I Saw The Marker

This memorial was originally constructed by the Ladies Memorial Association of St Augustine on St George Street in the yard of Catholic Bishop Agustin Verot after the city commission voted not to allow it in the Plaza. It was unveiled on May 10, 1872,

The present-day memorial was relocated to the Plaza de la Constitucion in 1879 after the Ladies and members of the community returned to the commission with hundreds of local signatures asking that it be allowed.

The entire cost of the twice-constructed memorial to the forty-four residents who lost their lives during the War was paid for by privately raised funds.

Fundraising was difficult and mostly in the smallest sums. Often, a half dozen or more of the ladies would contribute from their meager food supply the ingredients of a cake and when it was baked, it would be sold, and the money placed in the memorial fund.

The ladies did bits of sewing for money, children practiced for plays to raise money, anything and everything that would bring in a penny for the memorial fund. We who think it is hard to raise money for a monument fund today might well be put to shame by these devoted ladies.

The Ladies Memorial Association was founded just eighteen months after the end of the American Civil War while the city was still under federal military control. The City granted a 99-year lease to the Ladies Memorial Association of St Augustine. That was 140-years ago, yet the memorial still stands.

In 2019, private citizens, many of whom are descendants of members of the original association, or who are descendants of one of the soldiers who lost their lives during the American Civil War, are in the process of reorganization under the name "Ladies Memorial Association of St Augustine, Inc.", a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization, Visit them on the web at LadiesMemorial.org

May 17, 2019 at 6:00pm PDT by ladiesmemorial