In a city filled with World War I monuments, one of the most distinctive is just across Van Cortlandt Park East in the triangle formed by E. 238th and Oneida Ave, across the street from the Nimham Monument. It consists of a concrete sphere on which sits a sculpture of an American bald eagle, all balanced on a stand containing plaques of Woodlawn Heights soldiers who gave up their lives in the “Great War.” One of them, Private Howard Buse, was killed in the United States, as he was standing guard on the Mill Rift railroad bridge over the Delaware River near Port Jervis and was struck by a train.
Daniel Nimham and his group were not Oneida Indians; it’s thought that the name commemorates the gunboat that Admiral David Farragut (who is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery) commanded at the Battle of New Orleans during the Civil War. The vessel was constructed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
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8/27/18