By authority of an act of the Pennsylvania Legislature approved June 13th 1907, this monument was erected to honor the patriotic devotion, heroism, and self-sacrifice of officers and soldiers of the Pennsylvania Volunteers who died as prisoners of war in the Confederate military prison at Salisbury, North Carolina, during the War of the Rebellion and were buried among unknown Union soldiers and sailors in eighteen trenches at the southeast side of the monument. It declares that many Pennsylvania soldiers are buried here and presents them as citizens of a commonwealth founded so that all men would be equal and, under just laws, free to enjoy their inalienable rights in the pursuit of happiness, unmolested by king, noble, or prejudiced class. It says they used the sword only to preserve the peace and unity of their country, recalls Valley Forge as a test of the courage and fortitude of the Patriot Army and Gettysburg as proof that the nation could not be broken, and says Pennsylvania, following the Roman example of raising no emblems of triumph over a foe, dedicated this monument to perpetuate the memory of the dead rather than to celebrate victory. Their loyalty is held in lasting reverence, and the place is deemed sacred because they perished here.