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 72
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GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS AND PUBLIC MONUMENTS. 691
America, under the infants Hercules and Iphicles, the latter shrinking in dread, while the former struggles successfully with the obstacles and dangers of an incipient political existence. The motto for this relief is 'Incipe posse puer cui non risere parentes.' In this statue Greenough has achieved a glorious work, and one that cannot fail to reach its destination,- the distant posterity to which it is addressed."
The motto on the back of the chair in which Washington is represented as sitting is as follows: "Simulacrum istud ad magnum libertatis extemplum, nec sine ipsa duraturum."
The famous Jackson Statue was cast in the latter part of 1852 by Clarke Mills. As soon as the pedestal was prepared to receive it, it was placed thereon, and inaugurated or dedicated January 8, 1853. The procession formed in front of the City Hall at about eleven o'clock in the morning, passed down Four and a Half Street to Pennsylvania Avenne, and thence to Lafayette Square. Most of the executive officers of the Government were present. Rev. Dr. Butler opened the ceremonies with prayer, and then Hon. Stephen A. Douglas delivered an address. Mr. Mills was then introduced and enthusiastically cheered. Mr. Mills was a native of New York, but had settled in Charleston, South Carolina, had become a citizen of that State, and had there, to the astonishment of all, when only a mere plasterer, executed a fine marble cast of Hon. John C. Cal- houn. While on his way to Italy to prosecute his studies, at the time when the Jackson Statue committee was in search of an artist, in 1848, Mr. Mills became acquainted with some of the members of the committee in Washington, whose names were as follows: Hon. Cave Johnson, Hon. Amos Kendall, General John P. Van Ness, James Hoban, John W. Maury, Charles K. Gardner, Jesse E. Dow, William A. Harris, Charles P. Sengstack, Francis P. Blair, John C. Rives, Thomas Ritchie, and B. B. French. Afterward, in con- sequence of the death of John P. Van Ness, James Hoban, and Jesse E. Dow, and the resignation of William A. Harris, John M. Mc- Calla, George W. Hughes, Andrew J. Donelson, and George Parker were chosen to fill their places. This committee collected $12,000, for which, after some doubts as to Mr. Mills's ability to make a satis- factory equestrian statue were removed, it was decided to give him the contract. After surmounting great difficulties in the erection of his foundry, and making his own cast of the statue, he succeeded in the accomplishment of his task, the entire cost of the statue being $19,000, including the five years of labor of Mr. Mills.
The foundations of the equestrian statue of General Washington
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were laid in 1859, within the circle at the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue, K Street, New Hampshire Avenue, and Twenty-third Street. In January, 1860, the greater part of the casting was taken from Clarke Mills's foundry, near Bladensburg, to this position, and the completed statue was dedicated February 22, 1860, the oration of the occasion being delivered by IIon. Thomas S. Bocock, of Vir- ginia. Mr. Bocock said it was the tardy completion of a work resolved upon by the Continental Congress immediately after the Revolution, the delay being caused perhaps by the failure to find sooner a suitable artist. He then proceeded to give a history of the event in the battle of Princeton which the pose of the statue was designed to commemorate, and which was the turning point in the War of the Revolution. After the oration the President of the United States dedicated the statue, and in his remarks said: "I accept the auspicious omen which the heavens at this moment present to us -a calm sunset almost without a cloud, after a boisterous and tem- pestuous day," and at the conclusion of the President's address there was an address by Mr. Mills, who said that the statue was intended for a greater elevation than that upon which it stood, but the appro- priation was inadequate to carry out the original design.
The Farragut Statue, by Mrs. Vinnie Ream Hoxie, was the first monument erected in the National Capital to commemorate the serv- ices of one of the country's naval heroes. Twenty years before this time, there were but three monuments in the city dedicated to the memory of distinguished men. Greenough's Statue of Washington, variously estimated, was the first, unveiled in 1843; the bronze eques- trian statue of Washington, erected in Lafayette Square, was the second, and the equestrian statue of Washington, at the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and New Hampshire Avenue, was the third. Next as a work of art came the Statue of Liberty, designed by Thomas Crawford, and cast by Clarke Mills, completed in 1865.
The Lincoln Statue, in front of the City Hall, came next. This was the work of Flannery Brothers, sculptors, Washington, and was paid for by funds raised from voluntary subscriptions by friends and admirers of the martyr President. The business part of the work connected with the erection of this monument was conducted by the Lincoln National Monument Association, organized April 25, 1865. The president of this association was Richard Wallach; vice-presi- dent, Joseph F. Brown; secretary, Crosby S. Noyes; treasurer, George W. Riggs. There were fifty directors, of whom the following belonged in Washington: Joseph F. Brown, Asbury Lloyd, John B. Turton,
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Dr. W. G. H. Newman, George H. Plant, Z. Richards, N. D. Larner, E. C. Carrington, John P. Pepper, S. J. Bowen, George F. Gulick, B. B. French, George R. Ruff, C. V. Morris, John G. Dudley, John H. Semmes, James Kelly, William P. Ferguson; from Georgetown, Henry Addison, William H. Tenney; from Washington County, S. P. Brown and Dr. C. H. Nichols.
The monument was dedicated April 16, 1868, in the presence of an immense concourse of people, the arrangements being in charge of Mayor Wallach. An address was made by Hon. B. B. French, and E. B. Olmstead read a poem written for the occasion. The monument was then unveiled by President Andrew Johnson.
The bronze equestrian statue of General Winfield Scott, at the intersection of Massachusetts and Rhode Island avenues with Six- teenth Street, was ordered by Congress, and cast from cannon captured by the General in Mexico. The model was designed by H. K. Browne, the sculptor, and the statue was cast in the foundry of Wood & Company, of Philadelphia. The pedestal on which stands the statue is a marvel of skillful work, and is formed of blocks of New England granite, the largest ever successfully quarried and carried to a great distance. They weigh four hundred tons.
The bronze statue of General John A. Rawlins, adjutant-general of General Grant's staff, and also his Secretary of War when Presi- dent, was ordered by Congress, and unveiled in 1874. It was first erected in Rawlins Square, between New York Avenue and Potomac Flats, above Eighteenth Street. It was designed by Bailey, and cast in Wood & Company's foundry. The General is represented in the uniform of his rank, and is of heroic size. The statue of General Rawlins was afterward moved to its present location, on Pennsylvania Avenue and Ninth Street, in accordance with a resolu- tion of Congress.
The bronze statue of Lincoln in Lincoln Park, called " Emancipa- tion," was designed by Ball, the sculptor, and cast in Munich. It was unveiled April 14, 1876, an anniversary of his assassination. This monument is the result of the labors of the emancipated citizens of the United States. The first contribution therefor came from Char- lotte Scott, of Virginia, formerly a slave, the amount being $5, and being the first earned by her as a free woman. At the unveil- ing, Frederick Douglass was the orator, the entire ceremonies being conducted by the people of the race President Lincoln had made free.
The Statue of Peace, standing on Pennsylvania Avenue and First Street, was designed by Admiral Porter, and the work was done in
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Rome by the seulptor Franklin Simmons, of Maine. It is made of beautiful Carrara marble, and was erected to the memory of those officers, sailors, and marines who died in defense of their country during the War of the Rebellion. Architect Clark. designed the foun- dation, for which Congress made an appropriation. It is composed of a cireular base, steps, and platform; but many persons think the loca- tion is illy adapted to such a beautiful work of art.
The bronze statue of General McPherson stands in McPherson Square. It was unveiled in October, 1876, with appropriate ceremo- nies, General Jolm A. Logan being the orator of the day, who delivered a most impressive and impassioned tribute to the young Major-Gen- eral who came to such an untimely end in the battle of Atlanta. The monument was erected by the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, the statue being the work of Louis T. Rebasso. The pedestal was built with money appropriated by Congress, and contains a tomb designed for the remains of General McPherson, but as the citizens of Clyde, Ohio, his native city, objected to their removal, they were not placed in this receptacle.
The bronze equestrian statue of General Nathaniel Greene, one of the great soldiers of the Revolutionary War, was erected in Greene Square, at the intersection of Massachusetts and Maryland avenues, Capitol Hill, in 1877. It was designed by II. K. Browne, and cast in the foundry of Wood & Company, of Philadelphia. The General is represented as wearing the uniform of his rank in the Continental Army, riding rapidly and pointing forward with the most intense purpose, and at the same time looking backward as if urging his troops to follow.
The bronze equestrian statue of Major-General George II. Thomas was unveiled November 19, 1879. It adorns the circle named after him, at the intersection of Massachusetts and Vermont avenues. It was creeted by the Society of the Army of the Cumberland, in honor of the General. The oration on the occasion of the unveiling was delivered by IIon. Stanley Matthews.
The marble statue of Benjamin Franklin, designed by Ernest Plassman, standing on Pennsylvania Avenue and Tenth Street, pre- sented to the city in 1889 by Stillson Hutchins, stands on a granite pedestal eleven feet high, and is eight feet six inches high. The philosopher is represented in the costume of the days of his diplomatic residence at Versailles, France.
The heroic bronze statue of Chief Justice John Marshall is situ- ated at the foot of the terrace on the west side of the Capitol. It
GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS AND PUBLIC MONUMENTS. 695
was erected in 1884 by Congress and the Bar of the United States, and cost $40,000.
The bronze statue of James A. Garfield is at the Maryland Avenue entrance to the Capitol grounds. It was erected by the Army of the Cumberland in 1887, at a cost of $33,500, upon a pedes- tal erected by Congress at a cost of $31,500. The recumbent figures represent the student, warrior, and statesman.
The semi-heroic bronze statue of Professor Joseph Henry, first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, erected on the Smithsonian grounds, was unveiled in 1881. It was erected by Congress at a cost of $15,000.
The heroic bronze statue of Rear Admiral Samuel F. Dupont stands on Connecticut Avenue, one square from the British Legation. It was ordered by Congress in 1882, and was erected in 1884 at a cost of $14,000.
The heroic bronze statue of Martin Luther is immediately north of the Thomas Statue, in front of the Memorial Lutheran Church. It was erected in 1884, in commemoration of the birth of Luther, Novem- ber 10, 1433, and cost, with pedestal, $10,000.
The statue of Lafayette and his compatriots, Count de Rocham- beau and Chevalier Duportail, and Counts D'Estaing and DeGrasse, is in the southeast corner of Lafayette Square, opposite the Presidential Mansion. It was ordered by Congress in 1884, and erected in 1890. The total elevation to the top of the surmounting statue is forty-five feet. The female figure in front represents America offering the sword of liberty to Lafayette. The juvenile figures in the rear of the monu- ment are the "The Children of Liberty." The entire cost of this monument was nearly $60,000. The sculptors were Antoine Falquiere and Antonin Mercie, of France.
CHAPTER XX.
CEMETERIES.
First Burying Ground -Congressional Cemetery -Oak Hill Cemetery - Rock Creek Cemetery -Glenwood Cemetery - Arlington Cemetery -Other Cemeteries.
T' HE first burying ground in the city of Washington was Square No. 109, situated between Eighth and Boundary streets, and Nineteenth and Twentieth streets, Northwest. Prior to 1796, this property was owned by Anthony Holmead, and was part of a large estate, but in that year, when the division of the city into squares occurred between the commissioners and the proprietors, Square No. 109 was allotted to the commissioners.
On February 28, 1798, this square was set aside as a cemetery, and public notice was given to that effect. By an act of May 15, 1802, the corporation of Washington was authorized to take care of and regulate burial grounds, and these grounds were fitted up as a suitable place for the burial of the dead. Up to 1816, this was the most popular burying ground in Washington. The last interment made therein occurred in 1859 or 1860.
An act of Congress of March 3, 1879, granted to the District of Columbia the right and title of the United States in and to Square 109, to be used for public schools, and authorized the commissioners to sell any part or the whole of the square. The proceeds of the sale were directed to be used exclusively for the purchase of sites for public schoolhouses. The same act also authorized the commissioners to remove all bodies and tombstones. Subsequently an act was passed appropriating $3,000 for the exhumation and removal of such bodies as were identified to such cemeteries as the relatives or friends might select. This was done in 1880, with the exception of about two thousand bodies, which afterward, in accordance with arrangements made with the proper authorities, were removed to Graceland and Rock Creek cemeteries. The old burying ground, Square No. 109, was subsequently sold.
The Congressional Cemetery was established early in the history of the city. The project was carried out April 4, 1807, by a few of
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the most prominent inhabitants of the place, belonging to different denominations of Christians in the eastern part of the city. These projectors of this celebrated repository for the dead, in a most com- mendable spirit, placed the prices of the lots so low that individuals in humble circumstances could avail themselves of equal advantages with their more prosperous neighbors. It was agreed by the associa- tion that as soon as they should be reimbursed for the money expended in the purchase of the ground and in its improvement, the entire property should be placed under the direction of the Protestant Epis- copal church, the vestry of which was an incorporated body.
Among the original signers to the subscription paper were Henry Ingle, George Blagden, Griffith Coombs, S. N. Smallwood, Dr. Freder- ick May, Peter Miller, John T. Frost, and Commodore Thomas Tingey. It is believed that the first interment was that of Hon. Uriah Tracey, a member of the United States Congress from Connecticut. The site, as described in 1841, was four hundred and seventy-eight feet by four hundred and thirteen feet, with a gentle slope toward the south. The ranges of lots are designated north and south by letters, and east and west by numbers. One of the most conspicuous monuments in this cemetery is that to the Hon. George Clinton, a pyramid of freestone abont twelve feet high and reared on a broad base. One side presents a bold relief profile likeness, cut in marble, beneath which appears the following inscription :
"To the Memory of George Clinton. He was born in the State of New York on the 26th of July, 1739, and died at the city of Washington, 20th of April, 1811, in the seventy-third year of his age. He was a soldier and statesman of the Revolution, eminent in counsel, distinguished in war. He filled with unexampled useful- ness, purity, and ability, among many other high offices, those of governor of his native State, and of Vice-President of the United States. While he lived, his virtue, wisdom, and valor were the pride, the ornament, and the security of his country; and when he died, he left an illustrious example of a well-spent life, worthy of all imitation. "This monument is affectionately dedicated by his children."
There is also a splendid pyramidal monument erected to the men- ory of Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts, Vice-President of the United States at the time of his death. He died suddenly on his way to the Capitol to preside in the Senate, November 23, 1814, at the age of seventy years, thus fulfilling his own injunction, "It is the duty of every citizen, though he have but one day to live, to devote that day to the service of his country."
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There is also a monument to the memory of Major-General Jacob Brown, who died in 1828, at the age of fifty-three years. In 1839 it was under the care of Christ Episcopal Church. A general receiving vault stands on one of the main avenues, erected by Congress for those for whom no graves had been prepared. It is of freestone, has an iron door, and is surrounded by a neat iron paling which encloses an area devoted to trees and shrubs. The rule with reference to this vault is that bodies may remain therein for two months, when they must be removed and interred. In early days, however, this rule was not rigidly enforced, as the remains of the author of the " British Spy" were permitted to remain in the vault ten months. To him his friends and the members of the bar had promised to erect a suitable monument, provided his burial was permitted in the cemetery; but the pledge was not redeemed, and the remains of the illustrious Wirt were, after a long delay, at length thrown into an obscure grave to molder with the common and undistinguished dead. William Pinkney, of Maryland, the most eminent orator of his age, also lies buried here.
Besides the above-named distinguished dead, many others are buried in this cemetery, to present a complete list of whom is mani- festly impracticable. The cemetery is well worth a visit from the stranger.
Oak Hill Cemetery is located on the heights of Georgetown and bordering on Rock Creek. It was previously known as "Parrott's Woods." It owes its origin to W. W. Corcoran, who purchased fifteen acres of land of Lewis Washington, and when the charter for Oak Hill Cemetery Company was obtained from Congress, March 3, 1849, he conveyed this land to the company for the purposes of a cemetery. The size of the cemetery has since been increased, until now it contains nearly forty acres. The incorporators were Lorenzo Thomas, John Marbury, Edward M. Linthicum, and George Poc.
There have been buried in this cemetery a great many distin- guished personages. One of these was Edwin M. Stanton, the great War Secretary of President Lincoln. To his memory there has been erected a gray granite monument about twenty feet high, tapering from base to top like a slender pyramid. It bears the inseription: "Edwin M. Stanton. Born December 19, 1814. Died December 24, 1869."
There is also a monument to General Jesse Lee Reno, who was killed at the battle of South Mountain, September 14, 1862. There is one to the memory of HIon. Samuel Hooper, a Representative in Congress from Massachusetts, who died February 14, 1875, and also
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one to Alexander de Bisco Bodisco, Russian minister to the United States, who died November 23, 1854. Charles B. Fisk, chief engi- neer of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, is also remembered by a monument. There are two mausoleums-one erected by W. W. Cor- coran, the other being that of the Van Ness family, transferred from its former position on H Street. This latter is said to be a copy of the Temple of Vesta. Professor Joseph Henry has a monument in this cemetery. He was born December 17, 1797, and died January 13, 1878. This cemetery is also the last resting place of John Howard Payne, author of "Home, Sweet Home." He was born June 9, 1791, and died at Tunis, Algiers, April 9, 1852. Others of more or less note lie within these sacred precincts, but further mention is forborne.
Rock Creek Cemetery lies immediately north of the Soldiers' Home. It contains one hundred acres, upon which is also St. Paul's Church, Rock Creek Parish. In colonial times the land was given to this parish to be held in perpetuity for church purposes. A portion of the ground has long been used for burying purposes. The ceme- tery was staked in in 1852, by the rector and vestry of Rock Creek Parish, ten or more acres being inclosed in a substantial man- ner. It was then highly ornamented by nature, and regularly appro- priated to the purposes above mentioned. At that time Rev. David Kerr was rector, and the vestry consisted of John Agg, James M. Carlisle, William HI. Dundas, Darius Clagett, George MeCeney, Eras- mus J. Middleton, C. II. Wiltberger, and Hezekiah Davis. Since then, part of the "Glebe," as the whole piece of ground has long been known, was surveyed and laid out for cemetery purposes. It is for the most part shaded by forest trees of great age, and being secure from the encroachments of the city, it is a favorite place for the sepulture of the dead. At the present time, the cemetery com- mittee is composed of Rev. James A. Buck, John Miller, and General Thomas I. Pitcher; the secretary and treasurer is J. B. Wiltberger, and the superintendent, M. L. Moudy.
Glenwood Cemetery is located on Lincoln Avenue, about half a mile from Florida Avenue, on high ground overlooking the city, and is about one and a half miles north of the Capitol building. It con- tains about ninety acres of ground, and is laid out on the plan of Greenwood Cemetery, New York. It was incorporated July 27, 1854, and dedicated by Rev. Dr. Butler, August 1, 1854. The act of incor- poration was amended February 27, 1877, the control and direction of the cemetery by this amendment being committed to a board of trustees, annually elected by the lot owners.
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Arlington Cemetery is one of the principal national cemeteries in which repose so many of the dead soldiers of the Union. It lies across the Potomac, in Virginia, directly west of South Washington and directly south of the Aqueduct bridge at Georgetown. It is elevated more than two hundred feet above the Potomac, and the old estate of which the famous Arlington Mansion was the home- stead originally contained eleven hundred acres. It was the property of Daniel Parke Custis, the first husband of Mrs. George Washing- ton. Washington left it to his wife's grandson, his own adopted son, George Washington Parke Custis, who died in 1857, leaving the estate to his daughter, Mrs. Robert E. Lee, during her lifetime, and then to his grandsons, Custis and Fitzhugh Lec. As it was not the property of General Robert E. Lee, it could not be confiscated; but because of the large accumulation of taxes upon it, Virginia ordered it to be sold, and it was bought in 1864 by the Government of the United States for $23,000. In May, 1865, it was established as the first of the eighty-two national cemeteries for the remains of the Nation's dead. Some years afterward George W. Lee, the eldest son of General Lee, brought suit to recover the estate, upon the ground that it had been illegally sold, and after a long litigation established his claim. He then conveyed it to the Government for $150,000. The cemetery contains two hundred acres of land enclosed by a low wall of masonry. The ground is shaded by oaks of two hundred years' growth, and the drives and walks wind around and through beautiful green lawns, and parterres of flowers and variegated plants. There are some fifty or sixty acres of graves, the soldiers buried here numbering sixteen thousand, two hundred and sixty-four, the graves being arranged in regular rows, the natural level of the grass rolling over all. Each grave is marked by a white marble headstone, bearing the name of the soldier buried beneath, so far as the names were known. There are also buried in the cemetery the remains of a few of the soldiers of the Confederacy.
Perhaps the most interesting monument in this cemetery is the tomb erected to the memory of the dead soldiers, two thousand, one hundred and eleven in number, who could not be identified. They were gathered mostly from the battlefields of Bull Run and the road to the Rappahannock. The inscription upon this tomb reads as follows:
" Beneath this stone repose the bones of two thousand, one hun- dred and eleven unknown soldiers, gathered after the War from the fields of Bull Run and the Route to the Rappahannock. Their remains
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