Monument Monday - Military Men and Horses
There are probably three dozen statutes of famous military leaders posed on their horses located around Washington, DC and in nearby Arlington National Cemetery. Some of the most famous include:
- Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman at 15th and E Streets.
- Gen. George B. McClellan in Dupont Circle at Florida and Connecticut Avenues
- Joan of Arc in Meridian Hill Park at 16th and Florida Ave.
- George Washington at Cathedral Drive and Wisconsin Ave.
- Andrew Jackson at Pennsylvania Ave. and 16th Street.
- Ulysses S. Grant on Capitol Hill at 1st Street.
Legend, or commonly accepted misconception, is that the number of hooves in the air reveals how the soldier died. It is commonly believed that if the horse in the statute has:
- One hoof in the air - the subject was wounded in battle and later died
- Two hooves - they died in battle
- Four hooves on the ground - the subject died in peacetime.
Another commonly held belief is that statues of Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War face South, while ones who survived the war, face North.
While both of these make for great legends for tour guides to mention and sound knowledgeable, it’s simply not true. Although, the style was favored by some artists during different periods, notably, after the Civil War, probably two-thirds of the DC’s mounted statutes don’t follow these artist’s guidelines.
Images - Sherman, Joan of Arc - personal collection - ©2008, Jon Rochetti
_____________________________________________________________
3 Comments
Thanks for mentioning Joan of Arc. I believe, although I’d hardly stake my life on it, that this is the only stand-alone monument for a woman in the District. Obviously there are other statues of women — Eleanor at the FDR Memorial and the statue honoring nurses down by Lincoln and the Vietnam Memorials — but I can’t think of any others that stand by themselves the way Joan does in Malcolm X Park.
Good point. I am however fairly certain that Joan is the only statute of a woman riding a horse in the District.
There’s also the Titanic Memorial and the statute on top of the Capitol, but neither is of a specific woman.
Here’s a link ot the Titanic memorial - http://www.thedctraveler.com/monument-monday-the-titanic/
Well, the misconceptions do sound reasonable to some extent.