The triumphal arch of the soldiers and sailors monument to the Americans who fought during the Civil war with the North. It is located in Brooklyn, Grand army Plaza, and looks more than solemnly.

Civil war 1861-1865, left an indelible mark in the memory of the nation. In this battle between two civilizations: the industrial North and the slave South. During the war, Palo slavery, before the country opened up to the prospect of the formation of modern society. On the battlefields and in the rear was widely used advances in science and technology: railroads, Telegraph, steamships, ironclads. The sides resorted to total mobilization of its resources – threshold strategy world wars. Finally, it was the most lethal battle in U.S. history: on the fronts of the Civil have been approximately 750 thousand Americans.

Marble arch at Grand army Plaza erected in memory of soldiers and sailors who defended the unity of the United States in the fight against the breakaway Confederacy of the southern States. Designed it on the model of Paris ' arc de Triomphe architect John Hemingway Duncan. The first Foundation stone of construction was laid, war hero General William Tecumseh Sherman, in 1892, the arch was formally opened by the President of the United States, Stephen Grover Cleveland.

At first it looked pretty modestly adorned her only two bas-reliefs on the inner walls with equestrian figures of President Abraham Lincoln and General Ulysses Grant (work of the sculptor Rudolf William O'donovan). Over the next nine years here added a monumental sculptural group. The top of the arch was crowned with a bronze Quadriga, the leading chariot with Colombia, traditionally a symbol of the United States, two-winged angel of Victory Herald her arrival. On massive piers were installed multi-track "Ghost army" and "Ghost fleet", who performed the famous new York sculptor Friedrich Wilhelm Macmannis. The inscription on the plaque reads: "to the Defenders of the Union. 1861-1865".

To approach the arch is not so easy: Grand army Plaza – the largest transport interchange in Brooklyn, the flow of vehicles continuously move around the impressive facilities. Probably the brooklynites used to it. But September 11, 2001, people who get enough sleep on Flatbush Avenue from the Brooklyn public library, were shocked by the unbelievable sight. Through the doorway of the triumphal arch that keeps the memory of the bloodiest American war, they saw the burning and collapsing world trade center towers.