STATUE OF JOHN WITHERSPOON
GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC MEMORIAL
On the north side of the pedestal is a quotation from Witherspoon, made during the War for Independence, as follows:
FOR MY OWN PART, OF PROPERTY I HAVE SOME, OF REPUTATION MORE. THAT REPUTATION IS STAKED, THAT PROPERTY IS PLEDGED ON THE ISSUE OF THIS CONTEST, AND ALTHOUGH THESE GREY HAIRS MUST SOON DESCEND INTO THE SEPULCHRE, I WOULD INFINITELY RATHER THAT THEY DESCEND THITHER BY THE HAND OF THE EXECUTIONER THAN DESERT AT THIS CRISIS THE SACRED CAUSE OF MY COUNTRY
MEMORIAL OF THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC TO DR. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN STEPHENSON
This memorial was presented to the United States by the Grand Army of the Republic, in commemoration of Dr. Benjamin Franklin Stephenson, organizer and founder of the Grand Army of the Republic, and stands near Pennsylvania Avenue at Seventh Street NW.
The monument is a solid granite shaft, in form a triangular pyramid. The bronze figures represent three great principles. Fraternity, symbolized by a soldier and a sailor, is on the west side. Over the group is the inscription:
1861-1865