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Resident urges Lowell City to restore Civil War gravesite after festival damage
Summary
A resident told city officials the gravesite and monument for Luther Ladd and Addison Whitney have been left unprotected and suffered damage during a recent Folk Fest; the speaker cited historical significance and $2,000 state and city contributions to the memorial.
A resident told officials that the gravesite of Luther Ladd and Addison Whitney—two men from Lowell who were killed early in the American Civil War—has been left without protective fencing and needs restoration. "We are taxed with preserving that area," the resident said, noting both men were buried where the Latin Whitney Monument now stands.
The speaker recounted that the two men answered President Abraham Lincoln's call for 75,000 volunteers, joined Company D of a Massachusetts regiment and were part of the early units organized to defend Washington, D.C. The resident said the state paid $2,000 and the city of Lowell paid $2,000 toward the memorial. Pointing to recent damage, the resident said, "People climb on the gravesite as they did over the weekend during the Folk Fest. People climb all over it. They throw trash on it, and they stomp on somebody's grave," and urged the city to restore protective measures and keep the site "honorable for the first two people killed in the Civil War."
