The upper section of the monument is engraved with (front) Resacca • Gettysburg • Chickamauga • March to the Sea, (left) Shiloh • Perryville • Vicksburg • Nashville, (right) Antietam • Franklin • Kennesaw Mt. • Fredricksburg, and (back) Bentonville • Atlanta • Mission Ridge • Stone River.

The lower section of the monument features two panels. The front reads, “Erected 1912 by the citizens of Gibson County, Indiana in honor of the valor and patriotism of the 2200 soldiers and sailors who enlisted from Gibson County in the Civil War of 1861 to 1865. A tribute to the memory of the 500 who gave the full measure of devotion to their Country.” The left panel features this inscription:

“It is rather for us, the living, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain —– That this Nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom —– and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.”

(Gettysburg Address)
A. Lincoln.

The right panel reads:

“On fame’s eternal camping ground,
Their silent tents are spread,
and glory guards with solemn round,
The bivouac of the dead.”

The back panel features those who helped lead the monument’s erection. The Board of County Commissioners included Joseph P. Yochum, Gerhard C. Frohbieter, and George A. Knowles. The Soldiers Monument Committee included David W. Smith (Chairman), Joseph K. McGary, Joseph Moore, William W. Blair, and James W. Lewis (Secretary). The base of the monument also features four soldiers and two cannons.

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