Civil War Soldier with Bas Reliefs - Malone, N.Y.
Posted by: 
LeoGeo
N 44° 50.946 W 074° 17.477
18T E 556004 N 4966431
A Civil War memorial with additional patriotic motifs.
Waymark Code: WMCB07
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 08/17/2011
Views: 18
The statue depicts a Union Civil War soldier in uniform, holding a rifle (in a rather unsafe position, it seems to me -- it's vertical, its butt is on the ground, and if it goes off the guy's going to lose his nice big moustache, or worse!) atop a tall column. On the column are carved various inscriptions bas-relief images:
On the side corresponding to the soldier's front/face, is the inscription NON SIBI SED PATRIAE / 1893 ("Not for self but for country"), below which is a bas-relief face of Lincoln with the inscriptions JANUARY 1, 1863 above and EMANCIPATION below. Below that is a bas-relief of the New York state coat of arms. Finally, at the bottom, there is an inscription that I could not read because it is mostly weathered away.
On the soldier's-proper-left side of the column is a bas-relief depicting (I think) the Medal of Honor, with GAR inscribed above it (for "Grand Army of the Republic"). Below that is a bas-relief depicting a woman (possibly an allegory of "patria"?) holding a sword in one hand and placing a laurel wreath on the head of a seated young man in uniform.
On the side corresponding to the soldier's back is a bas-relief of Washington with inscriptions similar to Lincoln's reading JULY 4, 1776, and INDEPENDENCE. Below that is a bas-relief of the United States federal coat of arms.
Finally, by the time he got to the soldier's-proper-right side, the sculptor seems to have run out of ideas for patriotic symbols, so there is a bas-relief of a pair of crossed swords and that's it.
The statue is in Memorial Park, in the center of town, at the corner of Elm and E. Main streets. There are various other monuments in this very small park, all visible from one another, including one other Smithsonian sculpture, the Cast Metal Fountain.
TITLE: Civil War Soldier with Bas Reliefs - Malone, N.Y.
ARTIST(S): Unknown
DATE: 1893
MEDIUM: Granite
CONTROL NUMBER: IAS NY001230
Direct Link to the Individual Listing in the Smithsonian Art Inventory: [Web Link]
PHYSICAL LOCATION:
Northeast corner of E. Main and Elm sts., Malone, N.Y.
DIFFERENCES NOTED BETWEEN THE INVENTORY LISTING AND YOUR OBSERVATIONS AND RESEARCH:
The panels containing the bas reliefs are actually oval, not circular. The inscription mentioned in the Smithsonian index,
PRESENTED/TO THE TOWN OF/MALONE/BY/JOHN W. PANGBORN,
was not legible to me because it has weathered severely.
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