Franklin's Single Soldier

How many times have you gone by the Town Common and wondered why there are two Civil War monuments? 

There is one along Main St with the Gettysburg Address on a bronze plate

Civil War Memorial with Gettysburg Address

And then there is the tall one in the center and set back along the High St side of the Common.

Civil War Monument - single soldier

It was 150 years ago this April 9, in a house at a dusty crossroads in rural Virginia, that the Civil War ended. Even all these decades later, that struggle remains, for better and for worse, the sovereign event in American history.

The article in Yankee Magazine goes on to talk about the single soldier monument that many New England commnities have. Franklin is one of them.

Civil War Monument - single soldier 1

Civil War Monument - single soldier 2

Civil War Monument - single soldier 3

Hence, the unfailing presence all over our region of memorials to local men who served in the war, in particular the ubiquitous “Single Soldier,” a freestanding figure of a Civil War infantryman cast in stone or bronze, equipped with the familiar kepi-style cap, a coat or cape, a cartridge box and bayonet on his belt, and a rifle. If you live in New England, then at least one of these soldiers is your neighbor.

Read the full article here
http://www.yankeemagazine.com/article/features/the-single-soldier-monument-civil-war-memorial#_

For more about the life and times of our Franklin neighbors
http://www.historynet.com/civil-war-soldiers