The Travels and Tales of Canterbury’s Civil War Monument
By David Tirrell-Wysocki
Based on a public presentation, research and interview with Canterbury historian Mark Stevens.
May, the month of Memorial Day, is a time for America to remember those servicemen and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country in war.
Canterbury residents honor the memory of their fallen neighbors with a ceremony in the Town Center and visits to decorate veterans’ graves and monuments with “the choicest flowers of springtime,” as ordered in 1868 by Gen. John A. Logan, commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, when the national tradition of Memorial Day began.
Each year, townspeople pause at the Veterans Monument next to the Center flagpole and at the Civil War Monument across the road near the cemetery.
The Civil War Monument had an interesting journey to its current location. It stood in Penacook Center from 1926 until the late 1940s, when it was in the path of a road widening project. Penacook offered the monument to Canterbury and the town accepted it.
When the monument arrived in Canterbury around 1950, it began a zig-zag journey around the Center to move out of the way of various buildings that were being relocated, constructed or torn down – some as the result of the disastrous fire in the Center in 1943.
By 1955, the monument was beside the Church Vestry building that stood approximately where the flagpole is now.
1955 – Old Home Day Parade. Note Civil War Monument in background, at current flagpole location.
Two years later, the monument was located at the edge of the lawn in front of the church where the walkway meets the curb.
1957 – The monument near the end of the church walkway.
It stood there for a while, until it was determined to be a vehicle hazard and snowplowing nuisance. Next stop: across the driveway next to the Town Hall, where it sat until 1968.
In 1968, the monument was moved as part of a project by the Canterbury 4-H boys oxen club, the Canterbury Beaus. The Beaus put the two-ton monument on rollers and towed it across parking lots and driveways to a new position beside the flagpole. Check out the familiar names in the photo caption below.
Memorial Day, 1972 – Monument at flagpole location
In 1988, in time for Memorial Day, the monument moved once again, this time across Center Road to the site at the cemetery where it now stands. It was moved to make room for the current Veterans Monument at the flagpole, which recognizes and honors the military service and sacrifice of members from all wars and conflicts, not just the Civil War. Canterbury State Rep. Linwood Rogers, a WWII veteran, led the effort and headed a committee made up of many Canterbury veterans from different wars.
The monument’s current location, next to the Center Cemetery
The monument’s travels are not the end of the story. Its inscriptions are a story as well — one with more questions than answers.
Since the photo of the monument in Penacook was taken, time, wind, rain, sleet and snow have made it more difficult to read the monument’s names and messages. Its brass plaques list more than 100 names of Civil War Veterans from Wards 1, 2 and 3, which makes no sense for a Canterbury monument. And why is the word “NEIGHBORS” the largest and most prominent word etched in the granite? The town never had Wards 1, 2 and 3 and it did not send 100 soldiers off to the Civil War. So why are those peculiar notations permanently monumented in our town center?
The answer: Penacook. Remember? The monument originally stood in the neighboring community of Penacook, which explains the Wards, additional names and the word “NEIGHBORS.”
That was easy.
But Canterbury historian Mark Stevens found many more intriguing inscriptions.
In addition to the names on the brass plaques, other names and thought-provoking phrases are engraved in the granite.
“Erected 1926 by a grateful private of Co. 1 First Ohio Reg. L’t. Art’y. 14th corps army of the Cumberland.”
“Who is the grateful private,” Mark wondered. “Why is he grateful? How is Ohio connected to Canterbury? Why would a grateful private from Ohio erect a monument in Penacook or Canterbury, N.H.?”
Mark’s research pointed to George P. Morrill, a Canterbury man who went west before the Civil War seeking fame and fortune. When the war broke out, he joined an Ohio military unit. When it ended, he returned to Canterbury and helped sponsor the monument.
So, what about another engraving?
“On & on – up & up orders all forgot Alonzo Foster 2nd Minn’s. 100 & others Mission Ridge Tenn. Nov. 25 1863.”
“Who is Alonzo Foster,” Mark asked. “What is up and up? Who forgot their orders? And what is the Minnesota and Mission Ridge, Tennessee, connection to Canterbury?”
Mark discovered that Alonzo Foster was born in Canterbury in January of 1838. In 1861, he also went west to seek fame and fortune, settling in St. Charles, Minn. Two years later, he enlisted as a corporal in Company A 2nd Regiment of the Minnesota Voluntary infantry and was involved in many significant battles: Shiloh, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Sherman’s burning of Atlanta and his March to the Sea.
After the war, Foster farmed in Minnesota for 30 years. Why was he singled out for special recognition on the monument? We have no firm answer yet.
Here’s another inscription:
Royal Scales AE 61 in 4th N.H. 14 Mos. Two sons in Civil War
Royal Scales lived on Scales Road. He was born in 1800, making him 61 years old when the Civil War broke out.
“Why was he so motivated to enlist and serve for 14 months at an age when he should have been retiring,” Mark asks.
As noted, two of his sons also served. One, Bernice Scales, is listed on the monument’s plaque. Bernice was killed at Cold Harbor. To this day, stories persist that Bernice was a woman disguised as a man so that she could enlist at time when women weren’t permitted to serve as soldiers. Mark’s reading of the records seems to indicate that Bernice was a man with a feminine first name. The second son is probably Royal Scales Jr., he concludes, but for some reason his name isn’t listed on the plaque. Another unanswered question.
Veteran James McClintock’s name and a protest message of sorts are engraved in the granite:
Jas. M. McClintock AE 45 in 7th N.H. 3 Yrs. No Pension Died 1884
Mark said little is known about James McClintock other than he was married to Betsy Grover, an Osgoodite from the Windfall section of Canterbury.
“McClintock apparently was bitter about not receiving a pension for the three years he served in the 7th NH Infantry,” Mark said. “Bitter enough about it, that he somehow got it engraved in stone in perpetuity on this monument”.
The inscription also includes:
Wm. H. Morrill 1st Minn H.A.
Mark assumes H.A. means Heavy Artillery. William was an older brother or half-brother to George P. Morrill, the grateful private of the Ohio Army of the Cumberland mentioned earlier. The two brothers had another brother, Charles Morrill, who served in the 8th NH Voluntary Infantry. His name is omitted from the engraving but does appear on the Canterbury bronze plaque. “Why did one brother get preferential treatment with granite engraving and the other was apparently snubbed?”
Further, the Canterbury Bronze Plaque reads:
Of our heroes of the “1860s”, twenty have their names
On the monument, and ALL on THIS tablet bled and died
For the honor of their town and country
There are more than 100 names on the Penacook Plaque and more than 45 on the Canterbury Plaque. Who are the 20 “heroes of the 1860s?” How did those who crafted the monument decide who would be included, or omitted?
For instance, Lt. Henry French of Canterbury died at Gettysburg. He is buried less than 50 feet from the monument, yet his name is not on it.
Freeman White returned to Canterbury so disgusted with the horror of war that he joined the Shakers. He is buried in the Cemetery at Shaker Village. His name is not on the monument.
Mark suspects that financial contributions played a part in whether or not someone was listed on the monument.
“Generous donors were perhaps given more space for messages like ‘On and On & Up and Up,’ or ‘No Pension after three years of service,’” he said. “Non-generous donors may have only been given recognition on the bronze plaque. Veterans who declined to donate may have been overlooked.”
As a historian, Mark enjoys discovering questions that history has left behind and enjoys even more being able to track down the answers.
“When I see something odd or unusual or unknown, it piques my curiosity and prompts me to go solve the mystery,” he said. “For me, the fun is in the historical research and the learning that comes with it.”
Luckily for Canterbury, when Mark finds an answer, he feels obligated to share it.
As a veteran himself, he hopes the monument’s riddles help bring recognition to all Civil War veterans — listed or not.
“Perhaps the curious nature of this monument is a good thing, as historians and pedestrians stopping to read it will wonder about it and think of these veterans for eternity,” Mark said. “They’ll never be forgotten.”
Historian Mark Stevens explains the Civil War monument to school children