The Monument

The Monument. Woodland Cemetery. Inscription - South Side of Monument, "Consecrated A.D. 1867 by Sisters of the Good Samaritan in duty, affection, and reverence to the memory of the faithful soldiers of Adams county, who gave their lives that the nation might live.", The Soldiers Monument was dedicated on October 31, 1867. On that day, a half-mile long procession made its way from the Court House to the cemetery. General John Tillson, a Civil War veteran, was the parade marshall. He and his aides were followed by the Quincy Band, by numerous other uniformed veterans and dignitaries, by carriages bearing the ladies of the Needle Pickets and Sisters of the Good Samaritan, and by ordinary citizens of Quincy and Adams County. "These grand old woods," according to the Quincy Herald, "never were thronged by as vast a crowd having a more noble object and never will again.", The Needle Pickets and Sisters of the Good Samaritan were organizations which, during the War, provided for the needs of the soldiers' families at home, tended to sick and injured soldiers who were hospitalized locally, and sent nurses to a number of battlefields. When the War ended, the Sisters of the Good Samaritan had a balance in their treasury of several thousand dollars, part of which was used for the relief of needy families of soldiers. The remainder was spent to erect the Soldiers Monument. , Designed and sculpted by Cornelius G. Volk, a local artist of national renown, the monument is located on the highest point of the cemetery. It is comprised of a thirty-foot shaft of white Vermont marble on a Joliet stone base and is topped by an American eagle, wings partially spread as if poised for flight to the south or east., As a young man in the state of New York, Volk developed into one of the nation's finest artisans. He came to Quincy in 1848 and, from his workshop at 322 Maine Street, designed hundreds of stone sculptures. Among these are identical statues of Governor John Wood - one at the entrance to Washington Park in Quincy and one near the second floor rotunda in the State Capitol in Springfield., Volk is buried in Block 10, Lot 41, of Woodland beneath a small, simple stone. His wife, Martha Barlow Volk, a cousin of Stephen A. Douglas, lies beside him.