Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 107, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 September 1899 — WILDER MONUMENT DEDICATED [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WILDER MONUMENT DEDICATED

Great Shaft to Dead Soldiers Viewed by Thousands of Visitors. The 113 Indiana monuments and markers and the Wilder brigade monument at Chickamauga Park were dedicated at Chickamauga Park in the presence of 10,000 people. About 4,000 old soldiers from Illinois and Indiana were present. The ceremonies began with the dedication of the Indiana monuments and markers. These represent an expenditure of about $80,000 by the State of Indiana. Gov. Mount delivered the address, formally turning the monuments over to the Government. An address was also delivered by Gen. James R. Carnahan, a member of the Indiana park commission. The monuments were received with an appropriate speech by Gen. H. V. Boynton on behalf of thy Secretary of War. Following the dedication of the Indiana monuments the Wilder brigade tower was dedicated. This tower represents an ex-

penditure of 18,000 by the members of the Wilder brigade, and it is the most imposing and massive monument on the national battlefield. At the Wilder shaft Maj. James A. Connolly of Springfield, Ill.; Gen. Smith D. Atkins of Freeport, IIL, and others spoke. The speech of Col. Tomlinson Fort of Chattanooga was the first ever delivered by a Confederate veteran on Chickamauga battlefield at the dedication of a monument to Union soldiers of the civil war. N. B. Forrest Camp, Confederate veterans, was present clad in uniforms of gray. The monument is constructed of limestone quarried from the hills in the vicinity of the park. It is seventy-five feet high and is an embattled circular tower resting on a square base twenty-feet in dimension. A spiral stairway on the inside leads to the top, from which a view of the entire park is obtained. The cost of the monument completed was about S10,000, the entire amount having been contributed by the members of the brigade, Gen. Wilder himself being the most liberal contributor.

THE WILDER MONUMENT.