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Bloedner Monument restored, placed at Frazier International History Museum
The nation’s oldest existing Civil War memorial arrived Aug. 18 at its new home, Louisville’s Frazier International History Museum.
The Bloedner Monument, a 3,500-pound limestone memorial, has been identified as having “exceptional national and historical significance” as the U.S. approaches the Civil War’s 150th anniversary in 2011.
The monument, whose official name is the 32nd Indiana Infantry Monument, was carved in the weeks following the 1861 Battle of Rowlett’s Station near Munfordville. It recently was conserved following decades of exposure at Louisville’s Cave Hill National Cemetery where it had been since 1867. It now is on display in the Frazier Museum’s lobby where visitors can see it free of charge.
The Battle of Rowlett’s Station was a one-hour skirmish Dec. 17, 1861, during which the 32nd Indiana Infantry, a regiment of German-Americans, warded off a Confederate attack. Union Pvt. August Bloedner used a natural outcrop of limestone to fashion the monument to honor 13 of his fellow soldiers killed in the battle. The stone was placed on the graves at Munfordville before the infantry departed. In 1867, the remains of 11 of the soldiers and their monument were moved to the northwest corner of Cave Hill National Cemetery.
In December 2008, the fragile monument was transported to a curatorial facility at the University of Louisville where it was conserved by Conservation Solutions, Inc. A new monument designed to pay homage to the original will be returned to Cave Hill next year with informational markers. Both the location selection and new monument design were determined by project partners in consultation with the public, veterans and representatives from Kentucky Civil War military sites. The Bloedner stone is on loan to the Frazier Museum for a minimum of 10 years.
The museum was selected to house the monument based on its Civil War exhibition plans, controlled environment, financial stability and annual visitation, according to its owner, the National Cemetery Administration, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The Frazier Museum had been one of three locations up for consideration by VA historians, working in collaboration with the Kentucky Heritage Council/State Historic Preservation Office and Heritage Preservation, Inc., which solicited proposals for placing the monument and conducted site visits.
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