Veterans of Indian Wars Memorial
While the statue atop the Veterans of Indian Wars Memorial in Provo is rumored to be a mass-produced Union soldier, it was actually carved by a local artist.
The Veterans of Indian Wars Memorial, located on the southwest corner of the intersection of 500 West and Center Street in Provo, UT, was constructed by the Sons of the Utah Pioneers and unveiled July 24, 1909. The memorial is dedicated to the original settlers of Provo and residents who fought in Utah's Indian Wars from 1850 to 1868. These wars included the Walker War, the Battle of Provo River, and other conflicts. The northeast plaque lists twenty-eight individuals and thirteen families as original settlers of Provo in 1849. The southeast, southwest, and northwest plaques list 121 veterans of the Indian Wars.
There is a story in circulation that a New England company mass produced stock Civil War memorial statues in 1908 in preparation for the fiftieth anniversary of the war in 1911 and that the statue on top of the Provo Indian Wars Memorial is one of these (a statue of a Union soldier). However, this rumor is untrue. "Victory," the statue that rests atop the memorial, was sculpted by Cyrus Edwin Dallin, renowned sculptor, native of Springville, and creator of The Angel Moroni statue that was placed on the LDS Salt Lake Temple spire.
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