The proposal to erect a monument on the battlefield to commemorate the Swedish warriors who had lost their lives there was raised first in 1890 by then Major Claus Grill. As a participant in the Russian-Swedish military exchange program, he had often been to Poltava and the battlefield. In an article published in 1902 he made an appeal to the public for donations. Although his idea to erect a monument to the soldiers who had fought so valiantly under Charles XII was welcomed by HM King Oscar II, it also triggered fierce debates in the press. While one group considered the idea to be shameful, others appealed for Christian mercy contending that fallen soldiers deserve a cross to be installed upon their last resting place regardless of their nationality. By this time a famous Swedish sculptor, Theodor Lundberg, had completed a model of the monument and submitted it to the public. This monument represented a Swedish mother using a Swedish flag to cover her fallen son who is still holding a broken sword. The sign on the monument's foundation stated: "To our fallen sons from the motherland". Lundberg's project was approved by high ranking authorities but for a different location. Instead of being erected on the battlefield, it was placed in front of the Swedish Army Museum. The monument was unveiled on November 6th 1904 in the presence of HM King Oscar II.
Soon after the dedication of the first monument, 5,000 Swedish crowns were collected from citizens throughout the country for a big granite stone (6 m height, 20 ton weight) from the Vonevik quarry in Smoland. The following inscription was carved on the stone in both Russian and Swedish: "This stone was erected in 1909 in honor of the Swedes who perished in 1709 by their compatriots." The Swedish businessman Emmanuel Nobel, a relative of Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, assumed financial responsibility for the delivery and installation of the monument. The memorial stone was unveiled on June 2nd 1909 close to the hamlet of Pobyvanka without any public ceremony. A small article dedicated to the event was published on July 7th 1909 in the Swedish newspaper "Stockholm News."