Braintree to Restore Civil War Monument

Next week marks the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, a spare speech now regarded as one of America's greatest and given just a few months after the Union Army defeated the Confederates in a bloody battle that killed and wounded tens of thousands.

A little more than a decade after Lincoln spoke of a nation "conceived in liberty," Braintree dedicated a monument on the town mall to its Civil War soldiers.

Made of Blue Granite from Westerly, RI, the 17-foot structure features a soldier at "parade rest" on a pedestal engraved with the names of 46 Braintree residents who died serving in the war.

Braintree officials have now decided the statue, dedicated on June 17, 1874, is due for a facelift.

The state has provided a grant through its 150th anniversary Civil War commemoration committee and the Town Council will soon take up a request to fund the remaining costs through the Community Preservation Act.

"The cause is very worthwhile," Councilor Henry Joyce said during a Committee on Ways & Means meeting Tuesday night, during which members voted unanimously to recommend providing $5,200 in CPA funds for the project.

Barbara Mello, the town's grant writer, said the Massachusetts Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission gave Braintree $4,750 for restoration and that the Braintree Department of Public Works will also kick in $500 worth of services.

Preservationists who visited the monument said that it needed a professional cleaning, lead seal treatment and restoration of missing pieces, according to a Community Preservation Committee application submitted to the council. The committee approved the local funding Oct. 21.

Braintree passed the Community Preservation Act in 2002. It is a statewide law that allows cities and towns to put aside 1 percent of property taxes to fund open space, historic, affordable housing and some limited recreational initiatives. 

Ivan Myjer, a preservationist based out of Arlington who has worked at the White House, the Massachusetts State House and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, was selected for the project.

"We're very excited to have him doing the conservation work," Mello said.

The project will also include landscaping around the monument. If the full Town Council approves the funding, the ground around the statue, paved with brick and granite, will be cleaned and protected with a hardened-sand material.

As winter is quickly approaching, the preservation may not begin until the spring, Mello said.

Back in 1874, the entire construction cost $6,500.

Of those inscribed on the monument, 23 Braintree soldiers died in battle or from injuries suffered during battle. Another 17 died from illness, often diarrhea, two from illness and injury while prisoners of war, one from "friendly injury" and four from unknown causes.