Battle Monument, (sculpture).

Battle Monument, (sculpture).

MacMonnies, Frederick William, 1863-1937, sculptor.

Sutherland, Algeron Learmont, 1849-1928, fabricator.

White, Stanford, 1853-1906, architect.

McKim, Mead & White, architectural firm.

Norcross Brothers, fabricator.

Battle Monument, (sculpture).

Commissioned ca. 1894. Modified May 1896. Dedicated May 31, 1897.

Digital Reference:

Sculpture: bronze; Shaft: Stony Creek granite; Sphere: pink Milford granite; Base: granite.

Column: approx. H. 46 ft. x Diam. 5 ft. 6 in. (92 tons).

(Incised on column:) IN MEMORY/OF THE OFFICERS AND MEN/OF THE/REGULAR ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES/WHO FELL IN BATTLE DURING THE/WAR OF REBELLION/THIS MONUMENT ERECTED BY THEIR/SURVIVING COMRADES (Names of 188 officers and 2,042 men) unsigned

Allegorical bronze female figure of Liberty stands on a pink granite sphere atop a tall granite shaft. The figure is blowing a trumpet and carries a laurel wreath in her outstretched proper left hand. The shaft stands on a circular stepped base with eight corner pedestals supporting bronze cannons and granite balls girded with a bronze band.

History -- United States -- Civil War

Figure female -- Full length

Allegory -- Other -- Triumph

Outdoor Sculpture -- New York -- West Point

Administered by United States Department of the Army, United States Military Academy, Engineering Department, West Point, New York 10996

Located United States Military Academy, Trophy Point, West Point, New York 10996

Commissioned in 1894, the monument was designed by McKim, Mead & White and dedicated May 31, 1897. When erected, the monolith was reportedly the largest single piece of polished stone in the world. The fabrication and installation of the monument was overseen by A. L. Sutherland, of Norcross Brothers. The monument originally had a gilded figure of Fame at the top. It was deemed too large and replaced by Victory in May 1896. Both figures were executed by MacMonnies. In 1972, repairs were made to the sphere on top of the column. The sphere was cracked in half and was repaired by Logan & Sons of Cold Springs, New York. IAS files contain a HABS/HAER Inventory form from the National Park Service dated Sept. 21, 1981 and an essay by Russell Creamer Langdon, West Point Class of 1896, ca. 1946, which details the monument's installation. For related reading, see "History of the Battle Monument at West Point," by Charles W. Larned, 1898.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, New York survey, 1994.

National Park Service, American Monuments and Outdoor Sculpture Database, NY0214, 1989.

Monumental News, March 1894; June 1895.

Smart, Mary, "A Flight with Fame: the life and art of Frederick MacMonnies, with a Catalogue Raisonne of Sculpture and a Checklist of Paintings by E. Adina Gordon," Madison, CT: Sound View Press, 1996, no. 33 and 38.

Monumental News, March 1894, pg. 130.

Smart, Mary, "A Flight with Fame: the life and art of Frederick MacMonnies, with a Catalogue Raisonne of Sculpture and a Checklist of Paintings by E. Adina Gordon," Madison, CT: Sound View Press, 1996, pg. 293, 294.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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