Soldiers and Sailors Monument, Civil War memorial in Nashua, US

The Soldiers and Sailors Monument is a Civil War memorial in central Nashua, set in the triangle formed by Concord, Amherst and Nashville streets. It is a square, castellated column of Nashua granite on a Quincy granite base, topped by a figure of Victory in Roman garments holding an American shield and a laurel wreath. Bronze statues of a soldier and a sailor stand at its base.

The monument's cornerstone was laid on May 30, 1889, and it was dedicated on October 15, 1889, honoring Nashua's American Civil War dead. T. M. Perry of Messrs. Frederick & Field designed it, carved the Victory figure and did all the granite work. Sculptors Caspar Buberl and S. J. O'Kelley modeled the bronze soldier and sailor, cast by the Henry Bonnard Bronze Company and Melzar Hunt Mosman.

Bronze reliefs on the base show the Goddess of Liberty watching the South reconcile with the North, a Union soldier handing a scroll to a kneeling freed figure, and the sinking of the Alabama by the Kearsarge on June 19, 1864. Bronze statues of a soldier and a sailor stand at the base, and a saddle draped with cavalry gear faces the front.

The monument stands in the open triangle where Concord, Amherst and Nashville streets meet in central Nashua, so it can be viewed at any hour from the surrounding sidewalks. There is no interior, no lift and no observation deck; the bronze soldier, sailor and reliefs are best examined up close on foot.

The monument's bronze reliefs include one depicting the sinking of the CSS Alabama by the USS Kearsarge on June 19, 1864, a naval battle involving the Nashua-built ship. The Emancipation bas-relief shows a Union soldier handing a scroll to a kneeling figure. Both panels were made and cast by Melzar Hunt Mosman.