Hidden history of Lewiston PA’s Soldiers and Sailors Monument
Lewiston Pennslyvania is a small town in central Pennsylvania on the banks of the Juniata River in Mifflin County. The city’s center is Monument Square because of the 64-foot-tall Soldiers and Sailors Monument.
In the late 1800s, Lewiston residents wanted to honor those who fought for the Union in the Civil War. George R. Frysinger, editor and publisher of the Lewistown Gazette, spearheaded the effort. After some time, it was successful. The Monument was dedicated in 1906 to the soldiers and sailors who served in the Civil War from Mifflin County. As many as 30,000 people attended the dedication. That’s a very large number of people in a tiny town for a monument dedication more than 40 years after the war ended. But this Monument was unique. It contains the only stone from President Abraham Lincoln’s tomb outside Illinois.
The stone made its way to Lewiston at the behest of Major Robert Burn Hoover. Hoover was a drummer boy and soldier from Mifflin County’s Logan Guards during the Civil War. Major Hoover had since moved to Springfield, Illinois; he always remembered his roots and remained close friends with George Frysinger of the newspaper. Hoover wrote this of the Monument in the Gazette.
“my heart often goes out to that lovely little city on the banks of the blue Juniata … What a fine place the center of your square would be for a soldiers’ monument…a reflection on your enterprise and patriotism that the one town in this great nation which furnished the first company to report to Washington in defense of the Union has not yet honored the memory of those who did not return.”
Stone from President Lincoln’s Tomb
Hoover had become a prominent city resident and served on the Lincoln Memorial Foundation. To honor the Mifflin County veterans, Hoover requested a stone from the Lincoln tomb during a remodel. His request was rooted in the county’s undaunted patriotism and loyalty to the Union. With his request, he told how, just a few days after the attack of Fort Sumter, Lewistown’s militia, called the Logan Guards, were the first to answer President Lincoln’s call to defend the Union. April 16, 1861, the Logan Guards departed for Washington, D.C., for its defense.
“Volunteer Troops from this county formed the advance of the Grand Union Army of nearly three million enlisted men. 1861 – 1865” – Soldiers and Sailors Monument
Granting Hoover’s request, a stone from Lincoln’s tomb was shipped by rail to Lewiston, stipulating the moment be built in the town square. Before the Monument’s dedication on June 21, 1906, a thick glass jar sealed with the names of soldiers from Mifflin County who served in the Civil War was placed in the cavity behind the Lincoln Stone. To this day, the only stone ever removed from Lincoln’s tomb remains a gift to the people of Mifflin County, Pennsylvania.
