View complete article and references at Commemorative Landscapes of North Carolina at: https://docsouth.unc.edu/commland/monument/419

Description: This monument, dedicated to Rhode Island's volunteers to the Union Army, presents the bronze figure of a woman clad in classical dress. As an allegorical figure, she represents aspects of both Victory and Peace. With her gaze slightly downcast and eyes closed, she raises her left hand in a gesture of blessing and salute to the soldiers she honors. Lowered at her side, her right hand holds a wreath of laurel or olive leaves. The front of the monument bears an inscription on a polished square of the granite, and the rear displays a bas-relief of the seal of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Above the seal, the state motto is written: "HOPE".

The figure is approximately seven feet tall and sits on a low square granite base. The entire structure rests on a rough cut granite pedestal approximately four feet high that narrows slightly upward from the ground.

Inscription:
Front: ERECTED BY THE STATE OF / RHODE ISLAND TO COMMEMORATE / THE SERVICES OF RHODE ISLAND / VOLUNTEERS WHO GAVE UP THEIR / LIVES IN NORTH CAROLINA DURING / THE CIVIL WAR 1861-1865 / FOURTH RHODE ISLAND INFANTRY / FIFTH RHODE ISLAND HEAVY / ARTILLERY - BATTERY F FIRST / RHODE ISLAND LIGHT ARTILLERY

Rear: HOPE

Dedication date: 10/6/1909

Creator: William Whitney Manatt, Sculptor Gorham Manufacturing Company, Foundry

Materials & Techniques: Bronze, granite

Sponsor: State of Rhode Island

Cost: $3000

Unveiling & Dedication: The New Bern Board of Alderman deliberated appropriating sums for the receiving of the Rhode Island veterans and guests. Committees were formed to handle the arrangements and receptions, and the Daughters of the Confederacy as well as the Confederate Veterans were asked to join in hosting the reception. The unveiling of the Rhode Island Monument occurred without a parade at the National Cemetery at 2:30pm. School children from the local school sang at the ceremony. After the ceremony, the Governor, the monument commission, and a visiting party of veterans visited a New Bern battlefield and an old fort at Croatan where the veterans were able to reminisce on where they once served.

Subject notes: The monument was donated by the State of Rhode Island to commemorate the state's Civil War soldiers who died in North Carolina. The sculptor, William Whitney Manatt, was a student of Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Three organizations within Rhode Island recruited men in the summer and fall of 1861 to be sent to the war. These men served for approximately three years.

New Bern National Cemetery was established in 1867. Union dead buried at other locations in North Carolina were subsequently moved to the National Cemetery following its establishment. The Rhode Island Monument at New Bern is one of four monuments sponsored by Union states that sent soldiers to North Carolina during the Civil War. The New Jersey Monument, the Massachusetts Monument, and the Connecticut Monument are all located in the cemetery.

Location: The monument is situated in the northeast corner of section 9 located on the south side of the central drive through the cemetery. It sits several feet from the drive which is reached from National Avenue.

Landscape: The monument is surrounded by the graves of veterans and their low white markers.

City: New Bern

County: Craven

Subjects: Civil War