Arch of soldiers and sailors - a monument to the Americans who fought in the Civil War on the side of the North. It is situated in Brooklyn, at the Grand Army Plaza, and looks more than solemn.

The civil war of 1861-1865 left an indelible mark in the memory of the nation. In this battle of civilization clash between the two: the industrial North and the slave-owning South. During the war, it fell slavery, the country has opened the prospect of the formation of modern society. On the battlefield and in the rear were widely used science and technology: railways, telegraphs, steamships, battleships. The parties have resorted to total mobilization of its resources - a strategy born of world wars. Finally, it was the most murderous battle in US history: in the Civil killed about 750 thousand Americans.

Marble Arch at Grand Army Plaza was built in memory of the soldiers and sailors who defended the unity of the United States in the fight against the breakaway Confederate states. Designed along the lines of its Paris Arc de Triomphe architect John Duncan Hemingway. The foundation stone constructions laid a war hero, General William Tecumseh Sherman, in 1892, the arch was inaugurated US President Stephen Grover Cleveland.

At first, it looked quite modestly decorated her only two bas-relief on the inner walls with equestrian figures of President Abraham Lincoln and General Ulysses S. Grant (the work of sculptor William Rudolf O'Donovan). Over the next nine years here added monumental sculptural groups. The top of the arch crowned bronze Quadriga, implicate chariot with Colombia, traditionally symbolizing the United States, two winged angel of Victory announce her arrival. On the massive piers were installed multi-figured compositions "Spirit Army" and "Ghost Fleet", which performed the famous New York sculptor Frederick William MakManniz. The inscription on the memorial plaque reads: "Defenders Union. 1861-1865. "

To approach the arch is not so simple: the Grand Army Plaza - the largest transport interchange in Brooklyn, streams of cars constantly moving around the impressive building. Perhaps Brooklynites used to it. But September 11, 2001 people poured out onto Flatbush Avenue from the Brooklyn Public Library, were shocked by the incredible spectacle. Through the doorway Arc de Triomphe, preserving the memory of the bloodiest of the American war, they saw the burning and collapsing World Trade Center towers.