Important Information

Wednesday, February 25, 1863

Garrison duty in Memphis gave the soldiers from the 130th Illinois Infantry an opportunity to enjoy the city.  As the beautiful spring weather continued to improve, the Illinoisans would spend their leisure time taking enjoyable walks throughout the city.

Charles Johnson described one of his favorite Memphis destinations:

Nowhere was the soft spring air more pleasure-giving than in a little park near the business part of the city, name forgotten. In this was a statue of General Jackson, having engraved upon the marble pedestal the hero's well-known words: "The Federal Union it must and shall be preserved!" This patriotic sentiment was too much for the eyes of some miserable vandal, and the word "Federal" had been obliterated with a chisel or other sharp tool.

From the Wisconsin Historical Society (http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/diary/003890.asp) we can learn more about the Monument of Jackson: 

 Andrew Jackson, President of the United States from 1829 to 1837, was one of the founders of Memphis in 1819. To commemorate him, the citizens of Memphis erected a marble bust in 1859 which bore the words, "The federal union: It must and shall be preserved" on its pedestal. Jackson uttered the phrase during the Nullification Crisis of 1828-1832, when South Carolina declared any state's right to nullify federal laws that ran contrary to its interest. President Jackson firmly opposed this view and threatened to send troops to South Carolina to ensure that federal law prevailed. He spoke these words as a toast during the Democratic Party's Jefferson Day dinner in 1830 and they were later engraved on the pedestal of his statue. The monument became an unintentional symbol of Union sentiment after the city's occupation in July 1862, and a Confederate sympathizer had gained national notoriety for trying to chip away the offensive quote.