Camp Curtin Civil War Monument Dedication
Lemoyne, PA June 25, 2005
Please click on images for a larger view.
www.campcurtin.org
Couch Monument Inscriptions
Fort Washington was constructed
primarily between June 14-19, 1863, as part of the emergency response to the
Confederate invasions of Pennsylvania that culminated in the historic Battle
of Gettysburg. Fort Washington was located 800 yards east of this site and
consisted of entrenchments and earthen redoubts with wooden platforms for 25
pieces of artillery. The fort occupied about 60 acres and was manned by New
York National Guard and Pennsylvania Militia under the overall command of
General Couch. Hastily built for the defense of Harrisburg and regions east
of the Susquehanna River, these earthen fortifications were constructed by
more than 600 local citizen volunteers and African-American railroad
construction crews. Drinking water was pumped up the hill from the
Susquehanna River using hose laid by volunteer firemen. Tents of some
soldiers were erected on wooden platforms on the fort's steep hill slope. On
June 29-30, 1863, troops from the fort engaged Confederate forces at Oyster
Point and at Sporting Hill, located several miles to the west.
Fort Couch was built as part of the
emergency fortifications erected to defend Harrisburg and nearby bridges
across the Susquehanna River during the 1863 invasion of Pennsylvania by
Confederate forces. Fort Couch was built as an advance position to ensure
the defense of Fort Washington, located on a slightly lower hilltop to the
east. Construction started on June 20, 1863, by command of Major General
Couch and on the advice of Army engineer officers. Fort Couch was mostly
built by local African-American railroad workers. Artillery pieces mounted
on wooden platforms behind the earthworks and pointed west. Fort Couch was
manned by New York National Guard, Pennsylvania Militia, and Federal troops
evacuated from the U.S. Army Barracks at Carlisle, that included members of
the 4th U.S. Cavalry Regiment. The reassigned Federal cavalry instructed the
New York and Pennsylvania troops in the use of artillery. Several forward
infantry picket lines were established between Fort Couch and Oyster Point
located a mile and half to the west.
Major General Darius Nash Couch was
born in 1822 in Putnam County, New York, Graduated U.S. Military Academy in
1846, Served in the Mexican War, and became a Brigadier General in 1861 and
a Major General in 1862. During the Civil War he led divisions in the
Peninsula and Antietam Campaigns, and commanded the 2nd Army Corps at
Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. General Couch was head of the
Department of Susquehanna 1863-64, and led divisions in Tennessee and North
Carolina 1864-656. He held several political and military posts in
Massachusetts and Connecticut after the war, and died in 1897 in Norwalk,
Connecticut.
The scenic tiles on the front of the monument
were hand etched by Gingrich Memorials artist Stephanie Britten.
General Darius Couch was etched by Prudy Burns of Barre, Vermont.
The back of the monument has three
maps of the Harrisburg area.
All three were drawn during the Civil War. The
original maps are currently housed in the National Archives in Washington
D.C.. Below are scans from the originals which were then put into the
computer at Gingrich Memorials. The laser etching machine then etched exact
copies onto the granite tiles which were then inserted into the monument now
in Lemoyne.
Newspaper coverage.
View the process of creating the art for the civil war monument.
View the hand etching process.
Setting of Civil War Monument
June 21, 2005
Please click images for larger view.
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