The monument features a 50-foot granite column crowned by The Call to Arms, a 17-foot bronze statue of the Goddess Columbia.

She stands facing north, with her foot on a cannon ball, a sword in one hand and a trumpet in the other.

Instead of traditional piers, four buttresses form attached arches that are supported by compressed Byzantine columns.

Three are adorned with a carved laurel wreath encircling a date – "1776," "1812," "1861-65" – and the fourth features the monument's dedication: "To the Men from Rensselaer County who fought for Their Country on Land and Sea."

Bronze relief panels on the base depict battle scenes of the Infantry, Cavalry and Artillery.