On This Date in Minnesota History: November 20

November 20, 1912 – The corner stone of the Grand Army of the Republic (G. A. R.) monument being built in Bemidji’s Greenwood Cemetery was laid this afternoon in front of fifty to sixty people. The stone was a cube of St. Cloud granite, of which the monument is being constructed; each dimension being six feet and weighing six tons. It was laid on a base of concrete and will be covered by a smaller stone above which the column will rise.

At the exercises were the members of the G. A. R., Women’s Relief Corps, city and county officials and members of the council. In the corner stone was placed a copper casket that will be sealed in the stone. The casket contains copies of the Pioneer and Sentinel, a Lincoln bronze medal, a G. A. R. badge and button made from a captured Confederate cannon, a small United States flag, a list of the members of both the men and women’s G. A. R. orders and the city and county officials.

In the casket was also placed a piece of pine stump that came from the prison at Andersonville, Ga. This prison was one of the worst in the south and at one time housed 30,000 men who were forced to depend on a filthy stream for drinking water. Thousands were dying daily when a spring appeared from underneath a pine stump and furnished enough pure water to supply the camp. L. G. Pendergast was given a piece of the pine stump and that is the piece placed in the monument.

In a brief speech, L. G. Pendergast outlined the movement that resulted in the monument, saying that the money was raised by the G. A. R., Women’s Relief Corps, Commercial Club, city of Bemidji, Beltrami County and school children of the county. He laid emphasis on the fact that the monument is being raised to all men and women who had a part in the war, whether they were in the service of their country on land or sea, whether officer or private. P. J. Russell lauded the G. A. R. and the work of the Grand Army during the war.

The monument will be dedicated next Memorial Day. It will be 24-feet high, is set on the basic block of six foot cube and will cost between $1,300 and $1,400 before finished. A tablet saying “In Memory of the Veterans of the Civil War—1912” is on the smaller stone. The monument is located in the southwest corner of the cemetery and can be plainly seen from the road.

Bemidji Pioneer Daily; “Corner Stone Laid Wednesday”; Nov. 21, 1912; p. 1.

http://rachaelhanel.me/2014/07/25/greenwood-cemetery-bemidji-minnesota/

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