William Irvine & Joseph Reed @ the PA Columns - Valley Forge, PA
N 40° 05.315 W 075° 26.327
18T E 462593 N 4437681
There are four of these beautiful, bronze relief plaques on both sides of the two 32-foot PA columns which serve as Revolutionary War memorials. Each relief tablet serves as a memorial to a total eight Civil War officers.
Waymark Code: WMB3NK
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 03/31/2011
Views: 4
The inscription simply has their names and read: William Irvine, 3rd Penna Battalion, Joseph Reed, Adjutant General. This relief is on the backside of the right column if you are facing west. Basically, as you approach these columns, go to the back of the right one and you'll see the relief, Irvine is on the left facing forward and Reed is on the right, profiled, looking left.
This relief memorial pays tribute to Colonel William Irvine and Adjutant General Joseph Reed. William Irvine (November 3, 1741 – July 29, 1804) was an Irish-American physician, soldier, and statesman from Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He served as a brigadier general in the Continental Army and represented Pennsylvania in both the Continental Congress (1787–88) and the United States House of Representatives (1793–1795). During the war, he convinced Colonel William Crawford to come out of retirement and lead an expedition against Indians in villages along the Sandusky River, which ended in Crawford's brutal execution. Militia troops went back under the commande of John Rose (Gustav von Wetter-Rosenthal), a Baltic German officer from Estonia.
Joseph Reed (August 27, 1741 – March 5, 1785) was a Pennsylvania lawyer, military aide, and statesman of the Revolutionary Era. He served as a delegate to the Continental Congress and while in Congress signed the Articles of Confederation. He served as President of Pennsylvania's Supreme Executive Council, a position analogous to the modern office of Governor.
The Pennsylvania Columns were constructed in stages. The Pennsylvania Columns were started in 1909 but a lack of funds prevented its completion until 1912. The eagles and these bronze reliefs of Pennsylvania generals were added in 1910. The monument, which flanks Outer Line Drive, features two tall granite columns. At the base of each column there are two bronze plaques containing the bas-relief busts of two military officers--Colonel William Irvine and Adjutant General Joseph Reed; Major General Arthur St. Clair and Brigadier General John Cadwalader; Brigadier General John Armstrong and Brigadier General J. Peter G. Muhlenberg; Lieutenant Colonel Josiah Harman and Major General Thomas Mifflin. On the top of each column of course are the bronze eagles with outspread wings, standing on the two respective granite balls.
The sculptor Henry Bush-Brown of Newburgh, New York was the artist.