In 1900, local sculptor Leon H. Moore won immediate support from Pipestone County Grand Army of the Republic posts for his plan to create a veterans' memorial on the county courthouse lawn, with a base engraved with the names of county veterans of the Civil War and Spanish-American War. County G.A.R. posts and individuals in each of the county's twelve townships donated the money to buy two train car loads of Bedford, Indiana, limestone, and although the sculpture took Moore nearly a year to complete, he donated his labor. The memorial was given to the county in a special ceremony on July 4, 1901. Its inscription records the names of Civil War soldiers buried in Pipestone County, Civil War soldiers remembered in memory, and Spanish American War soldiers enlisting from Pipestone County in 1898, and it identifies L. H. Moore as sculptor. After a 1997 survey funded by a Save Outdoor Sculpture grant identified problems and threats to the statue, the Pipestone County Commissioners voted to preserve it. In 1999, with help from the Pipestone County Museum, the county received a grant from the Minnesota Historical Society State Capital Projects Grants-in-Aid program providing nearly half of the more than $35,000 needed for preservation and restoration, with the remainder coming from the County of Pipestone, county VFW and American Legion posts and auxiliaries, community groups, and private citizens. The statue was rededicated on August 12, 2000, and restoration took place in the fall of that year, preserving Moore's artistry and the names of these veterans for future generations.