Henry Lawton statue near northwest corner of Lake and Crescent Avenues in Lakeside Park South shown in Street View photo on Google map.
Page 41 of the 91 page document FORT WAYNE MONUMENTS PLAQUES AND MARKERS IN CITY PARKS Compiled: 2020 at City of Fort Wayne Parks & Recreation has a photo of the monument and the plaque statement: BRONZE MONUMENT SCULPTURE OF MAJOR GENERAL HENRY W. LAWTON ON LIMESTONE PEDESTAL HONORING HIS LIFE AND SERVICE TO COUNTRY LOCATED IN THE PARK AT THE INTERSECTION OF LAKE AND CRESCENT AVENUES FREDERICK S. HIBBARD, SCULPTOR DEDICATED: OCTOBER 22, 1921
Page 535 THE MEMORIAL TO HENRY W. LAWTON. Page 535 While Fort Wayne was fortunate in that none of her volunteer soldiers died in battle during the Spanish-American war, it was called upon to suffer deeply the sorrow which came with the news of the tragic death of their former townsman. Major General Henry W. Lawton, who was shot down by a Filipino sharpshooter in the Philippines, on December 19, 1899. When the body of General Lawton reached Fort Wayne, on the way to Washington, where it was interred in the National Cemetery, the flag-draped casket was conveyed from the railway station to the rotunda of the AUen county courthouse by an escort consisting of several bands of music and many military and other societies, but the most impressive portion of the procession was that in which appeared the men who were his comrades in arms during the civil war. The tattered battle- flag of Lawton 's Thirtieth Indiana regiment was carried by Thomas Toomey, who had borne it through the period of the rebellion. Sixteen other survivors of the same regiment were also in line. Page 536 The caissou, bearing the remains, Avas followed by a detachment of veterans of the Ninth Indiana regiment in which Lawton first enlisted. The casket, unopened, was viewed by saddened thousands. (See Chapter XXXVII).
Page 455 - A WAR-TIME PORTRAIT OF HENRY W. LAWTON from The pictorial history of Fort Wayne, Indiana : a review of two centuries of occupation of the region about the head of the Maumee River by Griswold, B. J. (Bert Joseph), 1873-1927; Taylor, Samuel R., Mrs, Publication date 1917 on Archive.org.
The portrait of Henry W. Lawton was made In 1864, when he was a captain, at the age of twenty-one years. No citizen of Indiana has risen to greater heights of military fame than did General Law ton, who was proud to call Fort Wayne his home to the end of his eventful life. This lovalty is feellnglv exhibited in a letter dated August 8, 1899. Five months before his tragic death In the Philippines, addressed to A. S. Covell, of Sion S. Bass post, G. A. R., at Fort Wayne. General Lawton wrote: "I have never wavered in my allegiance to the state of Indiana, and have never for a moment contemplated a change of residence — Fort Wayne, Ind., Is the only place where I could legally cast a vote or where I could have voted since I attained my majority." and then he adds the pathetic words which seemed to indicate his knowledge of the events of the near future: "I have heard of the death of many of the old comrades, and feel often that the time is close at hand when I, too, must join the great majority as they go marching along." Within a few weeks the body of Henry W. Lawton reposed in state in the Allen county courthouse and his home city united in the highest tribute to his honored memory.
Page 456 - MAJOR GENERAL HENRY W. LAWTON. A word at this point with reference to Fort Wayne's greatest military leader, Major General Henry W. Lawton. is entirely fitting. The father of Henry W. Lawton came to Fort Wayne during the building of the Wabash and Erie canal, but the family did not locate here permanently until 1858, at which time Henry, who was born at Manhattan, Ohio, in 1843, entered the Methodist college as a student. He enlisted as a private in the company organized by W. P. Segur, which became a part of the Ninth Indiana regiment, Page 457 - In 1876 he was prominent in the campaigns against the Sioux and the Ute Indians. General Nelson A. Miles chose him in 1886 to lead a picked body of men to capture the bloodthirsty Indian chief, Geronimo. Within three months, on scant, unwholesome ra- tions, the little command traversed 1,396 miles of Mexican soil before the chief and his band were captured. At the beginning of the Spanish-American war General Lawton, then a lieutenant-col- onel, was promoted to the office of major-general of volunteers. He was in command of the Second division of the Fifth army corps before Santiago, and became "the hero of El Caney." At the close of the war he was transferred to the Philippines and placed in com- mand of Manila. Here he began an active campaign against the Page 458 - native insurgents. On December 19, 1899, a bullet from the rifle of a Filipino sharpshooter at San Mateo brought to him almost instant death. The body of General Lawtou, conveyed to America for burial at Arlington cemetery, lay in state in the Allen county court- house while thousands viewed the closed casket. (See Chapter XLVI.) That Governor James A. Mount failed to recognize Law- ton's standing in the estimation of the Indiana veterans in 1898 is shown by his words in reply to the proposition to honor him with the appointment of brigadier general at tlie outbreak of the Spanish- American war. "Lawton is an absolutely unknown quantity in Indiana," said he. "His selection would disgust and disrupt the National Guard. I protest vigorously against his appointment. It must not be. He has no identity with Lidiana. If the powers that be insist on his preference, we may as well abandon the camp and
Page 458 - disband the troops." The failure to appoint Lawton at this time prevented the service of the Indiana troops beyond the border of the United States.
Born on March 17, 1843, near Toledo, in the town of Manhattan, Ohio. His millwright father George came to Fort Wayne to build mills in Allen County accompanied by his brothers Daniel and Charles. He joined the first Indiana regiment in 1861 when the Civil War erupted. During his military career he rose to General rank and was killed December 19, 1899 during the Phillipine Insurection. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. May 30, 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt was in Indianapolis to dedicate the statue of General Henry Lawton at Garfield Park in Indianapollis. He also placed a wreath on the grave of President Benjamin Harrison at Crown Hill Funeral Home & Cemetery.
#OTD in 1864, Civil War Major General Henry Ware Lawton commanded Company A of the 30th Indiana Infantry during the Battle of Atlanta. He was awarded a Medal of Honor for leading a “charge of skirmishers against enemy rifle pits and… successfully resisted two determined attacks of the enemy to retake the works.” After the Civil War, Lawton continued serving in the US military until his death in 1899 during the Philippine-American War.
Pictured below is General Lawton, courtesy of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.
Henry Lawton with the audio: “Long Hank Lawton” featuring Tom Castaldi. Courtesy of 89.1 WBOI
on the
Kekionga Trail 11 stops on the
Heritage Trail by ARCH ( Architecture and Community Heritage).
October 22, 1921, Fort Wayne erected a bronze statue dedicated to General Lawton in Lakeside Park. The Fort Wayne Sentinel newspaper had a photo February 24, 1921.
Gen. Henry Lawton is honored with a statue in Lakeside Park. Lawton enlisted in the army in 1861 and served in the 9thn Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He continued his military career after the Civil War, serving until he was killed in 1899 in the Philippines.General Henry "Hank" Lawton Statue with photo by by Laura Weston-Elchert in Allen County and the Civil War Gallery in The News-Sentinel newspaper.
Lawton was a Civil War hero and the first Fort Wayne native to win the Congressional Medal of Honor. The story of his life is truly interesting and the statue on the corner presides well over the neighborhood. One of the many mysteries in Fort Wayne is why Lawton is in Lakeside Park, and not Lawton Park. Copied from Who Put That There? January 3, 2011 by Nancy McCammon-Hansen on the History Center Notes & Queries blog.
The perfect storm is brewing in Fort Wayne about whose statue is standing in which park named what. As far as I can understand it, Foster’s statue is in Swinney Park instead of Foster Park, Lawton’s statue is located in Lakeside Park instead of Lawton Park, Chief Little Turtle is hidden in Headwaters Park, the Civil War memorial is in Lawton Park, Anthony Wayne’s statue is overwhelmed by trees in Freimann Square, and the Memory statue in Memorial Park is of a woman whose head is missing. Copied from Let’s rename the city’s parks so they match the statues that are in them by Nancy Carlson Dodd posted August 16, 2013 in The News-Sentinel newspaper.
