New Jersey Monument, New Bern National Cemetery, New Bern
This Civil War monument commemorates the Union Army service of New Jersey's 9th Regiment of Volunteer Infantry who were fallen near New Bern or buried in the cemetery. The 6-foot tall granite statue depicts the figure of a Union common soldier, an infantryman, standing at parade rest. The statue stands on a short granite pedestal capping the large granite plinth and bearing a bas-relief carving of the Coat of Arms of the State of New Jersey. The plinth is engraved on four sides. The total height of the structure is approximately 16 feet.
Images: Historic postcard image of the monument (ca. 1912) | Historic postcard image of the monument
Front: THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY / ERECTS THIS MONUMENT / IN HONOR OF HER 9TH REG’T. / VOLUNTEER INFANTRY, / WHOSE HEROIC DEAD LIE / BURIED IN THIS CEMETERY. / 1861 – 1865 / ERECTED 1905.
Rear: MUSTERED IN, OCTOBER, 1861 / MUSTERED OUT, JULY 1865 / TOTAL ENLISTMENTS 2701
Right: PORT WALTHALL, / DREWRY’S BLUFF, / COLD HARBOR, / PETERSBURG.
Left: ROANOKE ISLAND, / NEW BERNE, / FORT MACON, / KINSTON, / GOLDSBORO.
New Bern National Cemetery, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
May 18, 1905
35.123640 , -77.053110
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"New Jersey Monument, National Cemetery, Newbern, N.C.," in Durwood Barbour Collection of North Carolina Postcards (P077), North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, (accessed August 21, 2013) Link
"View in National Cemetery showing Monument, erected by State of N.J., New Bern, N.C.," in Durwood Barbour Collection of North Carolina Postcards (P077), North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, (accessed August 21, 2013) Link
National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior. "New Bern National Cemetery New Bern, North Carolina," National Cemeteries, (accessed August 16, 2013) Link
New Jersey State Commission for Erection of Monument to Ninth New Jersey Volunteers at New Berne, North Carolina. Report of State Commission for Erection of Monument to Ninth New Jersey Volunteers at New Berne, North Carolina. Dedication National Cemetery, New Berne, N. C., May 18, 1905 (Philadelphia, PA: The John C. Winston Co., 1905), (accessed August 21, 2013) Link
Powell, William S. and Beverly Tetterton. 2006. "Cemeteries, National and State," NCpedia.org, (accessed August 19, 2013) Link
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. "New Bern National Cemetery," National Cemetery Administration, (accessed August 16, 2013) Link
“Impressive Ceremonies At the Unveiling of New Jersey Soldiers’ Monument,” New Bern Daily Journal (New Bern, N.C), May 19, 1905.
“The New Jersey Invasion of New Bern,” New Bern Daily Journal (New Bern, NC), May 20, 1905.
Yes
Dark Barre granite
State of New Jersey
$5,000
Escorted by Commander J. J Wolfenden, the state of North Carolina provided transportation to the unveiling for about 100 veterans from the 9th Regiment and their guests. The ceremony occurred under pleasant weather conditions with a crowd of about five thousand. North Carolina Governor Glenn attended with his staff and made an address. A banquet was given for veterans, and their female guests were given a reception simultaneously by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
Speeches addressed the common bond of the two states, together part of the original thirteen states that “threw off the yoke of British oppression.” The speeches reflected the sentiment that differences were no longer important, but rather the heroism and courage of American soldiers on both sides fighting for what they believed.
The occasion was also marked by the return to North Carolina of the Beaufort Plowboys' Flag which was taken by New Jersey soldiers during battle. Governor Glenn was presented with the flag during a reception for the New Jersey veterans and visitors the evening before the unveiling. During the evening of the 18th, Governor Glenn in turn presented the flag to Mrs. E. N. Joyner of Columbia, South Carolina. Forty years earlier, Mrs. Joyner, then Miss Mary Winfield, had helped create the flag and had given it to the Beaufort Plowboys (Report of State Commission, p. 89).
The Report of the New Jersey State Commission for the erection of the monument described the spirit of goodwill and service extended to the visitors from New Jersey: "With true Southern courtesy, Governor Glenn immediately accepted the invitation, and moreover, threw himself heart and soul into the visit of New Jersey's representatives to his State. As soldiers of the Northern Army during the great civil conflict, the members of the Commission will ever bear in grateful memory the delightful correspondence ensuing between them and this big-hearted Governor of a Southern State; and the whole-souled hospitality he extended the Ninth Regiment and their guests while in North Carolina will never be forgotten by any member of the party" (p. 36).
A few days following the event, the New Bern Daily Journal ran a story under the title "The New Jersey Invasion of New Bern." Contrasting this 1905 "invasion" by visitors from New Jersey with the invasion during the war, the paper indicated local sentiment that concurred with that of the New Jersey monument commission: "But this city and its people were the most concerned in the invasion, of the men once foes, now friends, and through this last meeting, even a stronger feeling than friendship might be said to have developed and ripened. . .the living grasped hands in fraternal sympathy, and turning from the graves this brotherly feeling grew until the parting seemed more like that of members of a single household than of the people of two States."
The monument was erected in memory of the eighty fallen 9th Regiment soldiers who would be buried in what became the New Bern National Cemetery. The infantry served from October 1861 to July 1865 and was the first regiment to have combat casualties in the Civil War. The bulk of their time was spent fighting in North Carolina. The 9th would lose 10 officers and 244 enlisted men in the war.
The New Bern National Cemetery was established Feb. 1, 1867, north of downtown New Bern, a short distance from the western bank of the Neuse River.
The cemetery is the final resting place for the Union soldiers, including 300 U.S. Colored Troops. Today, more than 6,500 people are interred in the cemetery’s 7.7 acres. The cemetery closed to new interments in 1996.
The New Jersey Monument at New Bern is one of four monuments sponsored by Union states that sent soldiers to North Carolina during the Civil War.
The monument is located in the southeastern corner of section 12 on the north side of the drive through the New Bern National Cemetery, at 1711 National Avenue, New Bern, NC. The Rhode Island Monument, the Massachusetts Monument, and the Connecticut Monument stand nearby. Bivouac of the Dead and Gettysburg Address plaques are also located at this cemetery.
The monument sits in the grass covered grounds of the cemetery surrounded by rows of small white grave markers.
Yes
In 1901 Lieutenant E. H. Green raised attention to the 9th Regiment Veteran Volunteer Association that there lacked a memorial of their troops at the New Bern National Cemetery. Considering the 80 men of the infantry buried at the cemetery, the association appointed a committee to propose a memorial to state authorities. Progress was made in 1903 when Green and Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Huffy actively enlisted the support of members of the state assembly and appeared before the state Senate. On March 1,1904, Senator William J. Bradley of Camden County introduced a bill to construct a monument in memory of the 9th New Jersey Regiment, which passed unanimously in both houses.
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