USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > Centennial history of the city of Washington, D. C. With full outline of the natural advantages, accounts of the Indian tribes, selection of the site, founding of the city to the present time > Part 71
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October 31, 1833, at a meeting held for the purpose, the Wash- ington National Monument Society was organized, Daniel Brent being chairman of the meeting and Peter Force secretary. The following persons were elected as the officers of the society: Presi- dent, Chief Justice of the United States; vice-presidents, William Cranch, Joseph Gales, Jr., and W. W. Seaton; treasurer, Samuel H. Smith; secretary, George Watterston; managers, General T. S. Jesup, Colonel George Bomford, Colonel James Kearney, R. C. Weightman, Colonel N. Towson, William Brent, Peter Force, Colonel A. Henderson, Thomas Carbery, Thomas Munroe, M. St. Clair Clarke, W. A. Bradley, and J. McClelland. The ex officio members of the board of managers were the President and Vice-President of the United States and all the members of the Cabinet.
A constitution for the society was at the same time adopted. The name adopted and incorporated into the constitution was "The Wash- ington National Monument Society," and the object for which the so- ciety was organized was stated to be the erection of a great national monument to the memory of Washington at the seat of the Federal Government. Section 2 provided for the above- named officers and four general collectors. Section 6 divided the United States into four general collection districts; the first embracing that portion of the
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country containing Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York; the second, the other middle States, the District of Columbia and Virginia; the third, the other Southern States, except as below; and the fourth, the Western States, Tennes- see, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama.
The duty of these general collectors was to call in person, or by deputy, upon every one in their respective districts, and receive such sums of money as they might be disposed to contribute, retaining ten per cent. for their services. The regular officers of the society were to be elected at each annual meeting of the society on February 22.
By the death of Chief Justice John Marshall, the presidency of this society became vacant, and Ex-President James Madison accepted the appointment to the position July 25, 1835.
State after State was visited by the agents of this society, Ohio and Maine being the first to manifest an encouraging interest in the movement. February 1, 1837, Mr. Watterston, to satisfy inquirers that some progress was being made, published a report of what had been accomplished up to that time. This report showed that Ohio had contributed $5,834.45; Maryland, $3,030.94; Pennsylvania, $2,000; Mississippi, $2,120; New Jersey, $1,251.74; New York, $1,000, and other States smaller amounts, the total amount collected being $22,- 238.64. There were several of the States in which no attempt had then been made to collect money for this object.
The board of managers wishing to lay the foundation stone as soon as practicable, made application to Congress for a portion of the Mall as a site for the proposed monument. The bill passed the House, but was overlooked in the Senate. June 10, 1837, several designs having been presented to the board of managers, the follow- ing resolution was passed:
"That the thanks of the board of managers be presented to Robert Mills, of Washington; S. M. Stone, and Benne & Platt, of New Haven; Thomas MeClelland, of New York; E. Barasius, of Bal- timore; George Hadfield, William Elliott, and others, for the handsome designs submitted by them respectively to the board, which, in the opinion of the board, indicate a genius and skill highly ereditable to the artists."
Progress in the collection of money was still slow, and on June 20, 1838, representations derogatory to the character of the board of managers having appeared in the public prints, a detailed statement of the receipts and expenditures of the board was published by Secre- tary Watterston, as follows: Receipts -From Maine, $1,600; Ver-
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mont, $31.95; Connecticut, $1,438.61; New York, $1,167.21; New Jersey, $1,419.61; Pennsylvania, $2,102.85; Delaware, $361.98; Mary- land, $3,057.99; Virginia, $1,500; South Carolina, $570; Kentucky, $1,610; Ohio, $6,391; Lonisiana, $701.25; Indiana, $340; Illinois, $700; Mississippi, $2,120; District of Columbia, $836.36; Florida, $227; officers and sailors of the army, $565.89; of the navy, $228.25; total, $26,970.14; interest on so much as had been invested, $1,608.73, making in all $28,578.87. The expenses had been inconsiderable.
In December, 1840, impatience with the progress of the work be- came again so manifest that the secretary, or some one on his author- ity, replied to a complaining correspondent from Warren County, Ohio, that about $40,000 had been collected, adding that "your noble State of Ohio has contributed nearly one-fourth of that sum." Desir- ing to make a commencement of the proposed work, the board again made application to Congress for a portion of the public Mall for a site; but, to the astonishment of every one, it was not only refused in the Senate, but the members of the board were grossly calumniated by the two Senators from Ohio,' the State from which the largest col- lection had been made. This wanton attack upon the characters of men who had devoted gratuitously their time and services to the accomplishment of an object which it was believed every patriotic American sincerely desired to have accomplished, and the refusal of the Senate to grant a portion of the Mall for a site for the monument, put a stop for a time, and to a considerable degree, to further collec- tions. The board of managers then sought to enlist the services of the marshals and the deputy marshals throughout the country who were engaged in taking the census to obtain additional subscriptions; but in this they met with another disappointment, the Secretary of State2 forbidding the enumerators to engage in that kind of work.
February 27, 1841, Samuel II. Smith, treasurer of the society, published a report showing that since 1835 the total receipts for the erection of the monument up to Jannary 10, 1841, had been $39,- 700.47. On March 29, 1841, Mr. Smith published a statement to the effect that Dr. James Hagan, collector of funds for the society in Mississippi, had collected $3,213.36, which he had sent in, except his commission. On January 17, 1842, Mr. Smith made his annual report, showing a total amount collected of $41,370. February 26, 1844, according to Mr. Smith's annual report for the previous year, there had been raised $47,061.85.
1 William Allen and Thomas Morris.
2 John Forsyth, of Georgia.
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November 30, 1844, at a meeting of the board of managers it was
"Resolved, That a committee of three members be appointed to procure a suitable design for the monument of Washington, with authority to confer with the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, or other persons, in relation to a proper site for said mon- ument, and that said committee report to the board before any final action thereon."
The committee appointed consisted of W. W. Seaton, Peter Force, and George Watterston. January 30, 1845, the amount of money on hand was $49,783.70. November 18 of that year, Samuel H. Smith, the treasurer of this society, died, and he was succeeded by his son, J. B. II. Smith. November 21, 1846, the amount of money on hand was $55,359.66.
About this time the board of managers decided to resume col- lections of money throughout the United States, with which to carry forward their great design, and in order to systematize the work and thus guarantee its success, they appointed Hon. Elisha Whittlescy, of Ohio, as general agent, with power to appoint subagents according to his own judgment. They said that the delay in commencing the work of erecting the monument was occasioned by the want of a proper site upon which to erect it. They had long hoped that a site would be granted by Congress, and they then hoped that such a site would be given at the next session. The board of managers then consisted of the following gentlemen: Major-General Winfield Scott, General N. Towson, Colonel J. J. Abert, Colonel James Kearney, General Walter Jones, Thomas Munroe, Thomas Carberry, Peter Force, W. A. Bradley, P. R. Fendall, and John P. Ingle. The officers of the society were as follows: The President of the United States, president ex officio; William Brent, W. W. Seaton, and General A. Henderson, vice-presidents; treasurer, J. B. H. Smith; secretary, George Watterston. About this time an offer of a site was made by George W. P. Custis, on the Arlington estate, and of another near the canal, one hundred feet above tide water. To these generous offers Mr. Watterston replied that the constitution of the society limited the location to the city of Washington, and that therefore it was impossible to accept cither of the valuable proffers.
January 26, 1848, a joint resolution granting a site for the monu- ment was passed by the House of Representatives, as it had come down to them from the Senate, and the board of managers, thereupon, with the approval of the President of the United States, selected the ground lying west of Fifteenth Street, where the monument now
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stands. At that time it was the intention of the society to erect the monument six hundred feet high, but this design was subsequently changed. Excavations for its foundation were at once commenced, and they were completed by June 1 following. The corner stone of the monument reached the railroad depot June 5, and on the next day it was removed to its destined location, attended by a large procession of the citizens, preceded by the Marine Band and a body of marines under command of Major Pulizzi. The American flag was hoisted on the car which conveyed the stone from the depot, and a live eagle was placed on the corner stone itself. After a delay at the Fourteenth Street bridge, caused by the wheels of the car getting off' the track, the stone was safely deposited in the afternoon of Wednesday, June 7, where it was permanently to remain. It is a block of white marble, weighing twenty-four thousand five hundred pounds. It is six feet eight inches square, and nearly three feet thick. It came from the marble quarries of Mr. Symington, fourteen miles from Baltimore, Mr. Symington having presented it to the city, together with a cover two feet six inches thick. It was transported by the Susquehanna, and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, free of charge, to the depot in Washington. The wagon on which it was conveyed from the depot in Washington to the place on the monument was furnished by Mr. Philip Ennis.
The laying of this corner stone was an imposing affair, and was participated in by the military and by a large number of citizens, including all kinds of civic organizations. Joseph HI. Bradley was the marshal of the day. The oration on the occasion was delivered by one of the most eloquent orators in the country, Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, of Massachusetts. The prayer was by Rev. Mr. McJil- ton, of Baltimore, and the Masonic address was delivered by B. B. French, Grand Master of the District of Columbia. Robert Mills was the architect of the monument. The American eagle, which was so conspicuous on this occasion, with its dark plumage, piercing eye, and snowy head and tail, was the same that surmounted the arch of wel- come erected at Alexandria to Lafayette, and was afterward presented to M. Vattemare for the National Museum at Paris, France.
January 1, 1849, the funds of the society amounted to $56,289.66. About May 1, 1849, an offer was received from Mr. D. Sayre, of Alabama, proposing on the part of some of the citizens of that State to quarry and prepare a block of marble from the quarries of Talla- dega County, to be placed in the monument. The marble was very beautiful, finely grained, and susceptible of a high polish. The offer
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of Mr. Sayre was accepted, and the suggestion published by Mr. Wat- terston that, if any other State or any public institution should be disposed to furnish a stone to be placed in the monument, the board of managers would take pleasure in having it placed therein in an appropriate position, that of Alabama to be placed first. The dimen- sions given out by Mr. Watterston for these memorial marbles were as follows: Four feet long, two feet high, and one foot six inches broad, with a front bevel of one-fourth of an inch to a foot. By June 30, besides Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Vir- ginia, and Delaware had reported their intention of complying with the suggestion thus thrown out. Next came Maine and Mississippi.
The first, however, to be inserted in the monument was one from the Franklin Fire Company of Washington, District of Columbia, in- seribed with the name of the company and "Initiated, 1827. We Strive to Save." The second stone inserted was of freestone, three feet long, two feet high, and two feet wide, and bore this inscription: " Presented by George Watterston, Secretary of the Washington Na- tional Monument Society, as a Testimonial of his Gratitude and Veneration, A. D. 1849." This was in October of that year, at which time the structure had risen forty-four feet above the ground. The army and navy furnished contributions to aid in the construction of the monument, and the Choctaw Indians sent a stone to be inserted similar to those of the States. The forty children of the Washington City Orphan Asylum, accompanied by Miss Latimer, on November 1 marched to the monument, and tendered their monthly donation of one cent each. This was in accordance with a plan then recently adopted, which it was hoped would be adopted by every school in the country.
December 5, 1849, among other subscriptions received, was one from Mr. James Lenox, of New York City, of $500. January 15, 1850, the thanks of the society were tendered to the Bank of the Metropolis for its subscription of $100, and shortly afterward also to the Bank of Washington for a subscription of the same amount. On this same day a resolution was introduced into the Kentucky Senate by Hon. J. Speed Smith, as follows:
" Resolved, by the General Assembly of the State of Kentucky, That the Governor be, and he is hereby, authorized and requested to cause a suitable block of native marble to be conveyed to Washington City to take its proper place in the monument now being erected to the memory of the Father of his Country, and that the following words be engraved thereon: 'Under the anspices of Heaven, and the precepts of Washington, Kentucky will be the last to give up the Union.'"
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The National Greys contributed a block of white marble. The Legislature of Indiana made provision for a block of marble for the monument to bear this inscription: "Indiana; Knows no North, no South; nothing but the Union." The council of the Chickasaw Indians appropriated $200 to the monument fund in February, 1850. Louisiana passed an act to provide a stone for the monument, to bear the following inscription: "The State of Louisiana, Ever Loyal to the Constitution and the Union." Massachusetts, on March 1, 1850, directed a stone to be prepared for the same purpose with the following inscription: "Massachusetts; Our Country is safe while the memory of Washington is revered." Maryland directed the following inscription to be placed on the stone contributed by her: "Maryland; the Memorial of her regard for the Federal Con- stitution, and of her 'cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to the American Union.'" California, February 2, 1850, passed a joint resolution providing for a block of marble or granite from her own quarries to be placed in the monument. Thus the States, one by one, and rapidly succeeding each other, adopted resolutions, or passed acts, providing for the placing of an emblem in the monument, and by April 12, 1850, all of them had taken action but two. The memento of Michigan was a block of native copper, the exposed surface of which was to be three by one and one-half feet, and to bear the following inscription in letters of native silver: "From Michigan; an Emblem of her trust in the Union." May 31, 1850, the city of Washington appropriated $2,500 to the monument fund, to be paid in five annual installments. Professor Francis Lieber, of South Carolina, contributed a box of sand from the mound erected at Cracow to the memory of Kosciusko.
July 4, 1850, was celebrated at the monument in an appropriate manner. Prayer was offered by Rev. Dr. Butler; the Declaration of Independence was read by Walter Lenox, Mayor of Washington; the oration of the day was delivered by Hon. II. S. Foote, of Mississippi; General Walter Jones presented the Washington block of marble in the name of the city; George W. P. Custis delivered a patriotic address, and the benediction was pronounced by the Rev. Mr. Mor- gan, of the Methodist Episcopal Church. At this time there was a wide-spread interest in the enterprise, and contributions kept coming in from all parts of the country. From January 1 to November 1, 1850, the contributions averaged $2,800 per month.
During the first ten months of 1850, the contributions amounted to $28,000, and by the 1st of January the monument had attained
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a height of eighty feet from the base. December 27, 1850, a com- mittee appointed by a convention of subordinate lodges of the Odd Fellows of the county and city of Philadelphia addressed a letter to IIon. Millard Fillmore, President of the United States, informing him that they had performed a duty imposed upon them by seventy-two contributary lodges of that order, of preparing and presenting a block of marble for the monument. December 30, the President acknowl- edged receipt of the letter, and said in reply that we were bound by every consideration, human and divine, to transmit the union unim- paired to our posterity. The block of marble was a beautiful piece of fine-grained marble, six feet long, by four feet wide, and two feet thick, weighing about four tons. It was appropriately inscribed with the names of the seventy-two lodges referred to above, together with the three links of the order.
A number of Indian tribes of the West contributed a block from the far famed "Starved Rock," near Ottawa, Illinois, upon which the last surviving remnant of the Illinois Indians gathered, where they were beseiged on every side, and when at last, compelled by hunger and in desperation, they attempted to force a passage through the ranks of their enemies, they were slain almost to a man, leaving scarcely enough to tell the tale. The Indians, having no land of their own, had inscribed on their contribution the following: "This step the red man gives to the pale face to build him a path to the better hunting ground."
Wheatland, in Monroe County, New York, set a good example to the rest of the country, several of her citizens subscribing sums varying from $50 down to fifty cents, in the aggregate more than $1,200. July 4, 1851, W. W. Corcoran subscribed to the monument fund $50, and announced his intention of subscribing the same amount each year, on the 4th of July, until the monument should be com- pleted. December 24, 1851, Lewis Cass, Jr., of the United States Legation at Rome, wrote to Mr. George Watterston informing him that it was . the intention of the Pope, through Cardinal Antonelli, Secre- tary of State of the Roman Government, to contribute a block of marble toward the erection of the monument, which Mr. Watterston acknowledged in suitable terms. Some time afterward a passionate, but not wise, address was published in opposition to the placing of this stone in the monument by Mr. J. T. Weishampel, of Baltimore, who thought he could see in the proposition the purpose of the Pope to remove to America, and that this was indicated by the proposed inscription, " Rome to America."
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By March 1, 1852, there had been collected about $130,000, and the monument had risen to a height of somewhat more than one hundred feet. June 3, 1852, an ordinance was adopted by the cor- poration of Savannah, Georgia, making an annual appropriation of $100, from that time until the monument should be completed. This fitting and patriotic action was appropriately acknowledged by the society, as was also the receipt of $60 from the family of Francis A. Evans, of Louisiana. August 13, J. Y. Hendrick, pastor of the Presbyterian church at Clarksville, Tennessee, sent forward a contri- bution from his church of $50, and about the same time Joel M. Smith, of Nashville, Tennessee, sent $78 as a contribution from McKendree Church of that city. September 9, J. W. Jones, of Augusta, Georgia, sent a contribution of $425 from various churches and citizens of his city, and about the same time Mr. Cardigan, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, sent $280 collected by Richard Wall.
A movement was made in the fall of 1852 to secure contributions to the national monument at the time of voting for President, Novem- ber 2, the first response being from Cincinnati, Ohio, which city sent forward $177.76. Returns from this attempt kept coming in all the fall and winter, and it is probable that in this way nearly, if not quite, $20,000 was raised. In October, 1852, the Swiss Republic pre- sented a block of marble for the monument, which was received in November, and suitably acknowledged by the Hon. Edward Everett, Secretary of State. February 22, 1853, the Sansome Hook and Ladder Company contributed $1,000 toward the monument, and Madam Bis- caccianti contributed the proceeds of a concert, $500, toward the same object.
George Watterston, secretary of the society charged with the erection of this monument, died February 4, 1854, and on the 14th of the same month John Carroll Brent was elected to the vacancy thus caused. Contributions continued to be made, but in decreasing amounts, and at length, in 1856, when the monument had attained a height of one hundred and seventy-four feet and had cost $230,000., all that had been contributed, the work upon it was discontinued until 1876, when Congress took charge of the work and appropriated money for its completion. In August, 1884, the monument reached a height of five hundred feet, from which elevation the square pyramidal roof begins, and rises to an additional height of fifty-five feet. The cap stone was placed in position December 6, 1884. It was formally opened to the public in 1888, since which time ascen- sions have been made free, by means of the elevator or the iron
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stairway, on week days from 9:00 A. M. to 5:30 P. M. The amount of money appropriated by Congress to complete this noble monument was $1,000,000, so that its entire cost was $1,230,000.
The Washington Statue, by Greenough, was sculptured in Flor- ence, Italy, and was received at the Navy Yard, in Washington, in October, 1841, and removed to its appointed place, in the rotunda of the Capitol, in December following, where it was raised to its lofty pedestal. Here it remained until August, 1843, when it was removed, and in September following was elevated to its present position, east of and facing the Capitol. This statue was described, at the time, in the following language:
"Nothing can be more human, and at the same time more God- like, than this colossal statue of Washington. It is a sort of a domestic Jupiter. The sublime repose and simplicity of the whole figure, united as it is with exceeding energy of expression, so perfectly classical without the slightest abstract imitation, for the artist seems to have embodied Seneca's admirable advice as to style, 'Similem esse te volo, quomodo filium, non quomodo imaginem,' as there is no mis- taking the pure lineage of this statue, being intended to fill the central position of the Capitol, he has addressed his statue of Washington to a distant posterity, and made it a physical abstract of his whole career, rather than the chronicle of any one deed, or any one leading feature of his life. He is therefore seated as a first magistrate, and extends with his left hand a sword, the emblem of his military command, toward the people; as a sovereign he points heavenward with his right hand. By this double gesture is conveyed the idea of an entire abrogation of self, and making the patriot a conductor between God and man.
"The chair in which he is seated tells also its history. The superior part is richly ornamented with acanthus and garlands of flowers, while the base is solid, simple, and massive, which plainly indicates that high cultivation is the proper result of sound govern- ment, and that nations, when well planned and well tilled, must flourish as well as grow. Upon the picture of Columbus, which leans against the back of the chair on the left side, is connected the history of America with that of Europe; while that of an Indian chief, on the right, is emblematic of the state America was in when civilization dawned upon it. The bas-relief on the right side of the chair, which was the first crest of the American national arms, is the rising sun, under which is inscribed, 'Magnus ab integro sectorum nascitur ordo.' The relievo on the left side represents the genii of North and South
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