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Show Crawford and Mills, WQt Sculptors . -.J A-V- , v' ! Gen. Gcorqe Washinqton O1 V: Y -. ' bt, Clark Mills rprk-lfC ' f : H: : " K fT 0 V.l-lJ-?-I..!-!-l.,!-l.-.i ? ' : - LJ-L-l-i-Ui-J r Tha"Rockinq Horse" Statue of Jackson ;A ? "Tv bq Clark Mills v- . , , . " A fi -i r ' 'vs. X nJ nuulit not to lio there, the lnvery quoatlon ij i r M ' , V living then Ht In immt cruc-lnl ntaK. Ai Anally ' i 1 ' ' -Jvl approved l.jr Invl, Hie model of the ntutue bora l V-'iy ' ' '' It ' 1 J ' ' ?- coronal of nine man. Tlie atotue originally r f. ;-, i' t J 1 ha.l ri-iiri-nfi.il-. I Ariuel I-llM-rty. Imt after tlia ' - '. i jv i " ttf:i, .V- 1 " 4f .-' minor cliai.;.- It n (1.-. I.1.-.1 to cull It tb .'vH;?',? V'V;-vA : !'T ..-.tu. or m, .;"' ' 0 lr.'vi f V .... 'i J"': -;J, '!-.,r ' " April 1, Is.'.T, Crawford wroto to Davii fit ' ' ' ' ''::' s y ;-l: ;: -'V"-.'rl 1 a.kliiK ..rinl!..n lo drive the atntua caat In V,-.;'. ."' . ivC.yV : i : ' ' '. ;:'--v''X jj'; . '- ; I Jt-onl l!aarlan foun.lry In Munl.li. then tha VT?, .y .. . ; ' - ; l ,': - '. ' V ;l . ' i I jnont fninom foundry In lti worM. Jiut Crawford Kfy V ; J (jA 1 i"., .' .-C aa ilcntlnnl never to nee !.! work completed .!,' V' . . ("k j f.j'f - - .V f..r l.e died Dva nionttn Inter In London, on Sep- ,7? ; .'i'i -A -.ri.-i?. v ;' ";S7; y!'';-S-'-'.VNf te...l.er 10. J1-57. . ('; t,t ;- V XV'VjwVv. ,y---p"-?f-- -.OV Tl.e prl. e for tl.r nio.li-l lmd leen wt at J5.000 .f.'Jf vW'.'j'J.t-l V. ' iv '--"i; ' j- t" ico-.'l and after IVnwford'i death III wife undertook b??: 7 ' " '-"V V;- 'i.i -'''" -i '' a to complete l.li coiitruct. On April 10, 1S59, the V" A''!. ; V '. - H..'.;:."''l.v;,V ' 'i -: ' fl plaster model of tha statue of Kreedoin was t t y -' V '' V -T " ' ' loaded on the bark Kmlly at lifhorn. Italy, and Y! VV" J',.'' et'.. . 7 started lis voyaxe to the United State. Throe 'LwUA ' . - j'l-.r f VTnOniClS day from M.rt the esel runs a leak, f sL . JCrawford At Itermuda tl.e vessel wu condemned and 1 ' I."' t i , ..' r the precious statuary for tl.e United States Capt- Stdtue oF Freedom tol wos stored on the Island for several months. Modeled bu Crawford Th "ortlc"" of "'0'lcl wt're "!i're'i Amer- i ' ij.it Johii5.)n. then postmaster general and presl- o piecemeal on various boats, and the last of OdSt Dt-J WllllS dent of the Jackson monument committee, who the statuary finally arrived In Washington about flske.l hlln to mihn.lf iL.'i'm fur tironre enoes. m ranr I'.nr It li.il tnrl(l Rrniu tha Rlnrmf By ELMO SCOTT WATSON yr"Ti.-r' 1, Y c:", hor "Tle 1''r:it I--lJ-T of r Washir. -Ton," and they don't jf mean the wife of the I'resident of the I'nlte-l Stiitea. They say ) she Is Washington's best known 'f and ti-.ey d-m't mean some V I rel.-alr.s b.-Ke In Capital s.H.-iety. -'3 They sr.-:ik of her as "Uncle V- Sam's Wife." but that Isn"t possl-"Txjf possl-"Txjf l.le teca'is '-Uncle Sam" Is only -ijjj a personification, a fiction created hy the Imagination, while she is a tangible, visible f.jure. She Is variously (and erroneously) known as the "Goddess of Freedom," Free-dom," the "Goddess of Liberty" and the "Indian Goddess." But her real name Is the statue of Freedom and for 70 years she has stood atop the dome of the Capitol In Washington. The statue of Freedom Is the product of the efforts of two sculptors, famous Id their day but now almost forgotten by a generation of Americans Amer-icans who know the names of Lorado Taft, Gut-zon Gut-zon Borglnrn aDd Jo Davidson better than they do those of Clark Mills and Thomas Crawford. Insofar as this article has most to do with Mills and Crawford, let us consider their careers and their claims to distinction before expanding the theme of the stattie of Freedom. Mills' fame rests chiefly upon his being the sculptor of the first equestrian statue erected In this country, the famous "rocking horse statue" of Andrew Jackson In Lafayette park, near the White House, Id Washington; his having also executed the equestrian statue of Washington, depicting him at the Battle of Princeton, which stands at Twenty-third street and Pennsylvania avenue; his part In giving to the nation the statue of Freedom on top of the Capitol; and the fact that he was a sculptor whose only lessons les-sons were those he gave himself. Mills was born In Onondaga county. New York, December 1, 1S15. His parents died when he was five years old and the youngster went to his uncle's home to live. Even as a child he was restless and unhappy. At thirteen he ran away, doing odd Jobs here and there as he traveled farther and farther from Onondaga county. He worked on farms; he cut cedar posts In swamps; he learned to mill. He reached Charleston, S. C, after a great deal of traveling and there he settled. There, too, he learned a new trade that appealed to him stuccoing. At the age of twenty he had little schooling and less training In art and sculpturing. His education was the study of human nature that he had gathered during his travels and a keen Interest In faces. It was while working with stucco that he wondered why a cast could not be made from living facea. This would assure realism and would be Inexpensive. Inex-pensive. He experimented on his friends and the results were so good that he soon had a number of orders. This local success stirred young Mills. He must try to cut a bust In marble. Night after night he worked out his new Idea, carving the features of John C. Calhoun. When he completed com-pleted his work he brought it to the city council and waited, laughing at himself for thinking that his untutored hands and mind would produce pro-duce anything great. In 1SH5 the council of Charleston awarded a gold medal to his bust of Calhoun and appropriated money to purchase It. With the money thus earner Mills pb.nned to go to Europe to study his art. but a friend advised ad-vised him to go first to Washington and view the statuary in the Capitol. His visit to Washington became an important event of his life. He was Introduced to Cave Johnson, then postmaster general and preI-dent preI-dent of the Jackson monument committee, who aiked hlin to submit a deslitn for a brnnie equestrian eques-trian statue of General Jackson and who assured as-sured him that "the committee would furnish the brume." which thov later did In a curious historical way. Not bavins ever seen General Ja.-kson or an equestrian name of any kind, Mills hesitated. In doubt of his own abilities, but his Yankee enterprise came to his rescue. He produced a design which was acceptable to the committee and after nine months of disheartening dis-heartening labor, he finally brought to the committee com-mittee a minlnture model of rather startling originality. The hind legs of the horse were brought exactly ex-actly under the center of the body, while his front legs pawed the air. Imparting both a sense of marvelous balance and motion. Two years were required to finish the plaster model and another year elapsed before the committee came forward with the bronze. They got the stock by appropi latlng ail the old cannon captured by General Jackson at the battle of New Orleans, which were broken up and melted. After many failures In balancing the horse In bronze, the statue was finally finished. On the thirty-eighth anniversary of the battle of New Orleans, In 1S.13, the statue was unveiled In the presence of a vast crowd and Clark Mills himself. Stephen A. Douglas, master of ceremonies, ceremo-nies, made an eloquent address and called on Mills to speak. But Mills had never been an orator, and his first public success awed and frightened him. He faced the audience and ' opened his mouth, but words would not come. Silently Si-lently he pointed to the veiled statue and at his gesture, instead of the awaited spoken word, the veil was withdrawn. Andrew Jackson, seated on his mount, stood before his people. There was silence, then prolonged applause. For Mills that occasion meant nationwide fame. He was asked to cast a statue of Washington Washing-ton at the battle of Princeton for the Capital. He did, using guns donated by congress. Mills spent the last years of his life making busts of prominent citizens. He was not a publicity pub-licity seeker during his life, and after his death In 1883, at the age of sixty-eight, his fame lessened. les-sened. Today he Is virtually forgotten by that group, notorious for short memory the Public. But If Mills could not win enduring fame by his own efforts as a sculptor, he does have some reflected glory from another sculptor for his part In giving to the nation the statue of Free-dom Free-dom which looks down upon the country which she is supposed to symbolize from her lofty pedestal ped-estal In the Capital of that country. That other sculptor was Thomas Crawford, also a native of New York where he was born March 22, 1814. After studying In New York he went to Italy In 1834 for further study and he remained In Europe Eu-rope for 15 years. Returning to this country In 1819 he was commissioned by the state of Virginia Vir-ginia to execute an equestrian statue of Washington Wash-ington for the city of Richmond. At about this time plans were going forward for the completion of the Capitol building and President Pierce placed it In charge of Jefferson Jeffer-son Davis, who was secretary of war In his cabinet. cab-inet. Davis supervised the exteasions and commissioned com-missioned Crawford, then residing in Italy, to execute the colossal statue which was to surmount sur-mount the dome. In March, 1S5G, Crawford forwarded to Secretary Sec-retary Davis photographs of the model of the statue as originally designed by him. The figure of Liberty In the photographs represented a female fe-male crowned with a laurel wreath, bearing In her hand a huge olive branch. The war secretary objected to the wreath, and the sculptor suggested sug-gested that a liberty cap be substituted. To this Davis even more strenuously objected "because It was the historical emblem of a freed slave and ouuht not to bo there," the slavery question being then Ht III inont crucial stage. A finally approved by Inivl, the model of the statue bore a coronal of nine start. The statue originally bad represented Armed Liberty, but after the minor thanes it ua decided to call it the tntue of Freedom. nil April 1, ls.'.7, Crawford wrote to Davl nnklng pennlnnion to have tl.e statue cast In bri'iir.B und.T 1.1s personal s upervlHlon at th It.i nl Bavarian foundry In Munich, then the most famous foundry In tho world. But Crawford win destined never to see bis work completed for he died five months later In London, on September Sep-tember 10, Ji-57. The price for the model hud been set at J.I.OOO and lifter IVawford death hi wife undertook to complete !.! contract. On April 10, 1S58, the plaster mode of the statue of Freedom wa loaded on the bark Emily at Leghorn, Italy, and tartvd It voyage to the United States. Throe day from p.rt the vessel sprung a leak. At Bermuda the vessel will condemned and the precious statuary for tl.e United States Capitol Capi-tol wa stored on the l!snd for several month. Th section of the model were shipper! to Amer-lc Amer-lc piecemeal on various bouts, and the last of the statuary finally arrived In Washington about year after It had started across the stormy Atlantic from Italy. Almost six years now elapsed since the commission com-mission for the statue had been given, four year had p.isscd since the design bad been executed, and many more year were fated to pas before the figure waa finally cast Into bronze and placed Into ponltion. By thl time the rumblings of the approaching Civil war were growing louder and work on the Capitol wa susi-enrled. Upon the delivery of the different section of th plaster model of the statue In Washington, an adroit Italian who worked about the Capitol assembled them so skillfully that no crevice were perceptible at the Joint, the bolts were all firmly riveted Inside and their location deftly concealed by the plaster covering. Then the model mod-el was put on a wooden pedestal and set up for exhibition purposes In the old chamber of the house of representatives, the present Statuary hall. After remaining there for two years, the model was removed to the Crypt, the room under the rotunda of the Capitol which was originally designed de-signed for the tomb of George Washington. Many years later the model was moved to the Smithsonian Smith-sonian Institution and there It may be een today. In 1S00 the plans for casting the statue In bronze got under way. And It was at this point that Clark Mills came into the picture. He owned a foundry on the Bladensburg road three miles from Washington and he was given the contract for casting the statue. But now another obstacle arose. The Italian workman who had assembled the sections of the model wa directed di-rected to take It apart for the molds. This he flatly refused to do unless he received a large bonus and a long-time contract of employment, stating that he alone knew the key of Its construction con-struction and to attempt to separate the sections sec-tions without this knowledge would mean the destruction of the model. The situation seemed desperate. But Mills recalled re-called that he owned a highly Intelligent mulatto mulat-to slnve named Philip Reed, who had long been employed about the foundry as an expert and was a extremely skillful workman. Reed made a critical examination of the figure and at length announced that he could solve the mystery and dismember the plaster mode without damaging It. lie first Inserted a pulley Into an Iron eye affixed to the head of the model, then gently strained the rope until Joint after Joint became visible. The Inside bolts were then discovered, scraped of plaster and carefully removed. The model was again reduced to sections and sent to the Mills foundry for casting. Soon after the casting began the Civil war opened and all such work was ordered suspended. But, deaf to the thunder of the guns of war. Mills persisted in his work until he had produced a perfect bronze cast of the statue. This was some time In 1SG1 or 1SC2. The statue was taken to the southeast corner of the Capitol grounds, where it remained for many months. Precisely at 12 o'clock noon on December 2, 1SG3, the colossal figure was hoisted by the steam npparatus that had been employed in the construction con-struction of the dome and in 20 minutes It had reached its lofty pedestal in safety. As soon as It was properly adjusted the American flag was unfurled over its head. The statue Is the most striking symbol In the whole country of the principle upon which this nation was founded. It is also an enduring memorial memo-rial to two sculptors whose names are all but forgotten but should be remembered by their fellow-Americans Clark Mills and Thoma Crawford. ( by Western Newspaper Union.) |
