Tracing the history behind the Riverview Cemetery monument

Fallen heros monument at Riverview Cemetery in McCook. Courtesy photo/Susan Doak

Susan Doak

Southwest Nebraska Genealogy Society

I have a short story to tell about aging. I really don't mind it much, in fact, I am not upset that I can't work as hard now as I could when I was 30 because I can't imagine why I would want to. My eyesight does bother me though and today as I was repairing a life jacket in which the pads had all grouped together so that when you put it on you looked like the "Hunchback of Notre Dame," I broke a needle in my sewing machine. First I grabbed a new needle and tried to thread it without my glasses. Then I tried to thread it with my glasses. Then when I determined I needed a flashlight to improve my vision, I discovered the brand new needle was defective and actually had no hole to thread through. So obviously I can't even see well enough to see that!

If you go to Riverview Cemetery you will see a monument erected that reads: "IN MEMORY OF OUR FALLEN HEROES." The bottom of the monument notes: J.K. Barnes Post No. 207 G.A.R. The life-size statue standing at attention on the top is of a union soldier from the Civil War.

What got me wondering about this statue was the story I caught in the McCook Tribune (June 1, 1900) about Memorial Day services at the Riverview Cemetery, during which the "splendid monument to the unknown dead" was decorated by the Ladies Circle. The remaining members of the G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic) had been taken by carriage in a parade that started on Main Street and processed to Riverview Cemetery and then the whole enterouge went back to downtown McCook for a day of speeches and programs centered on the soldiers from the Civil War.

For the life of me, I couldn't place any monument to the unknown dead in our cemetery. Since I was already clear off subject (I was actually researching Chautauqua's), I hopped in my car and drove to Riverview only to find the statue mentioned above. There didn't seem to be any reference to unknown dead, but it clearly had been provided by the G.A.R..

Further research found the notation (McCook Tribune, April 14, 1899) that the G.A.R. returned the deed to the lot in the Longview Cemetery that had been donated by the city for "erection thereon a monument to the unknown dead." Secondly, in the same issue was an article in which the G.A.R. members announced they "....expect soon to place a large monument in Riverview Cemetery. The monument to the unknown dead will contain a soldier of life-sized proportion." Apparently because only one Civil War veteran was buried in Longview and 14 were buried in Riverview by 1900, the members had determined they wished to have the monument placed there. By 1904, the number of veterans from our nation's most deadly war buried in McCook cemeteries had more than doubled.

Between that article and the article of June 1, 1900, I could find no references to the monument, but apparently the G.A.R. did indeed follow through with their plans. Even though the statue was vandalized by the removal of the weapon carried, it is still a beautiful testimony to the men who fought in the Civil War and an enduring gift from the men who survived.

There will be no Southwest Nebraska Genealogy Society meetings or open libraries until September.