For the first time in 140 years, the Union sentry statue that stands watch over Fredericksburg from Cedar Hill Cemetery is no longer on duty.
Last week, the statue was disassembled and removed for restoration by E & E Metal Fab, Inc., Lebanon. That work is expected to take between five to six months.
“So it’s the first time, a long time, that nobody’s keeping watch over the village of Fredericksburg,” said John Klahr, president, Cedar Hill Cemetery Association, about the 6-foot-tall soldier that faces Fredericksburg from a monument at the cemetery located on the outskirts of town.
Read More: 140-year-old sentry statue to be renovated during restoration project
Construction workers gathered at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday to begin the process of dismantling the cast zinc statue for much-needed repairs and renovations following nearly a century-and-a-half of exposure to the elements.
The project was the first of its kind for I.B. Dickinson & Sons Crane Service of Reading, according to Steve Beidler, crane operator.
“I just got to sit in the crane. The guys up in the basket got to look at it and they hooked it up the way they felt was the safest way to hook it up,” said Beidler. “I pretty much just did what they told me to do. Basically, we just started taking it apart.”
There were some concerns about disassembling the statue, which has shifted over time, from its base. The sentry, which was designed by John Lick and erected in 1884, was leaning backwards prior to being disassembled.
“Our plan was to get the rigging on it and come up on it,” said Taylor Marsh of C & D Rigging, Inc., Grantville. “We just wanted to get enough weight that we knew it wouldn’t tip over and then we would take the bolts out.”
While rigging large items like this statue is always a consistent process, no one knew how fragile the statue might be. C & D has a Grantville post office address but is listed online as a Lebanon County business.
“I mean, rigging is pretty standard stuff for us but the only thing that’s challenging about this is you don’t really know how fragile this stuff is,” added Marsh. “You’ve got to take it on the points where it’s not going to slip and it’s not going to break something.”
LebTown asked Marsh how they decided to secure the statue so it didn’t break.
“I don’t know that I really have an answer for that question,” said Marsh. “I mean, we just kind of used our best judgment for where to put the chokers at and then we went from there.”
After it was rigged, the bolts were removed with little resistance. It was noted that the bolts were enclosed, so there was no rust to complicate matters since they were not exposed.
All told, work to disassemble and secure the four sections of the statue was completed in under two hours – a much shorter period of time than what was originally anticipated at the start of the day.
“Everything went very smoothly,” said E & E sales rep Al Billig, who is managing the restoration project on behalf of his company.
Billig described the planned restoration work at the metal fabrication shop located in the 100 block of N. 16th Street.
“I’m gonna do the best I can to clean it up and fix it,” said Billig, who also believes that cleaning will make the statue’s exterior look lighter. “You won’t see cracks anymore. The brown stuff I’m pretty sure I can remove all of that.”
Additionally, stainless steel supports will be used to help keep the statue secure on its base.
“Well, straightening the Union soldier out is probably one of the main things and supporting it up there so that it can’t do that (lean) again,” said Billig. “You want to put supports in it to hold it in position – stainless steel angles.”
As work begins on the statue’s restoration, cemetery officials will be occupied with getting a new foundation poured.
“While E & E is working on restoring the monument we have to get a foundation designed and put into place so they can come back and put the century back on post,” said Klahr. “So our work is not done by any means.”
Klahr explained the next steps for the foundation, which currently is 100 square inches.
“We have a local construction contractor looking at designing a base for us and then we have to get the people to put it together,” said Klahr. “They will need to make the form, do the excavation, pour the concrete, finish it, let it cure. That’s really the steps that we have to go through.”
Klahr said the goal is to get the foundation finished before the statue’s restoration is completed.
“We’d like to get it before a hard frost comes and things that we have to worry about freezing because concrete will be involved,” added Klahr. “I’m hoping (to finish the foundation) because they’ll be done in six months. They have to have a foundation to set it on. They can’t come and just unload it and not put it back together for us.”
The project began earlier this year with cemetery association officials working to raise the $120,000 needed to complete it – including potentially shipping it to and from a company in Ohio for restoration. However, bringing E & E onboard instead of shipping it out-of-state helped reduce shipping costs.
“Yeah, we will definitely save some costs by keeping it local, and we’re happy to keep it local because a lot of the people that are working on this are local people,” said Klahr. “We have E & E, of which the Erb family are the founders and they’re from Fredericksburg. The riggers are from Grantville; the crane people from Reading. So we’re happy – very happy – to keep it local.”
Klahr noted all donations were private, meaning no local, state or federal tax dollars were used for this project.
He said the Eagle Hotel held several fund-raising events and First Citizens Community Bank conducted a chicken BBQ with the poultry being provided by Fredericksburg-based producer Bell & Evans.
Cemetery association treasurer Rita Christ said 68 of the 192 veterans interred at Cedar Hill served in the Civil War. Many of those graves are located in proximity to the sentry statue in that section of the cemetery.
Christ referenced historical files that show a commemoration was held at the cemetery on the 50th anniversary of the end of the Civil War and surviving veterans who attended the ceremony were honored that day.
“Well, “I think I had mentioned to you before that in 1915 they held the 50th anniversary of the end of the Civil War, and the remaining living veterans that served in the Civil War banded together and came out here for a service,” said Christ. “They signed their initials and signed their names on the one portion of the bottom part of the monument. We had asked them not to touch that, not to get rid of that because that’s important right there.”
While the sentry was erected to honor and remember those who served in the greatest conflict to be fought on American soil, the statue has come to represent every American veteran in the military whose final resting place is Cedar Hill Cemetery.
“I think it’s safe to say that we have people interred here in every conflict from the Civil War to Vietnam and actually beyond,” said Klahr with Christ adding the War on Terrorism into the mix. “So, it (the statue) is just a presence to the community that those people who served are not forgotten.”
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