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Sitting on the Capitol’s reflecting pool, at the east end of the Mall, is this huge sculpture piece by Henry Merwin Shrady honoring General Ulysses S. Grant. The memorial had been proposed by Grant’s old command, the Army of the Tennessee, in 1895, but wasn’t begun until 1912.
Ulysses Grant sits on his war horse, Cincinnatus, atop a 22-foot pedestal of Vermont and Tennessee marble. The pedestal is surrounded by four lions. On either side Grant is flanked by a intricately detailed sculptures of Union soldiers.
To the south is a Union Artillery group, with three soldiers and three horses pulling a caisson carrying a cannon. If you look around the piece, you can find a plaque bearing the names of the three West Point cadets that modeled for the sculpture. Shrady finished the Artillery group in 1912.
The calvary group, on the north side, depicts seven horsemen of the Calvary Regiment’s color squad making a charge. Shrady finished this portion of the memorial in 1916. The bronze statue of Grant wasn’t completed until 1920, and the entire sculpture was dedicated on April 27, 1922.
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