New York State Grant To Repair Gettysburg Monument
By Deborah Fitts
April 2004
GETTYSBURG, Pa. - A prominent stone monument on
Little Round Top is among the first of more than 100 New York
monuments at Gettysburg to benefit from a $250,000 state grant
for
cleaning and restoration.
The monument to the 44th New York Infantry, which resembles
a miniature castle, will receive $14,000 in repairs. The money
will mainly go for a new handrail that was damaged last summer,
forcing closure of the monument's second-floor observation deck.
Park spokesman Katie Lawhon said in January that a contractor
was at work fabricating a new railing, which was expected to
be installed by early summer. The 44-foot-tall memorial was
constructed in 1893 and underwent major rehabilitation in 1995.
The New York legislature approved the quarter-million-dollar
grant in 2002 after years of lobbying by battlefield supporters.
An initial $35,000 became available last year. There are 111
monuments and markers to New York at Gettysburg, the most to
any state except
Pennsylvania.
The Rockland County Civil War Round Table is serving as the
nonprofit conduit for the state funds, which are administered
by the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
Round Table founder Jim Kralik said the effort to lobby the
state for the money
"was a long quest," but one that finally struck a
chord with legislators in Albany.
"If you remember the veterans of the Civil War through
the proper upkeep and care of memorials, then you're saying
you're going to remember the veterans of every war to come,"
said Kralik, who serves as sheriff of Rockland County. He is
also a licensed battlefield guide at Gettysburg and owns the
Artillery Ridge campground and stable on Taneytown Road.
Kralik hailed the efforts of State Sen. Robert Morahan, of Rockland
County, as well as former Sen. Joseph Holland. Round Table president
Paul Martin was among others who worked to make the grant a
reality, Kralik said.
New York is the third state to pass legislation to fund restoration
of its monuments at Gettysburg, after New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
New York had 23,000 troops deployed at Gettysburg, second only
to Pennsylvania, but had the most killed, wounded or missing
of any state - 6,700. More New York troops are buried in the
National Cemetery at Gettysburg than the dead of any other state.
Park officials said the grant will help spare the park's scarce
funds and ensure that the monuments get the attention they need.
Kralik said the grant, which will be completely funded by the
end of 2006, "is going to have a profound effect on the
New York monuments."
He said the state's contribution is appropriate given that the
monuments "were paid for by the people of the State of
New York in the first place."
Asking New Yorkers to pay to maintain them more than a century
later "was just one more step in that path," he said.
"We were very satisfied that it was the right thing to
do."
The $250,000 grant is expected to cover the cost of cleaning
and rehabilitating all 111 monuments.
