A re-dedication of the Civil War Monument at the Brainerd Cemetery in Cranbury will be held on Memorial Day, May 30.
The public is invited to attend the services, which will be held at 10:30 a.m., by the New Jersey Civil War History Association, re-enacting as the 14th New Jersey Volunteer Regiment, Company H.
The re-dedication service will include the unveiling of a new, smaller monument adjacent to the original. The lettering of the names of the 70 soldiers on the 1866 marble obelisk is wearing away. The new monument will have a bronze plaque with all the names, which will ensure that the soldiers will long be remembered.
The original monument is one of New Jersey’s earliest. In June 1865, Rev. Joseph Gaston Symmes of the First Presbyterian Church proposed the monument in memory of the soldiers from the townships of Cranbury, Monroe and South Brunswick who sacrificed their lives to help preserve the Union. The Methodist and Second Presbyterian Churches of Cranbury also supported the project. Gov. Marcus Ward dedicated the monument on Aug. 1, 1866.
The soldiers named are from several New Jersey regiments, including many from Company H of the 14th Volunteer Infantry Regiment that was formed in Cranbury in August 1862. Company H was the unit in which the largest number of Cranburians served and it had the highest casualty rate in its regiment. Other Cranbury soldiers enlisted in units such as Company B of the New Jersey 28th Volunteer Regiment.
The Civil War Soldiers Monument is located in Brainerd Cemetery behind the First Presbyterian Church complex. Parking is available.
For more information, contact Fritz Hager at 609-655-2787 or 609-638-0537; or Robert Bisaccio of the New Jersey Civil War Association at 215-504-5037.
