Interest in the monument began as early as 1878, when the New Haven-based
Admiral Hull Foote Post of the
Grand Army of the Republic began lobbying citizens for a large war memorial in New Haven, and a site on the
New Haven Green was dedicated in the following year. A committee and funds for the monument were formed in an 1882 town meeting, but objections about the high number of GAR members in attendance prompted litigation that stalled the project. In 1883, the monument committee advertised a
design competition for the monument. At least 15 designs were submitted, including one by
Alexander Doyle and
John M. Moffit after the deadline. The committee also solicited designs from
George Keller and
Augustus Saint-Gaudens, who each had designed several well-known Civil War memorials, but both declined to submit proposals. In 1884, the monument's site was moved to East Rock after the city council decided to retain the defunct
Connecticut State House, causing further delays. Two years after the original solicitation, a
neoclassical design by Moffit & Doyle was selected, including an observatory, bronze statuary, and red
granite shaft. Work was undertaken in 1886 by New Haven firm Smith & Sperry, with the bronze casting completed by the
Ames Manufacturing Company and the
Decorative Bronze Company. The monument was dedicated on June 17, 1887, with 175,000 people in attendance at the ceremony and parade, including Generals
William Tecumseh Sherman and
Philip Henry Sheridan as guests of honor. ==Inscriptions==