An image of the refurbished Friedrich Hecker obelisk in St. Louis’ Benton Park ready to be unveiled and just prior to the Sept. 9 ceremony. (Photo courtesy of Adam Hecker)photo of what remains of the Alton, Illinois prison. (Courtesy photo)

By Gerald Sonnenberg
Hecker Camp secretary, editor

A six-year, bi-state project to celebrate the life of Col. Friedrich K. Hecker concluded with two events. The first event was a ceremony on Sept. 8 in the Summerfield, Illinois cemetery where he is buried. Hecker lived and farmed nearby the small town. The second event was the rededication of the restored Hecker Obelisk in St. Louis, Missouri’s Benton Park.

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The ceremonies included a three-volley salute at Summerfield and presentation of colors at both events involving members of the Col. Hecker Camp in Illinois and U.S. Grant Camp #68 in Missouri, along with other SUVCW members, as well as others who graciously volunteered.

These celebrations were timed to coincide with the tour of a delegation of 30 people from Hecker’s birth town in Angelbachtal, Germany, including its current Mayor Frank Werner. Two authors of books on Hecker – Sabine Freitag and Steven N. Fuller – were also part of the delegation. The group arrived Sept. 7. During their weeklong visit, the group participated in the events on Sept. 8 and 9 to include sites in St. Louis and in Illinois like the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum in Springfield. They then headed for Cincinnati, Ohio Sept. 10 where another statue honoring Col. Hecker is located in Washington Park.

Approximately 80 people attended each ceremony in St. Louis and Summerfield. This includes former Missouri Congressman Russ Carnahan who attended the Benton Park event. The Benton Park event included a Proclamation from the City of St. Louis Mayor Kara Spencer in recognition of Col. Hecker, and one of Hecker’s great-great-great-granddaughters, Caroline Hecker, who is a reporter with local television station KMOV, participated in the unveiling of the restored obelisk along with her cousin Dr. Caroline Hecker. Hecker’s TV station covered the event. A link to the report is here https://www.firstalert4.com/2025/09/09/historic-monument-benton-park-restored-german-delegation-travels-st-louis-rededication-ceremony/.

Col. Hecker is considered by many to be one of the most influential 19th Century German-Americans. Before he was a colonel, he was a leader in his homeland of Baden, Germany during the 1848 Revolution. After emigrating to the United States, he first served in the Union Army as an enlisted man. He was quickly appointed an officer, leading two regiments to help defend and reunite his adopted country during the American Civil War.

“We were deeply moved by the ceremony at the cemetery, especially when your Team fired the rifle salute vollies. It gave us ‘Gänsehaut’ – goosebumps.” –Mayor Frank Werner

The Projects
The projects were completed under the leadership and support of the German-American Heritage Society of St. Louis, a group of organizations and individuals began the project in 2019 to include many of Col. Hecker’s descendants who live in and around St. Louis and elsewhere.

With the cooperation of the Summerfield Cemetery Association, Hecker Camp #443 members installed the directional sign to his grave, as well as a graphic sign with images of Hecker and an overview of his life in 2024. A duplicate informational sign was installed at Benton Park.

The Hecker Obelisk rededication in St. Louis’ Benton Park included a substantial number of individuals who worked to help bring the dilapidated monument back to life, as well as the delegation from Germany and Hecker descendants.

The monument’s restoration was accomplished with the cooperation of the City of St. Louis Parks Department and the City of St. Louis Board of Public Service.

A major goal of the monument’s restoration was to recreate original bronze elements which were stolen many years ago when the obelisk was vandalized. The north side of the monument featured a rondel with a bronze bas-relief portrait of Hecker, while the south side featured a bronze oakleaf wreath. The present-day recreations by Vlad Zhitomirsky were cast in resin with a bronze patina.

According to newspaper accounts of the time, Hecker was so renowned in the St. Louis area that the original 1882 dedication of this obelisk attracted some 15,000 people. That ceremony was preceded by a parade of so many groups that the procession itself stretched for one-half mile. People also lined the streets and watched from buildings along the parade route.

At the original dedication, Hecker’s granddaughter unveiled the obelisk. This time, two of Hecker’s great-great-great-granddaughters participated in the rededication.

Who was Friedrich Hecker?
Friedrich Karl Franz Hecker was born Sept. 28, 1811, in Baden, Germany. There, he became a lawyer, politician and revolutionary. He revered the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights and was one of the most popular speakers and protagonists of the 1848 Revolution where he worked to make Germany a Republic. When his and other’s efforts failed, he emigrated, along with many other “Forty-Eighters,” to the U.S. where he bought a farm and settled in Summerfield, Illinois about 18 miles east of Belleville.

Like most Forty-Eighters, his attention became increasingly focused on domestic political issues in the United States. He remained active intellectually and politically, gave lectures, supported the Turnverein (gymnastics clubs for physical fitness), played a role in the founding of the Republican Party and in the election of Abraham Lincoln and was strongly committed to the cause of abolition.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, he volunteered for the Union Army and first served as a private under General Franz Sigel, another Forty-Eighter from Baden. Hecker was subsequently appointed colonel and commanded the 24th Illinois Infantry regiment. He was then commissioned to recruit the 82nd Illinois Infantry Regiment, using his own funds in part for the purpose. He was severely wounded leading the 82nd at the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863. He missed the Battle of Gettysburg in July because of his wounds, but the 82nd went on to distinguish itself there. He later returned to command in the fall after his recovery until being granted an honorable release in March 1864.

After the war, Hecker mostly lived on his Illinois farm but became more involved in the German-language press and in lecture tours. During his lifetime he was recognized as an influential national figure, and his ties to St. Louis and Missouri included his writings for the Westliche Post, a premier German-American newspaper published in St. Louis.
On March 24, 1881, at the age of 69, he passed away at his farm. For his contributions, Hecker will be inducted into the virtual German American Hall of Fame http://gamhof.org in November.

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