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HARTINGTON — Private George Shannon has a new home in Hartington.
Several volunteers got together last week to move the statue from the Hartington Public Library entryway to the Cedar County Museum.
A new shelter had recently been crafted for him to protect the wooden sculpture from being damaged by the weather.
The Pvt. Shannon statue was initially placed at the present-day site of the Veteran’s Memorial. The statue has spent the last few years at the Hartington Public Library.
On Thursday, April 10, Dan Kathol and Jeff Olsen, along with the help of Evan Anderson, Kerby Hochstein, and David Newsam, moved Shannon to his forever home at the Cedar County Historical Museum in Hartington.
Shannon now sits behind the museum, near the historic log cabin, in a wooden structure built by Jeff Olsen.
The Shannon Trail was founded in 2001 to commemorate Private Shannon’s adventures.
This 180-mile trail travels through 16 towns in Cedar and Knox counties along with the Santee Sioux and the Ponca Native American tribes. The trail was developed to help observe the bicentennial of Lewis and Clark’s journey through this region.
Each of the 16 communities was gifted a hand-carved wooden statue of Shannon. These statues were originally carved by Creighton artist, Joe Serres.
Hartington is the proud home to one of these statues. Shannon, at the age of 18, became the youngest member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, an 8,000 mile journey to explore the Louisiana Territory 1804 1806. George Shannon was born circa 1787 in Pennsylvania. He met Meriweather Lewis while visiting Pittsburgh as Lewis awaited the completion of the keelboat needed for this expedition.
Soon after, in October 1803, Shannon enlisted in the Corps of Discovery, In 1804, near Yankton S.D., Shannon lost track of the group while he was searching for lost horses. He was separated from the expedition for 16 days. Shannon survived only off wild grapes and a rabbit he shot using a bullet he had carved from a stick. On Sept. 11, 1804, the group found Shannon sitting near the Missouri River Bank, noting the young man had nearly died of starvation. The museum is open to the public on Sundays, May through August, from 2 – 4 p.m., or by appointment.
Stop in and visit Private Shannon along with countless other unique historical artifacts housed at the museum.
