Isaac O. Best, History of the 121st New York State Infantry

At the Dedicatory Exercises held on October 10, 1889, music was furnished by the Gettysburg band, prayer was offered and the benediction pronounced by the Rev. J. R. Dunkerly of Gettysburg. The monument was unveiled by Mrs. Maria Upton Hanford, an Oration was given by the Hon. A. M. Mills of Little Falls and an original poem was read by Prof. A. H. J. Watkins.

Colonel Cronkite, who presided, read letters from Generals H. G. Wright, H. W. Slocum and Colonel Cowen, who commanded the battery frequently mentioned in the history. He also read a short speech made by General Upton when he entered Augusta, Georgia, on May 8, 1865.

“Soldiers, four years ago the Governor of Georgia, at the head of an armed force, hauled down the American flag at this Arsenal. The President of the United States called the nation to arms to repossess the forts and arsenals that had been seized. After four years of sanguinary war and conflict, we execute the order of the great preserver of the Union and liberty, and to-day we again hoist the Stars and Stripes over the Arsenal at Augusta. Majestically, triumphantly, she rises.”

The company that assembled at the dedication of the monument consisted of ninety-eight persons, comrades, their wives and sons. A picture of them clustered around the monument was taken. It may be well to add that the number of surviving comrades of the regiment at that date was reported to be 163, and the contributors to the monumental fund numbered 581. The cost of the monument and the two markers was $2,000.00. It is accounted one of the finest regimental monuments on the battle field of Gettysburg.