By Michael Swanger

 

The next time you walk the grounds of the Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines you might be surprised by the number of monuments and memorials that have long stood in the shadow of the golden dome. Among them, piercing the sky from the grounds south of the Iowa Statehouse, is the stunning 135-feet-tall Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument that commemorates Iowans who fought during the American Civil War. 

 

Adorned at its 60-square-foot base by depictions of Iowa Civil War generals and topped off by a “Victory” figure, the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument was completed in 1896, 10 years after the Iowa State Capital Building was completed. Like the other monuments and memorials located at the Iowa Capitol Complex, many of which honor Iowans who served in the United States Armed Forces, the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument took several years to make and its history is largely unknown to most visitors. 

 

In 1887, the Iowa branch of the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) — an organization of Civil War veterans that provided financial support and memorials to former soldiers — requested that the 22nd Iowa General Assembly create a monument on the state capitol grounds to pay tribute to the Iowans who fought in the Civil War from 1861 to 1865. After all, no other state per capita provided more troops to the Union than did the Hawkeye State. As the war began, Gov. Samuel Kirkwood was quick to lead efforts to raise and equip volunteer troops for federal service, as well as to provide the Union army with food and supplies. Nearly half of all Iowa men of military age between the ages of 15 and 40 fought for the Union during the war. By the war’s end, 76,242 Iowa men served in the military with 13,001 of them paying the ultimate sacrifice, succumbing to wounds or disease, and another 8,500 were wounded. 

 

In 1888, the Iowa legislature appointed a six-member commission to solicit designs for a monument via advertising with a deadline of April 2, 1889. Prizes from $500 to $150 were to be awarded and 48 people, including nine Iowans, submitted plans. 

 

In June 1889, according to Louise Noun’s story for the State Historical Society of Iowa’s Palimpsest magazine in 1986, the commission awarded its top prize to Harriet Ketcham of Mount Pleasant, whose design included real and symbolic figures. Soon after, however, her original design was criticized and revised. 

 

“Ketcham’s design, which consisted of a large equestrian statue on an elaborate base was one of the few plans submitted which did not have an upward thrust,” wrote Noun. “Most designs included tall columns or obelisks. Others were in the form of Romanesque towers. Ketcham’s design was criticized by disappointed contestants who charged that it was modeled after a statue of Frederick the Great in Berlin … Ketcham subsequently revised her design, substituting a tall column surmounted by a figure of Victory for the large equestrian figure on her original design.”

 

Unfortunately, Ketcham died on Oct. 13, 1890, before the legislature authorized the monument’s construction. Following her death, controversies about the project’s design and location lingered for decades. 

 

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