The Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument - Cleveland, Ohio

Name: The Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument - Cleveland, Ohio
Address: 3 Public Square, Cleveland, OH, 44114, US
Telephone: +12166213710

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The Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument - Cleveland, Ohio

Built in 1894, the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument commemorates the 9,000 individuals from Cuyahoga County who served in the Civil War.

08/28/2026

25th Anniversary of 9/11/2001 Terror Attack Remembrance Ceremony
September 11, 2026

The Remembrance Ceremony will begin at 8:30 am inside the memorial room of the Monument marking the time of each of the significant moments in the timeline of September 11th, 2001. This ceremony will include wreath placement by local officials and first responders, prayers lead by local religious leaders, and the reading of biographies of Northeast Ohio's 9/11 victims.

At Noon the proceedings moved outside to the Northwest corner of the Monument's esplanade where a formal Memorial service was held with keynote speaker. Please join us for a solemn remembrance either in person at the monument on Public Square or live on out YouTube channel

08/26/2026

August 26th, 1861 was not a pleasant day for most of the men of the 7th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, as they were surprised at breakfast by a rebel attack as the regiment was camped near Kessler's Cross Lanes in what is now West Virginia. The regiment resisted as best it could but was outnumbered 3-to-1 and was forced from the field after about 45 minutes of fighting. The regiment lost nearly 100 men captured and another 30-30 killed or wounded, and many men spent days in the West Virginia wilderness escaping rebel patrols.

One of the few bright spots of the 7th Ohio were the actions of Corporal Llewellyn Davis of Company A. Born in Wales in 1836, Davis emigrated to Cleveland in 1858 and was educated in the Cleveland Public School system. In 1861 Davis joined Company A of the 7th Ohio and was quickly appointed to corporal, likely because of his education. During the fighting at Cross Lanes, Company A became nearly surrounded and had to fight its way out. As the Buckeyes did so, they literally ran into a company of the 36th Virginia Infantry, which had been fighting another section of the 7th. As recorded in the units regimental history "We did not linger long, however, but made for the top of the hill and into the woods, where we soon met a rebel color-bearer, and Corporal L,. R. Davis demanded of him the colors, which he took and placed under his blouse; and it is my recollection that we did not bother much with the rebel sergeant, as we had about all we could do to take care of ourselves, and I think we let him go."

With the captured flag tucked away, Llewellyn Davis and most of Company A pushed through the rebel lines and eventually reached the safety of Federal lines. Davis exhibited bravery in many battles during the war and was eventually made captain of Company C. He was captured in Georgia in 1864 but was exchanged and named lieutenant colonel of the 187th Ohio Infantry. He worked in the mill and railroad businesses after the war and was active with militia units in Cleveland as well. He married his wife Carlotta in 1874, and the couple had at least three children. Llewellyn Davis passed away in 1907 and is buried at Riverside Cemetery in Cleveland.

08/20/2026

Edward Bohm was 24 years old when he enlisted in the 7th Ohio Infantry in April 1861. The young man was born in Alstedt, Germany in 1837 and emigrated to the United States in 1851 with his family, eventually settling in Cleveland. Bohm joined the all-German Company K of the 7th and was named sergeant after refusing a commission as lieutenant. Around three months later Bohm found himself running for his life in what is now West Virginia on August 20, 1861. Bohm was ordered to take a scouting party across the Gauley River and scout south of Carnifex Ferry, a key crossing point on the river. As Edward Bohm later wrote "Not very long after crossing... we discovered some secesh cavalry who on seeing us scampered off at a gallop, and we thirteen geese or goslings, with our captain, galloped after them...Proceeding a short distance up the hill, on the opposite side of the valley, we were at once surprised, shocked and scared (no use denying that fact) by a shot out of a mass of bushes."

A more shots erupted from the woods the Buckeyes turned and fled. Bohm wrote "I was running alongside of Captain Schutte in the middle of the road, bullets zipping all around and about us. My canteen fell, its string cut by a bullet; my cap fell off my head a little ahead of me, with a bullet through it. Poor old Private Charles Rich, to the right, a little ahead of me, dropped with a yell of pain and crawled into a fence corner." Next, Captain Schutte was shot and mortally wounded, and the Federals took cover in a nearby cabin, Schutte ordered his men to leave him, but Edward Bohm and Private Henry Weissenbach remained with their dying captain and were soon captured.

Edward Bohm spent the next seven months in rebel prisons before being exchanged in March 1862. He returned to the 7th Ohio and was promoted to lieutenant, rising to captain by the time his service ended in 1864. After the war he became a member of the Board of Education in Cleveland, as well as serving as a justice of the peace a number of times. He was also a key member of the Monument Commission, which oversaw the planning and construction of the Cuyahoga County Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument.

08/18/2026

When mentioning the 7th Ohio Infantry, we often simply refer to them by their nickname, "The Roosters". The nickname is definitely unusual, but for such an odd nickname there is a surprising lack of information on why the regiment chose it. The name began appearing in 1862, almost a year after the regiment began its service. By the time of the battle of Gettysburg pictures abound of men of the regiment proudly wearing brass rooster badges on their jackets. Most stories credit Colonel William Creighton with the creating the nickname, as it was supposedly his habit of crowing like a chicken before going into combat, after which he would be joined by the men of the regiment. However, a different story credits Colonel William Candy of the 66th Ohio with the nickname, claiming that he gave several Ohio regiments (including the 7th) bird-related names.

However the name was gained, the "Roosters" of the 7th Ohio certainly took to the title far longer than war lasted. Regimental reunion often called for the "roosters" to gather, reunion papers had a rooster seal stamped, even the regimental monuments have a bronze rooster affixed. Here at the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, the bust of William Creighton also includes a carved rooster on his lapel, mimicking the badge that he and his men wore so proudly in life.

08/13/2026

Recently we have updated a few of our display cases, as we try to show more of the faces of the men and women listed on our walls. Occupying a case of its own is the "Roosters" of the 7th Ohio, and visitors can look upon the faces of William Creighton, Orrin Crane, John Molyneuax, Frank Rockefeller, Jeremiah Claflin, and many others. Nearby is another case highlighting men of the 107th Ohio, and more images for additional regiments and organizations will be added in the future. You can check out these displays for yourself daily, as the monument is open seven days a week, 10 to 5:30 daily!

08/09/2026

Continuing with our focus on the 7th Ohio, today marks the 164th anniversary of the battle of Cedar Mountain, fought near Culpeper Court House, Virginia, in 1862. The 7th Ohio was part of Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Banks' 2nd Corps in Maj. Gen. John Pope's Army of Virginia, when it was ordered to attack a rebel line at the edge of a woodlot. Marching across open wheat fields, the 7th Ohio, as well as fellow Buckeye regiments the 5th, 29th, and 66th Ohio, slugged it out with their gray-clad opponents. Under severe artillery fire as well, the 7th stood their ground for over an hour, before a rebel counterattack forced the Roosters and the rest of the Union line to fall back. In the course of the fighting Colonel William Creighton was severely wounded in the left arm, but he stayed with his men until they had fallen back to safety. Lieutenant Mervin Clark at first mistook the order to fall back and led his men forward instead, only realizing his mistake in the nick of time. All told the 7th Ohio lost over 190 men during its fight at Cedar Mountain, almost two-thirds of those who began the battle.

08/06/2026

The American Battlefield Trust's Garry Adelman and Kris White were giving a tour of Culp's Hill at Gettysburg, and that entailed a stop at the 7th Ohio Infantry's monument and a rendition of the regiment's famous battle cry! To learn more about the 7th, Colonel Creighton, or his "Roosters", stop by the Soldiers and Sailors Monument where you can put faces with some of the names mentioned!

08/05/2026

162nd Anniversary of the Battle of Mobile Bay

One of the most famous naval actions occurring during the American Civil War took place on this date in 1864, as a United States naval squadron sailed into Mobile Bay in southern Alabama. The city of Mobile was one of the largest ports still available to the Confederacy that allowed goods from foreign nations to reach the beleaguered rebel forces. Federal forces turned their attention to Mobile in late 1863, but had to wait until the late summer of 1864 to attack the port due to troop commitments elsewhere.
As Major General Gordon Granger landed Federal ground troops to attack rebel forts nears the entrance to Mobile Bay, Rear Admiral David Farragut led his naval forces against the rebel ships in the bay. Portions of the bay were protected by naval mines, or torpedoes as they were called at the time, and the CSS Tennessee, an ironclad warship, anchored the naval defense. As Federal ships sailed into Mobile Bay after dawn on August 5th, Admiral Farragut ordered his ships to stay clear of the minefield, but the USS Tecumseh, an ironclad, struck a mine and sank within two minutes. This caused the squadron to slow their momentum, right in front of the cannons of rebel-held Fort Morgan.
It is at this point Admiral Farragut is supposed to have uttered his famous phrase "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" in response to signals from the rest of the squadron. Whether or not Farragut actually said the phrase, his ships did in fact move ahead and engaged the CSS Tennessee and rest of the rebel squadron. Within a few hours the Tennessee and her supporting vessels were captured or destroyed and entrance to Mobile was sealed off. Although the city itself would not fall until the spring of 1865, another port city had been taken away from the Confederacy.

07/30/2026

162nd Anniversary of the Battle of the Crater
Fought on this day in 1864, the Battle of the Crater was one of the biggest blunders for the Federal Army during the Civil War. After nearly a month of fighting near Petersburg, Virginia, Pennsylvania troops came up with a plan to dig a mine beneath the rebel lines and explode hundreds of pounds of gunpowder, clearing a breach in the lines and giving Federal troops a breakthrough. The Union commander Major General Ambrose Burnside carefully planned the attack, selecting a division composed of African American troops to spearhead the charge. Despite training for days, Federal high command refused to allow the division of U.S.C.T. troops to go in first. Forced to pick a different portion of his command, Burnside had his subordinates draw straws, with the short straw being chosen by James Ledlie, who had little experience in command and also was rumored to have a drinking problem.

The mine was successfully detonated on the morning of July 30, 1864, but Ledlie's men were poorly prepared, and did not immediately attack. When they did go forward, they rushed down into the 30-foot crater instead of around it. slowing their movement. Rebel troops soon recovered and began to counter-attack, driving Ledlie's men back to the crater. It was at this point that the U.S.C.T. troops were finally sent in, but their pre-battle training was useless now that the surprise had been squandered. Instead, the fresh division only added to the chaotic situation, as masses of men, Federal and rebel, black and white, fought savagely under a beating July sun. The attack was called off, but thousands of Federal troops were killed, wounded, or captured. The black troops sent in, including Ohio's own 27th U.S.C.T., suffered a disproportionately higher percentage of killed as many captured men were mercilessly killed by their rebel captors. Lieutenant General Ulysses Grant, commanding all Federal forces, later called the battle of the Crater "the saddest affair I have witnessed in this war"

07/26/2026

For most of the Civil War the only rebel troops that would come close to Cleveland were the prisoners being sent to the Johnson's Island P.O.W. camp near Sandusky. However, in the summer of 1863 armed rebels came within 75 miles of the Forest City, before they were fortunately surrounded and captured. These 375 rebels were the remnants of John Hunt Morgan's force that crossed the Ohio River into Indiana in early July, raiding across the southern portion of that state and into southern Ohio. Cornered near Buffington's Island on July 19, most of Morgan's command was captured, but the rebel general and a few hundred men escaped and headed northward, trying to find an escape route across the Ohio River. Chased by Federal cavalry and navy gunboats, Morgan and his men were finally surrounded near West Point, Ohio, about 75 miles from Cleveland.

Address

3 Public Square
Cleveland, OH
44114

Telephone

+12166213710

Website

http://www.soldiersandsailors.com/

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