CLEVELAND — 107 names were added to the Cuyahoga County Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument during a ceremony Wednesday morning, joining the 9,000 already enshrined at the downtown Cleveland landmark.
Most of these new additions are African-American veterans from, or enlisted, in Cuyahoga County.
The monument, which was dedicated July 4, 1894, memorializes the American veterans who represented Cuyahoga County in the Civil War.
Wednesday's additions are the result of nearly 20 years of historical research and verification, which organizers explain as follows:
It began in 2002 with high school history teacher Paul LaRue of Washington Court House, Ohio and Mr. LaRue's Advanced Placement History Class students. One of the Class's projects involved research on seven USCT veterans buried in a Washington Court House cemetery. Their work led to new government issued military headstones to be installed on the graves, rightfully honoring those who fought for our country.
This success led the Class to continue its research on burials of other USCT veterans within the State of Ohio. Their work came to the attention of the Governor's office, which issued an executive order to provide copies of Ohio Civil War enlistment records to the Class. As the Class continued its work, the names of several veterans from Cuyahoga County were uncovered.
Jerry Young – a Monument volunteer at the time (and now a Commissioner of the Monument) – learned of the Class's work in 2009. Mr. LaRue graciously offered the use of the microfilmed records to the Monument for continued research. The Monument formed a committee for this work.
For nearly a decade, Mr. Young; Committee Chair Jon Silvis, and Executive Director Tim Daley have conducted extensive research on behalf of the Monument Commission that has included fact-checking; verification and re-verification.
Today's ceremony is the culmination of the many years of hard work and dedication of an educator; his students; the Monument's historians and Commission; the State of Ohio and Cuyahoga County. Today we add the names of 107 American heroes to their rightful place on the Roll of Honor of the Cuyahoga County Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument.
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