Battle of Fredericksburg • Tour the Battlefield • Monuments & Markers • Armies
The monument to Confederate Sergeant Richard R. Kirkland is along the Sunken Road, Stop One on the Fredericksburg battlefield driving tour. The monument is near the Angel of Marye’s Heights wayside marker that briefly tells the story of Kirkland’s heroism and compassion during the Battle of Fredericksburg.
About the monument
The monument was erected in 1965. It consists of a larger than life bronze sculpture of Sergeant Kirkland giving water to a wounded Federal soldier, set on a 5 1/2 foot high granite base. The monument was created by sculptor Felix Weihs De Weldon, best known for his United States Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima Memorial)
From the front of the monument:
In Memoriam
Richard Rowland Kirkland
Co. G, 2nd South Carolina Volunteers
C.S.A.
At the risk of his life, this American
soldier of sublime compassion, brought
water to his wounded foes at
Fredericksburg. The fighting men on
both sides of the line called him
“The Angel of Marye’s Heights.”
From the east side of the monument:
Dedicated
to
National Unity
and the
Brotherhood of Man
From the rear of the monument:
Born Kershaw County, S.C., August, 1843
Sergeant at Fredericksburg, December 1862
Lieutenant at Gettysburg, July, 1863
Killed in action at Chickamauga, September 1863
From the west side of the monument:
Erected by
The State of South Carolina
The Commonwealth of Virginia
Collateral Descendents of
Richard Kirkland and
Citizens of the United States.
Dr. Richard Nunn Canier
Executive Director
of the
Richard Rowland Kirkland
Memorial Foundation.