Long Description:
From Boston Illustrated:
The Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, on the hill near the Frog
Pond, was designed by Martin Milmore, and dedicated on September
17th, 1877, when the entire militia force of the State paraded in
Boston, and was reviewed by the President of the United States. The
platform is thirty-eight feet square, and rests on a mass of
subterranean masonry sixteen feet deep.
Four projecting pedestals sustain four bronze statues, each
eight feet high, representing Peace, a female figure bearing an
olive-branch and looking to the South; the Sailor, a picturesque
mariner carrying a drawn cutlass, and looking seaward; History, a
graceful female figure, in Greek costume, holding a tablet and
stylus, and looking upward; and the Soldier, perhaps the best
statue on the monument, representing a Federal infantryman standing
at ease, and bearing the face of a citizen-soldier rather than that
of a professional warrior.
Note: After
vandalism
in 2004, one of the statues was damaged. As far as I remember
(my last visit was 28 February), all the statues were missing. They
may have returned by now - I'm not sure.
Between these pedestals are four large bronze reliefs. In the
front is “The Departure for the War,” with a regiment marching by
the State-House steps, the mounted officers, from left to right,
being Colonels Lowell and Shaw, both of whom were killed, Colonel
Cass, General B. F. Butler, and Quartermaster-Gen. Reed. On the
steps are the Revs. Turner Sargent, A. H. Vinton, Phillips Brooks
and Arch-bishop Williams; Governor Andrew, shorter than the others;
Wendell Phillips, Mr. Whitmore, the poet Longfellow, and others.
The second bas-relief shows the work of the Sanitary Commission,
the left-hand group being on duty in the field, with the Rev. E. E.
Hale at its head; and in the other group the seven gentlemen are E.
R. Mudge, A. H. Rice, James Russell Lowell, Rev. Dr. Gannett,
George Ticknor, W. W. Clapp, and Marshall P. Wilder (from left to
right). “The Return from the War” is the most elaborate of the
reliefs, and contains forty figures. The veterans are marching by
the State House, and are surrendering their flags to Governor
Andrew, while joyful wives and children break the ranks of the
regiment. The mounted officers arc Generals Bartlett, Underwood,
Banks, and Devens (from left to right); the civilians are Dr.
Reynolds, Governor Andrew, Senator Wilson, Governor Claflin, Mayor
Shurtleff, Judge Putnam, Charles Sumner, C. W. Slack, James
Redpath, and J. B. Smith. The fourth relief represents the
departure of the sailors from home (on the left) and an engagement
between a Federal man-of-war and monitor and a massive Confederate
fortress.
The main shaft of the monument, a Roman-Doric column of white
granite, rises from the pedestal between the statues; and at its
base are four allegorical figures, in high relief and eight feet
high, representing the North, South, East, and West. On top of the
capital are four marble eagles. The most prominent feature of the
monument is the statue of America, eleven feet high, symbolized by
a female figure, clad in classic costume, and crowned with thirteen
stars. In one hand she holds the American flag, in the other a
drawn sword and wreaths of laurel; and she faces the south.
The bronzes were cast at Chicopee, Mass., and at Philadelphia;
and the stone is white granite from Hallowell. The monument bears
the following inscription, written by the President of Harvard
College:
TO THE MEN OF BOSTON
WHO DIED FOR THEIR COUNTRY
ON LAND AND SEA IN THE WAR
WHICH KEPT THE UNION WHOLE
DESTROYED SLAVERY
AND MAINTAINED THE CONSTITUTION
THE GRATEFUL CITY
HAS BUILT THIS MONUMENT
THAT THEIR EXAMPLE MAY SPEAK
TO COMING GENERATIONS.