Rick Gunn/Nevada Appeal Carson City's Civil War memorial is a statue dedicated to the Union soldiers at Lone Mountain Cemetery. The statue will be getting a much needed $82,000 renovation soon.
The Civil War soldier who has kept watch over more than 100 Union soldiers in the Lone Mountain Cemetery for the past century will be restored after city officials approved funding for the project.
Standing at parade rest wearing a kepi cap, great coat and holding a rifle, the sentinel is starting to lose his footing.
"We've just got to get this fixed before it really gets bad," said cemetery sexton Dave Stoltz.
The statue, erected by the state for $3,500 March 19, 1891, is sinking into its cement base, is riddled with bullet holes and is beginning to crack in places. City supervisors preliminarily approved $82,000 to restore the monument Monday.
With the funding, the statue will be returned to museum quality. The effort will include installing a new stainless steel interior inside the statue to support its weight.
The monument will be dismantled and transported to a facility in Cincinnati, where it will be cleaned, repaired and refurbished. All paint, pollutants and foreign corrosives will be removed from the exterior and holes, cracks and marks will be straightened and repaired.
More than 100 Union soldiers from Nevada are buried near the monument. In 1885, 43 unknown soldiers who died during the Indian Wars mostly from disease and accidents, were reburied at the cemetery from their original resting place at Fort Churchill.
Contact Jill Lufrano at jlufrano@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1217.
