Proposed USCT Bronze Memorial for our California Capitol Park US Civil War Grove

California State Capitol Park Civil War Memorial Grove pays tribute to those who lost their lives during the very bloody battles and the “unknown” cost to surviving families during our U.S. Civil War.

Missing from our California Civil War Memorial Grove is a fitting Bronze Memorial to our United States Colored Troops who fought, bled and died to preserve the Union while helping to end chattel slavery throughout America.

1,918 USCT enlistees from California are recognized upon the USCT Memorial in Washington D.C., African American Civil War Museum with the names taken from records housed at our US Archives.

Michael Harris, Chair, CA Capitol Park USCT Memorial, leads a nationwide effort toward full recognition and preservation of our service members with the US Army and US Navy during our US Civil War years, on the way to officially being apart of the Armed Service known as “Buffalo Soldiers” beginning July 28, 1866.

The proposed CA State Park USCT Memorial will offer year round recognition of the significant sacrifice toward freedom as we continue the journey towards alignment with our Title 5 US Juneteenth Federal Holiday throughout the State of California.

Our CA Civil War Grove was originally planted with trees from the Manassas, Harpers Ferry, Savannah, Five Forks, Yellow Tavern, and Vicksburg battlefields.

The idea for the Memorial Grove dates to 1896, 31 years after the Confederate Army’s surrender marked the end of the American Civil War.

Mrs. Eliza Waggoner and the Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of veterans’ wives and daughters, led the effort to create the memorial.

Although California had sided with the Union Army, they felt the grove should represent all those who fought in the four-year war. Their concept was a living memorial featuring trees from important battlefields and other sites connected to the war.

The Civil War Memorial Grove was the first monument in Capitol Park. Nearly a year went into planning, fundraising, and assembling trees from around the country. On May 1, 1897, the Grove was dedicated in a ceremony attended by several thousand onlookers.

At the time of the ceremony, the trees were just saplings, each marked with a tag naming the battlefield from which it came. A sapling from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania stood beside one from Shiloh, Tennessee; a sapling from Lexington, Kentucky next to one from the Wilderness Battlefield in Virginia.

In all, 40 different battlefields were represented. At the center stood “A Tree of Peace” transplanted from Appomattox, the Virginia town where the Confederate Army surrendered in 1865.

The Civil War was one of the most traumatic periods of American history, dividing families, friends, and neighbors. The Civil War Memorial Grove honors the many soldiers who lost their lives during the Civil War.