Monument to honor Civil War naval hero

History advocates in Spokane are holding a dedication at 2 p.m. Friday to commemorate a Civil War naval hero and Medal of Honor recipient who is buried in Spokane.

The monument to Amos Bradley is being placed at his gravesite in Greenwood Memorial Terrace in level 2 of the cemetery at 211 N. Government Way.

It will be the 22nd such monument erected in Spokane to honor people and events significant to local history.

Bradley, born in Dansville, New York, in 1837, enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1861 out of Boston and eventually was stationed on the USS Varuna, a steam-powered vessel with 8-inch guns. The ship was part of the Union blockade of Confederate ports.

The Varuna saw action during the blockade of New Orleans.

Bradley’s Medal of Honor citation read, “Although guns were raking the decks from behind him, Landsman Bradley remained steadfast at the wheel throughout the thickest of the fight, continuing at this station and rendering service with the greatest courage until his ship, repeatedly holed and twice rammed by the rebel ship Morgan, was beached and sunk.”

Bradley came to Spokane in 1885 with his family. He worked as a clerk for the A.P. Hotaling Co. and died in 1894.

The new monument is a collaborative effort of the Fairmount Memorial Association, Spokane Police Department History Book Committee, the Spokane Law Enforcement Museum and Jonas Babcock Chapter of the National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution.

Also participating in Friday’s dedication will be the Puget Sound Civil War Round Table, Washington Civil War Association and Daughters of the Union Veterans.