The Soldiers' Monument is a controversial memorial monument at the center of the Santa Fe Plaza. It was erected as a stone cenotaph, consisting of an obelisk and a plinth during 1867–1868. During the late nineteenth century, the monument was used for annual Memorial Day events, a place for Union veterans to gather, decorate the cenotaph, and hear brief presentations.
The square plinth includes four inscribed panels, three of which memorialized Union soldiers who died on the battlefields of New Mexico Territory in the American Civil War. The fourth panel on the monument memorialized US soldiers who died "in the various battles with savage Indians." The word "savage" was chiseled-off by an anonymous person in 1974. On October 12, 2020, Indigenous People's Day the obelisk portion of the monument was toppled by protestors.
Environs
The Soldiers Monument is located in the center of the rectangular Santa Fe plaza. Its site is at the crux of eight walkways that radiate to the four corners and four sides and connect to a perimeter walkway.
The present siting originates with an 1860s re-design of the town square in a neoclassical style of the prior plaza grounds design. The plaza has native shade trees, grass, flower beds and replica Victorian iron benches and fences designed by John Gaw Meem in his 1967 plaza renovation plan. Stone banco seating border a flower bed at the monument.
Structure
The monument consists of a stone obelisk with four engraved marble panels on the stone base commemorating U.S. soldiers who died in battles in New Mexico. It is located in the central area of the Santa Fe Plaza in downtown Santa Fe. The monument has a stone foundation; a locally produced brick and lime core plinth; local stone inscribed panels; imported Italian marble trim with marble columns and marble wreathes (Victorian funerary motifs), and marble obelisk. The cenotaph, with its Egyptian architectural associations, is 33-feet tall. Builders were McGee & Brother (John and Michael McGee), architects, master stone cutter Tomas Baca, and local craftsmen. The stone panels were inscribed by local craftsmen.
A time capsule was added October 24, 1867 containing coins of the period, local newspapers, legislative journals, and other commemorative items.
Plinth
Inscriptions
On January 29, 1868, the territorial legislature dictated the wording for the four stone panels to be inscribed on the monument. Inscribed on the four sides of the cardinal directions of the plinth:
East-facing Panel #1: ERECTED BY THE PEOPLE OF NEW MEXICO THROUGH THEIR LEGISLATURES OF 1866 - 7 - 8. MAY THE UNION BE PERPETUAL
South-facing Panel #2: TO THE HEROES OF THE FEDERAL ARMY WHO FELL AT THE BATTLE OF VALVERDE, FOUGHT WITH THE REBELS 21, 1862
West-facing Panel #3: TO THE HEROES OF THE FEDERAL ARMY WHO FELL AT THE BATTLES OF CANON DEL APACHE AND PIGEON'S RANCH (LA GLORIETA) FOUGHT WITH THE REBELS MARCH 28, 1862 AND TO THOSE WHO FELL AT THE BATTLE FOUGHT WITH THE REBELS AT PERALTA APRIL 15, 1862
North-facing Panel #4: TO THE HEROES WHO HAVE FALLEN IN THE VARIOUS BATTLES WITH SAVAGE INDIANS IN THE TERRITORY OF NEW MEXICO
The inscriptions contain minor errors. The word "April" was corrected but the word "February" was left misspelled without the first "r." In 1909, in response to complaints, legislators proposed replacing the word "Rebel" with "Confederate," but the measure failed to pass.
On August 8, 1974, the word "savage" was chiselled out of panel 4. In June 2020, the panel was further damaged. In October 2020, the panel 4 was broken out from the plinth. The panel that contained the words "savage Indians" faced towards the Palace of the Governors where local Puebloan artisans sell arts and crafts under the portico.
"The Battles of Cañon del Apache and Pigeon’s Ranch" mentioned in panel 3 refers to events of the Civil War Battle of Glorieta Pass, "La Glorieta," March 26–28, 1862.
From the 1880s, use of the word "rebel" in panels 2 and 3 was considered by some, an insult to the South. In 1908–1909, the New Mexico governor offered to fund a change in wording while the legislative council passed a resolution supporting inscribing "confederate" in place of "rebel." In opposition, former governor L. Bradford Prince and veterans gained support for leaving the monument "sacred and unmutilated." Governor Prince saw the monument not only as a memorial but a symbol of an historic era, to be preserved in memory of the territory's loyalty to the Union. The monument was left unchanged. In the 1930s, another effort by Texans to have the monument removed because of the word 'rebel' failed to gain support.