Monument Honoring Cove-Area Civil War Soldiers to be Dedicated

On April 12, 1861, the union of the United States of America dissolved. It would take four years, and the loss of about three percent of the population, to bring an end to the conflict and reunite a fractured Union.

When the first shots of the war were fired at Fort Sumpter South Carolina, then President Abraham Lincoln put out a call to arms and by the time the war ended, an estimated 2 million men served in the Union Army, with about 360,000 of them coming from Pennsylvania, the second most of any state.

According to former Martinsburg Borough Manager and Civil War Historian Randy Stoltz, of those 360,000 Pennsylvanians who fought for the North, 1,032 came from Morrisons Cove.

Two years into war, a decisive and bloody battle was fought in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, a battle that effectively turned the tide for a then struggling Union Army and paved the way for eventual victory.

Stoltz said of the 94,000 men who fought on the Union side at Gettysburg, 70 came from the Cove.

Of those 70, according to Stoltz, two Cove boys were killed in the battle, two died later of injuries suffered in the skirmish, and 12 others were wounded but survived.

To honor the soldiers from the Cove who fought at Gettysburg, Stoltz spearheaded an effort to erect a memorial to the Cove boys in the blue uniforms and on Saturday, Oct. 9, at 1 p.m., the black polished granite memorial framed with stone from the Gettysburg battlefield will be unveiled at Morrisons Cove Memorial Park.

Stoltz said at least five descendants of the Gettysburg veterans will be on hand for the unveiling and Civil War reenactors will perform a rifle salute.

"The 70 names will be etched on the memorial," said Stoltz.

Asterisks denote the fate of the men who either came out of the battle wounded or didn't make it out at all and a cross is etched next to the name of James Levi Roush, who was awarded the Medal of Honor.

For Stoltz, bringing the memorial from concept to reality was a true labor of love, a journey fueled by his belief that history, good and bad, should be remembered. With the recent trend of removing Civil War era monuments from public spaces in the south, Stoltz said reminders of that bitter time in American history should stand to serve as an important lesson.

"History is very important," Stoltz said. "It should be taught and learned from, not destroyed and forgotten."

The Gettysburg monument is Stoltz' second effort to preserve the memory of those from the Cove who fought to keep the country together.

In 2019, Stolz wrote and published the book "Civil War and the Hearts of Morrisons Cove," shining a light on Cove boys who answered Lincoln's call and fought to repair the fractured Union.

For the book, Stoltz meticulously researched the names of the soldiers, combing through cemetery records, old newspapers, and church records, compiling a list that has grown since the book went to print.

Stoltz said the Gettysburg monument will stand as a symbol of pride; a reminder of the part Morrisons Cove played in preserving the union of the United States.

"We had men in nine of the ten bloodiest battles of the war," Stoltz said. "They should be remembered."