When “Fame” was erected in 1905, it could have joined the 1875 Civil War monument honoring the unknown soldiers at the Historic Salisbury National Cemetery.

Instead, it was sited in the median of our busiest street. At the time, city officials wanted a more prominent place to honor Confederate war dead than Union dead. In 1908 and 1910, the states of Maine and Pennsylvania erected memorials to their Civil War dead in the Historic Salisbury National Cemetery. That is where “Fame” belonged and belongs now.

City officials today should finally integrate the Salisbury National Cemetery or the annex at the Salisbury VA Medical Center and move “Fame” there. Salisbury’s National Cemetery is the best place to honor all the Americans who died in the Civil War. It is hallowed, emotional and educational ground.

— Pete Prunkl

Salisbury