Location: Next to Town Hall, 542 Liberty Street, Hanson
Coordinates: 42°08’30.8″N 70°44’27.1″W
Date dedicated: October 20, 1906
Architect/Sculptor/Manufacturer: Presby-Coykendall Co., manufacturer

The monument was originally located in Fern Hill Cemetery and moved some time after 1959. It was dedicated on October 20, 1906, and records the names of all those from Hanson who served in the war (not just those who lost their lives). The primary inscription reads, “1861-1865, In Honor of Our Soldiers and Sailors.” Multiple efforts to photograph the tablets unfortunately yielded illegible results. Even to the naked eye, the very low contrast of the inscriptions are difficult to read.

After many years of discussion about a soldiers monument, the Women’s Relief Corps, led by Mrs. Hannah B. Baker, voted in 1897 to raise the necessary funds. Mrs. Baker gave an impassioned appeal during the town’s 1897 Memorial Day exercises. Donations nonetheless came in slowly and it was a long, challenging process for the women. Sadly, Mrs. Baker would not live to see the monument built.

Mrs. Mary Bates took up leadership of the Corps and fundraising was successfully completed in 1904. A monument committee was established, including members of the Women’s Relief Corps, and they voted to contract with Presby-Coykendall of New York City. Reviewing possible designs, it was Mrs. Cornelia Cook who suggested the combination of a tablet design surmounted by a soldier. An unpublished history produced by the Hanson Historical Committee in 1959 concluded their narrative on the monument by stating, “It was a noble work, nobly done. In admiration and deference, we doff, bow, and kneel to the WRC.”[1]

 

[1] Hanson Historical Committee, History of the Town of Hanson, (1959), p. 826-835