Townsend Soldiers and Sailors Monument (Townsend, Massachusetts)
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Located in the Townsend Town Common at Main and School Streets in Townsend, Massachusetts, this standing soldier statue is one of several done in this style ("The Volunteer") by artist Theo Alice Ruggles Kitson. The first "Volunteer" was sculpted in 1902 for Newburyport. The Townsend Volunteer was gifted through a bequest of $10,000 from John Birney Blood, who had served in the 53rd Massachusetts Infantry. Blood enlisted when he was 22 years old, and his unit served in the Port Hudson Campaign, LA in 1863. While he returned home, his brother, Abijah Blood, did not. He died at age 91 in 1931, and the statue was dedicated the following year. By this late date, the construction of Civil War monuments in Massachusetts had largely ceased, due in part to the Depression.
Monument type:
Statue - standing soldier
Artist:
Theo Alice Ruggles Kitson
Dedication Date:
11839-01-01
Address:
Townsend
Middlesex County
Massachusetts
USA
Inscription:
Plaque on base of monument (front)
GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC
1861 - VETERAN - 1866
Plaque on base of monument (back)
IN COMMEMORATION OF THE MEN OF TOWNSEND WHO SERVED THEIR COUNTRY ON LAND AND SEA IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION 1861-1865
THIS MONUMENT ERECTED 1932 UNDER THE PROVISION OF THE WILL OF JOHN BIRNEY BLOOD CO.D. 53RD REGIMENT MASS. VOLUNTEER INFANTRY
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Conception Date:
Opening Date:
Material:
Bronze - statue; Granite - base
Size:
m x m x m
Creator:
Gorham Manufacturing Company
Cost / Value:
$10,000
Erected by:
City of Townsend
Funded by:
Bequest of John Birney Blood; Restored in 2014 through funds from the town's Cemetery and Parks Department and a grant from the Massachusetts Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission
Run by:
City of Townsend
Indigenous Land
Organization/Curator:
Data Sources:
Read below for one of our contributor’s reflections on this monument