Bill to create Civil War monument wins first-round approval

The First Regiment Nebraska Volunteer Infantry would be honored under a bill that advanced from general file March 5.

LB850, introduced by Lincoln Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks, would authorize a committee to create a monument to the regiment at the Fort Donelson National Battlefield in Tennessee where it fought alongside Union soldiers during the Civil War.

The bill would direct the Nebraska Secretary of State to submit to the U.S. Secretary of the Interior a written request to approve and authorize placement of the monument and would create a committee to provide for the creation, construction, transportation, installation and unveiling of the monument.

The monument’s construction would be privately funded, Pansing Brooks said.

“A modest monument to the First Nebraska Regiment at the Fort Donelson National Battlefield will call attention to the significant contributions Nebraska made to the Union’s success in the Civil War, which brought an end to the scourge of slavery in this country,” she said.

A Government, Military and Veterans Affairs technical amendment was adopted 35-0 and lawmakers advanced the bill to select file on a 36-0 vote.