U.S. Corps of Topographical Engineers
Levi Tucker Scofield
1842 - 1872
Levi Tucker Scofield, of Cleveland, architect, sculptor, and engineer, was born in the family homestead on Walnut Street, Cleveland, November 9, 1842, son of William and Mary (Coon) Schofield. The surname was previously written Schofield, but the father and uncles of Mr. Scofield preferred to omit the " h " and he adhered to the new form. Both his parents were of New York State birth and ancestry. His grandfather, Benjamin Schofield, was a carpenter and builder in New York City, whence he removed with his family in 1816 to Cleveland, then a hamlet of some two hundred inhabitants. Many of the buildings of early Cleveland were erected by him, and he was a useful and respected citizen. William Schofield, the father of Levi T., learned the carpentering trade from his father and became a leading contractor and builder of the city of Cleveland, constructing numerous business blocks and other buildings of the better class for his times. He died in 1872.
Levi T. Scofield received a public school education and as a boy assisted in the undertakings of his father. At an early age he began studies in architecture and engineering, and when seventeen years old he went to Cincinnati for better advantages. Returning to Cleveland at the breaking out of the Civil War, he enlisted under the first call for volunteers as a private in Battery D, First regiment of Ohio light artillery. Upon the expiration of his term in 1862 he was commissioned second lieutenant in the One Hundred and Third Ohio volunteer infantry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in February, 1863, and to captain in November, 1864. His first active service was in Kentucky, where he participated in the pursuit of Kirby Smith; and he was in the pursuit of Morgan, was with Burnside in the campaign across the Cumberland Mountains into Tennessee, and fought in the siege of Knoxville and at the repulse of Longstreet. The engineering abilities of young Scofield attracted the attention of his superior officers, and he was frequently assigned to duty as an army engineer. From June, 1863, to June, 1865, he was so employed continuously. In March, 1864, he was temporarily made provost marshal of the twenty-third corps, and soon afterward he was appointed aide-de-camp and engineer on the staff of General J. D. Cox. During the Atlanta campaign he was at Resaca and other engagements in that neighborhood, at Kenesaw Mountain, and at the siege and capture of Atlanta. Afterward he took part in the battle of Franklin, the most noteworthy part of the Nashville campaign, culminating in the occupation of the city and the pursuit of Hood. He later wrote, "The Retreat from Pulaski to Nashville, Battle of Franklin, Tennessee - November 30, 1864," which was published in 1909. Early in 1865 he joined in the operations in North Carolina, and he was present at the capture of Raleigh and the surrender of Johnston.
After receiving his honorable discharge from the army, Captain Scofield came home to Cleveland and resumed his professional studies in architecture and engineering, with attention also to sculpture. For some months he was similarly engaged in New York, also being employed there as an architectural draughtsman. He then established himself regularly in professional work in Cleveland, where he has continued to the present time in the enjoyment of very marked success and with a distinguished reputation. Of the numerous important buildings erected by Mr. Scofield, it is quite impossible to speak in detail. Those of a distinctive public character include the Cleveland House of Correction, the Athens and Columbus State Hospitals for the Insane, the Soldiers and Sailors' Orphans' Home at Xenia, the Raleigh (North Carolina) Penitentiary, the Cleveland Central High School, and the Mansfield Reformatory. In 1901 he completed the Schofield Building at Euclid Avenue and East Ninth Street, Cleveland, a structure fourteen stories high and having four hundred and twenty-nine offices. This is still one of the representative business blocks of the city. It is owned by Mr. Scofield.
The most conspicuous work of Mr. Scofield is the Cuyahoga County Soldiers and Sailors' Monument, which is the dominating feature of the public square of Cleveland and by far the most considerable, ornate, and meritorious monumental edifice in that city and the state of Ohio. For seven and one-half years he devoted his services gratuitously to this great enterprise, and in addition he discharged out of his private fortune obligations aggregating fifty-seven thousand, five hundred dollars. The monument was dedicated on the 4th of July, 1894. By a vote of the commissioners the bronze bust of Captain Scofield was ordered placed over the south door of the interior, in recognition of "his brilliant services as an architect and sculptor to the people and to the commissioners." The only other then living man so honored was General James Barnett, who held the highest rank of any soldier of Cuyahoga county, and whose bust was placed over the north door, opposite that of Captain Scofield.
He was also the architect and sculptor of the state monument known as "Our Jewels," which was placed in front of the Ohio Building at the World's Fair in Chicago and later transferred to the Capitol grounds in Columbus, where it still stands.
Mr. Scofield is a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion and the Grand Army of the Republic and a fellow of the American Institute of Architects. He is now the only survivor of the notable social organization of Cleveland young men called the Ark, which flourished before, during, and after the Civil War.
He married, June 27, 1867, in Kingsville, Ohio, Elizabeth C. Wright, daughter of Marshall and Sarah Wright. Their surviving children are: William M. and Sherman W., both associated with their father, and Harriet E., wife of Winthrop G. Bushnell, of New Haven, Connecticut. Another son, Donald C., by profession an architect, was killed in a railroad wreck March 3, 1905, while on the way to the presidential inauguration at Washington with the Engineer battalion of the Ohio national guard, of which he was first lieutenant, commanding one of the companies. The Scofields were members of First Baptist Church and were buried in Lake View Cemetery
Biography and bottom right image taken from, Randall, Emilius Oviatt and Daniel Joseph Ryan, History of Ohio: the rise and progress of an American state, Volume 6: The Century History Co, New York, 1915
Middle right image from Scofield, Levi T. The Retreat from Pulaski to Nashville, Tenn.: Battle of Franklin, Tennessee. Cleveland, Press of the Caxton Co., 1909.
Top right image of Scofield in uniform from USAMHI