The Smith Monument

The Smith Monument. Dedicated September 17, 1864. Coming to America from Scotland in the year 1884, Mr. James Smith, brother of Col. Robert A. Smith, visited the battlefield at Munfordville and purchased land on which he contracted to have erected a massive and costly monument in honor of his brother, slain in the battle. Other monuments to Robert Smith were erected in Mississippi and in Scotland. With the exception of Cleopatra's Needle in New York, this was said to be the largest single stone monument in America, and the largest created in this country. , The Monument's gross weight is about 35 tons, and it stands 21 feet high, with a diameter of four feet at the base. It is set on a foundation of rock and cement extending ten feet under the ground. The stone took two months to erect, at a cost of $4,000. , "The duty is mine, but the responsibility lies elsewhere." , Captions , The Monument was erected on the site of a Confederate redan constructed by Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner in 1861. Within its fence are the Monument itself, six smaller markers for the Mississippi dead of the battle of Munfordville, and the bodies of the slain, in a mutual grave. , Quarried near Bowling Green and shaped in Nashville, the Monument was brought to this site by train. While it was being raised, the original pyramid-like obelisk top sheared off, and a new angled top was reshaped on the spot.