Friday, February 13, 2015

The Scottish-American Civil War Memorial, Edinburgh

The Scottish-American Civil War Memorial
I recently came across the only full Civil War memorial outside of the United States.  In previous entries, I have described monuments pertaining to the war abroad, including the John Ericsson Memorial in Sweden or the grave of Simeon Cummings in South Africa.  This one in Edinburgh is more on par with the local monuments found in town squares across the U.S.  In 1892, some impoverished Scottish veterans of the war asked the U.S. government to mark their graves.  It appears that they received a bit more.  The monument includes the first statue of Lincoln in a foreign country (Manchester and London would get theirs later).  It also has a freed slave who is carrying a book, indicating that he is both free and educated.  What another fascinating example of how the Civil War touched the rest of the world.  If only there were more like this one.