The Unusual Story of the Hackettstown Monument

Another in our series of old postcard views of New Jersey Civil War monuments. This monument, in Hackettstown, has a distinct and unusual history. The statue’s cost was shared by the town and small donations from local schoolchildren. The “public drinking fountain and soldiers’ monument,” was dedicated with a parade and speeches by local dignitaries on May 30, 1896.

In 1922 the street “Billy Yank” as he was locally called was located on became state highway #46.  Increasing traffic and a need to widen the highway led to the statue’s “removal” on December 29, 1926. In the process it was destroyed.

In the late 1990s, Henry Monetti read the story in the local library and began a campaign to replace the monument. Aided by Howard Niper and Charles Prestopine and several members of the state legislature, he succeeded, and a new monument was dedicated on May 28, 2001.

For the full story, see the NJ Civil War Sesquicentennial book “New Jersey’s Civil War Odyssey,” at  http://www.njcivilwar150.org/