On July 4, 1872, a site at the eastern end of Market square in Sunbury, was marked out by Judge Alexander Jordan and General Simon Cameron, and from that time plans were perfected for the erection of a memorial which should do justice to the boys from “Old Mother Northumberland” who had made the supreme sacrifice in that greatest of all civil wars in the world’s history.
The cornerstone was laid May 30, 1874, with a great Masonic ceremony. Robert L. Muench, of Harrisburg, district deputy grand master, acting for the grand master, was in charge of the exercises, assisted by Maclay C. Gearhart, Henry Y. Fryling, James M. McDevitt, Jacob R. Cressinger and William Hoover, the elective officers of Lodge No. 22, Free and Accepted Masons, of Sunbury.
There were many distinguished members of the order in attendance, hundreds of veterans of the Civil War, including a large delegation of the Seventy-ninth New York Cameronian Volunteers and thousands of citizens from Sunbury and the nearby towns.
The monument itself is an imposing shaft, resting upon a pedestal elevated upon a mound. At the outer edge are mounted four cannon used in the Civil War.
This shaft is surmounted by a lifesize statue in granite, of the gallant Colonel Cameron. It represents him clad in his military uniform and standing “at ease.” A tablet in one of the panels bears this inscription:
“James Cameron, of Northumberland County, Colonel of the Seventy-ninth New York Cameronian Volunteers. Fell at the head of his regiment at the Battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861, aged sixty-one years.
Battle of Minisink Fought Opposite
Lackawaxen July 22, 1779
On July 22, 1779, near what is now the little town of Lackawaxen, Pike County, Pa., was fought one of the fiercest Indian battles on record. This massacre actually took place in the State of New York at Minisink, where the town of Port Jervis, Orange County, now is. Only the Delaware River separated the battleground from Pike County, in this State.