Jefferson Davis Monument
First Baptist Church
On your left, at Monument Avenue and the Boulevard, is First Baptist Church, one of Richmond’s numerous large churches.
Jackson Monument
This monument to Thomas J. (“Stonewall”) Jackson, the sculpture for which is the work of F. William Sievers, shows him mounted on “Sorrel,” facing north, because he so resolutely opposed the Northern army. Jackson, whose brilliant strategy is studied today by soldiers the world over, was a stern, Cromwellian type of commander in strange contrast to the dashing Stuart. Lee called him his “right arm,” and no one has ever been able to estimate the severity of the blow his death dealt the Southern cause. ¶ Continue westward on Monument to Belmont.
Maury Monument
Commodore Matthew Fontaine Maury (F. William Sievers was the sculptor for this monument), is not as well known to the average citizen as he deserves to be, but sailors on all the seas know his work and are grateful for it. He is known as “The Pathfinder of the Seas” because he charted the oceans with such accuracy that even today the Pilot Charts issued by the Hydrographic Office of the Navy Department are founded on his researches. In the house which still stands close to the present Valentine Museum, Maury, seeking ways that would enable his pathetically small Confederate Navy to be effective against the Union gunboats, invented the submarine electrical torpedo. ¶ U-turn around the monument; proceed eastward on Monument one block to Sheppard; right on Sheppard three blocks to Kensington; proceed left on Kensington to the Boulevard; turn right.
Battle Abbey, Confederate Memorial Institute