Sighting the Enemy - Relocated Structure - Monroe, Michigan, USA.
N 41° 55.087 W 083° 23.805
17T E 301246 N 4643462
The George Armstrong Custer Equestrian Monument, also known as 'Sighting The Enemy' an equestrian statue of General Custer. The statue is in its third location, now at Elm Ave and N.Monroe St, its original location was 1st St and Washington Ave.
Waymark Code: WMHAQH
Location: Michigan, United States
Date Posted: 06/16/2013
Views: 5
Listed in the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Sculpture database. Control Number: IAS 76009897
"Throughout the statue's century long lifespan, it has been placed in three different locations. The statue was originally located in the middle of the brick-laden intersection of First Street and Washington Street in front of the courthouse in the present day Old Village Historic District. His widow Elizabeth Custer, who spent much of her later life improving Custer's reputation and public image, argued that the statue was in a less-deserving location in Monroe. Others complained that the statue was a traffic hazard since it was located in the middle of an intersection. When it was first erected, traffic was sparse in Monroe, but automobile traffic was drastically increasing. On June 20, 1923, the statue was moved to a new location in Soldiers and Sailors Park along the River Raisin. The statue remained in relative isolation and was eventually obscured by unkempt scrubs and trees.
Because of public protests, the city moved the statue to a better location in August 1955. When movers arrived to take the statue to a new location, they originally could not find it within the overgrown vegetation. The statue was moved to its current location on the southwest corner of Elm Avenue and North Monroe Street along the River Raisin. Its current location is at one of the most prominent intersections in the city, and the statue is well lit at night. The statue is now one of the most recognizable objects in Monroe" Text Source: (
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More from Wikipedia: Monument:
"Proponents of the statue argue that it represents Custer's spectacular service to the Union during the Civil War and not his failed efforts at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. The statue shows Custer wearing his Civil War fatigues, and since he did not die during the Civil War, the horse in the sculpture traditionally has all four legs on the ground, even though Custer did die in a battle years after the end of the Civil War. The historical marker commemorating the statue reads:
Major-General George Armstrong Custer. Born in New Rumley, Ohio, George A. Custer grew up in Monroe in the home of his half-sister, Mrs. David Reed. February 9, 1864, in the Presbyterian Church here, he married Libbie Bacon, only daughter of Judge Daniel S. Bacon. During the Civil War, he received six brevets and was made Major-General before he was 26 years old, a rare distinction. From 1866 until his death at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, General Custer commanded the famous Seventh Cavalry Regiment, leading them in scouting and Indian fighting throughout Kansas and the Dakota Territory. This statue of General Custer, created by Edward C. Potter, was erected by the State of Michigan, unveiled by Mrs. Elizabeth B. Custer and dedicated by President William Howard Taft, June 4, 1910. The statue was rededicated September 3, 1955, by the First Cavalry Division of which Custer's Seventh Cavalry Regiment was a part." Text Source: (
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