A
simple boulder with a bizzare past. The
Thirteenth United States Infantry was part of Major General Wm. T. Sherman's XV
Corps, Army of the Tennessee, but the unit was later to become known as "Buffalo's
Own Regiment" throughout its Spanish American War exploits because of a long stint
as the Fort Porter garrison.
A monument constructed from a boulder was given to "Buffalo's Own" as
a special tribute. When
the fort was demolished in favor of the International Peace Bridge in 1925, the
boulder was removed to a place outside of the Buffalo and Erie County Historical
Society where it may still be seen. Fort
Porter is now the site of the bridge abutment supporting the Peace Bridge 1898
Monument Buffalo's
Saturn Club presented a silver cup to the 13th US Infantry in 1898, marking the
unit's Spanish American War service. A subscription drive soon flowered, seeking
nothing larger than five-dollar donations from citizens who wished to see a monument
erected in the 13th's honor, and $650 was quickly obtained, much of it from schoolchildren.
An
egg-shaped boulder of monumental proportions -- weighing twenty tons and measuring
nine feet at its widest -- was to be moved to Buffalo from the Lower Niagara Gorge
near Lewiston. A
bronze plaque would be mounted on the massive rock, bearing the following message:
To
commemorate the gallantry of the officers and enlisted men of the Thirteenth Regiment,
US Infantry, in the campaign against Santiago de Cuba. First at San Juan Hill,
July 1st, 1898, as they were at Vicksburg in 1863. Erected by the Citizens of
Buffalo 1899. There
were a few peculiarities surrounding the monument. As soon as the imposing boulder
had been selected from all others in the gorge, local Native Americans protested
its removal because the rock was impregnated with spirits and possessed magic
properties. Anglers who frequented the Lower Gorge also complained, claiming the
stone was a good fishing spot. The
boulder was relocated despite the objections and placed on the site of old Fort
Porter in what we now call Front Park. It was to be unveiled for soldiers and
civilians in a grand ceremony planned for April 20, 1899. The 13th US Infantry,
however, received last-minute orders which sent them to the Philippines on that
very day, so the plaque and its rock were unceremoniously put on public display
at sundown, April 19. The
regiment did well on its new assignment but never returned to Buffalo. 1957
Alarm Years
passed and so did Fort Porter. Situated alongside Sheridan Terrace near a subsequent
baseball diamond, the 13th US Infantry Memorial provided a perch from which many
a person watched many a game. Then it disappeared, and Buffalo resident John G
Putnam finally noticed it was missing during 1957. "My brother wrote, asking if
I could get the exact wording on the tablet for his friend who is a Spanish American
War veteran, but I went all through the park and couldn't locate the stone anywhere."
Mr.
Putnam quickly took his puzzlement to the Buffalo Historical Society, where Society
Director Wilbur H Glover was able to provide a photograph but no ideas as to the
memorial's location. Dr. Glover eventually contacted Buffalo Commissioner of Parks
John Leone, who took the search a few more steps toward absurdity. He discovered
that the twenty-ton rock had been buried during 1955 when a new approach for the
Peace Bridge was built. Leone thought it was "near an embankment behind the new
Customs Freight House." Before bulldozers pushed the monument into oblivion, its
bronze tablet was removed by a Buffalo Parks Department crew, but the Department
no longer had the plaque. Many people had seen the boulder buried, and several
individuals came forward to point out where it rested under four feet of dirt.
The
City promised to restore the monument, even obtaining a picture of the bronze
plaque for its duplication. Nothing more had been done by early 1958, however,
when Dr. Glover proposed that the boulder be placed near the BHS museum. The John
W Cowper Company would donate the equipment and manpower to recover the rock and
move it.The Parks Department promised a quick review of Glover's proposal and
prompt notice of permission to proceed. During August of 1958, however, Parks
Commissioner Patrick J McGroder Jr. informed Glover that there were some conditions
attached to an official approval. The Society would be responsible "to take care
of backfilling, replacing topsoil, and re-seeding the area." In addition, the
City also required "a suitable concrete platform" for the boulder on the Historical
Society grounds. At this point, the debate over responsibility disappeared from
the newspapers. 1958
Rededication The
13th US Infantry boulder was rededicated on Veterans Day, November 11, 1958, at
its new location next to the BHS museum. Officials of the Society and the City
were on hand, as were four veterans of the Spanish American War -- Wm. E Beilman
(Buffalo), Louis Wohlrab (Buffalo), Wm. A Sikora (Elma), and Henry C Wendt (Tonawanda).
The new bronze tablet duplicates the original wording, adding one last line --
"Rededicated by the Buffalo Historical Society 1958." | 
