Civil War Monument

Nothing on the granite says Civil War. The base reads only Erected 1918 and the defenders of our nation, and many visitors took it for a First World War memorial. It honors the Union veterans, nearly 6,000 of them across Dakota Territory, whose Grand Army of the Republic pressed for it: the 1913 legislature allowed it and in 1917 voted the full $10,000. Finished in 1918, it arrived too late in 1919 for a ceremony and was dedicated on June 1, 1920. Panels added at its 2015 rededication now say what the stone does not.

What the plaque says

Erected 1918 by the State of South Dakota in honor of the defenders of our nation Erected 1918 by the State of South Dakota in honor of the defenders of our nation

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• South Dakota State Capitol — 0.3 mi
  A copper-domed capitol built to end three elections' worth of fighting over where the capital belonged, beside a lake fed by an artesian well with a gas flame burning in it.
• Verendrye Monument — 2.1 mi
  The hilltop above Fort Pierre where three children found a lead plate in 1913 that two French brothers had buried in 1743 to claim the West for their king.
• Oahe Dam — 6.6 mi
  One of the largest rolled-earth dams in the world, dedicated by President Kennedy in 1962, holding back a reservoir that reaches more than 230 miles to Bismarck.

More markers nearby

• Coe Crawford, 6th Governor of South Dakota — steps away
• Hughes County Courthouse and Library — 0.5 mi
• First and Only Hanging in Hughes County — 0.6 mi
• Pierre Was a Cowtown - Reading Brands — 0.7 mi