to that
Soldier · Comrade · Citizen
William L. Grayson
1870       1941
1st. Lieut. Co. “M” 1st Regt. Ga. Vols.
Spanish American War
Commander Department of Georgia U.S.W.V.
1925 — 1927
National Commander in Chief U.S.W.V.
1928 — 1929
His distinguished service has endeared him
to all veterans of all wars
1946

South face (front):

To those
Georgians who
volunteered and
served their
country in the
Spanish American
War

My impressions: This marker was high on my “want to visit” list for our trip to Savannah, because I found out about this through finding a Spanish-American War memorial in Portsmouth, VA and the linkage made by an editor of The Historical Marker Database to other markers that feature The Hiker, by sculptor Theo Alice Ruggles Kitson.

It is kind of amazing to see something familiar and apparently unique (until one learns the fuller story) in two different settings, nearly 500 miles apart. And that isn’t diminished too much by the fact that I knew I would see it and had planned the visit in Savannah.

I remember, early on in my days at Markeroni seeing somebody refer to “their marker,” a marker near their home with which they felt a strong affinity. At the time, before I’d started being intentional about snarfing (and before I’d logged any markers on the site), I didn’t really understand it. It clicked in for my last month, as I was in Portsmouth, VA for about the third time to find markers. That day I was “on a mission” to complete visiting a series of markers (for the city’s Path of History), but my walking route took me past several markers that I’d previously snarfed…and there was a familiarity that made it almost as though I was passing an old friend, because I had visited these markers, taken their photos, transcribed them, and written about them. So, standing in a park in Savannah, the first time I’d ever done more than drive through the state of Georgia, I felt at home…even though, I still know woefully little about the Spanish-American War.

Markeroni status: Not yet logged (and it appears I also did not log the similar monument in Portsmouth, VA yet).

Credit: Thanks to hmdb.org and their page on this monument for their transcriptions of this marker.

Schenectady, NY. Photo: Howard C. Ohlhous, 2007. Courtesy of hmdb.org

Yesterday, though, I learned through the expertise of one of their editors about links between a war memorial I had visited in Portsmouth, VA and others across the country. Almost two months ago, I saw a memorial commemorating those who served in the Spanish-American War. But through an editor’s links, I found that the depiction on that 1942 monument, dedicated to those who volunteered from Portsmouth and from Norfolk County, was actually somewhat famous.

Their database includes examples from three other places:

• Schenectady, NY, dedicated in 1921 (and rededicated in 1996) to honor those who served from Schenectady County;


Savannah, GA. Photo: Mike Stroud, 2008. Courtesy of hmdb.org

• Savannah, GA (a city my wife and I will be visiting next month), erected in 1931 to honor those who volunteered from Georgia; and


Arlington, VA. Photo: Richard E. Miller, 2008. Courtesy of hmdb.org

• Arlington, VA, where it has stood in Arlington National Cemetery (where my wife and I attended a burial earlier this year) since 1965.

According to Wikipedia, there are many more copies around the country, with estimates of 39 in an article on another example to roughly fifty, according to the article on the sculptor, Theo Alice Ruggles Kitson (1871–1932). Born in Brookline, MA, she was denied entry to the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, because she was female. She started studying with sculptor Henry Hudson Kitson in 1886 and went on to marry him. Kitson was the first woman to be admitted to the National Sculpture Society.

So next month, when we go to Savannah, I think I’ll have to see if I can get to this marker. And I’ll definitely be keeping my eyes open online to see what else I can learn about history (and historical markers) from others!

It’s amazing what you can learn from the Internet these days!

On Monday, this blog will continue our trip towards Yorktown and later in the week, we’ll travel from there to Jamestown on the Colonial Parkway. I hope you’ll join us.