Peculiarities of American Cities

by Willard W. Glazier

At the western base of Capitol Hill stands the naval monument, termed in the resolutions of Congress, the "Monument of Peace." It was designed by Admiral Porter, and erected by subscriptions started by him among the officers, midshipmen and men of his fleet, immediately after the fall of Fort Fisher. The height of this monument is forty-four feet; it is built of Carrara marble and cost $44,000. The surmounting figures represent History recording the woes narrated by America, who holds a tablet in her hand on which is inscribed: They died that their country might live. This monument is exceedingly well executed, and was considered, in Rome, one of the finest ever sent to America.

Lafayette Square, comprising seven acres lying north of the President's House, is beautifully laid out with rustic seats, graveled walks, and adorned with a rare variety of trees and shrubbery. In the centre of this square stands an equestrian statue of General Andrew Jackson, by Clark Mills, originally contracted for by the friends and admirers of the General composing the Jackson Monument Association, who subscribed twelve thousand dollars towards its erection. Congress afterward granted them the brass guns and mortars captured by General Jackson at Pensacola. In 1850 an additional donation of guns was made; in 1852 another appropriation sufficient to complete the work was granted, and Congress assumed possession of the monument. The figure of the horse is weighted and poised without the aid of rods, as in the celebrated statues of Peter the Great, at St. Petersburg, and Charles I., at London. This was the first application of the principle, and resulted in the production of one of the most graceful and astonishingly beautiful works of its kind in existence. The statue is of colossal size, weighing fifteen tons, and was erected at a cost of $50,000.

Scott Square, lying north of the White House, contains a bronze statue of General Winfield Scott, made of cannon captured by the General during his Mexican campaign, and donated by Congress in 1867. The work was executed by Brown, of New York; with the pedestal, it is twenty-nine feet high, and cost $20,000. The General is represented in full uniform, mounted on his war-horse, surveying the field of battle.

The Circle of Victory, at the intersection of Massachusetts and Vermont avenues, contains a bronze equestrian statue of General George H. Thomas, of the Army of the Cumberland. The statue confronts the South, in the direction of the General's native hills of Virginia. On the site of this monument a salute of eight hundred guns was fired in commemoration of the capture of Petersburg and Richmond on the third of April, 1865; and, a few days later, five hundred guns were fired from the same spot in honor of General Lee's surrender and the fall of the Southern Confederacy.

On East Capitol street, at a distance of about one mile from the Capitol, is a square comprising six and a half acres, beautifully laid out and adorned with trees, shrubbery and walks. In this enclosure a bronze group called Emancipation has been erected; Abraham Lincoln is represented holding in his right hand the proclamation which gave freedom to the negroes of the South. A slave kneels at his feet, with manacles broken, and in the act of rising as they fall from his hands. This monument is said to have been built exclusively of funds contributed by the negroes liberated by Lincoln's proclamation of January first, 1863. The first contribution of five hundred dollars was made, it is stated, by Charlotte Scott, formerly a slave in Virginia, out of her first earnings as a freed-woman, and consecrated by her, on hearing of President Lincoln's death, to aid in building a monument to his memory. The interesting memorial was unveiled with appropriate ceremonies, on the anniversary of his assassination, April fourteenth, 1876, the President and his Cabinet, foreign ministers, and a vast concourse of white and colored citizens being present. Including the pedestal of Virginia granite, the structure is twenty-two feet in height, and cost $20,000. It was in this square, now called Lincoln Square, that, according to the founder's original plan of embellishment, a grand Historic Column was to have been erected, to serve as an itinerary column, from which all geographical distances within the boundaries of the United States should be calculated.

McPherson Square, on Vermont avenue, contains a bronze equestrian statue of General James Birdseye McPherson, who was killed near Atlanta, at the head of the Army of the Tennessee, in 1864. He is represented in full uniform, with field-glasses in hand, surveying the battle-ground. A vault was constructed beneath the statue, for the purpose of receiving his body, but the devoted opposition of the people prevented its removal from his native place.

Farragut and Rawlins squares contain respectively colossal, but not equestrian statues of Admiral Farragut and General Rawlins.

Mount Vernon Place, at the intersection of New York and Massachusetts avenues, is handsomely laid out and planted with trees; in the centre, occupying an elevated circular space, is a superb fountain of bronze.

There are numerous smaller spaces at the intersection of various streets and avenues, called triangular reservations, all of which are highly adorned with trees, shrubs and beautiful small fountains.

The Government Propagating Gardens cover an area of eighty acres on the banks of the Potomac, south of Washington's Monument. The Botanical Garden, an instructive place of public resort, lies at the foot of Capitol Hill, between Pennsylvania and Maryland avenues. North of the Conservatory is found the Bartholdi Fountain, which is supplied with water from the aqueduct, its highest stream reaching an altitude of sixty-five feet. This fountain is the work of Frederic Augustus Bartholdi, a French sculptor and pupil of Scheffer. It will be remembered by all who visited the National Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, where it was exhibited, and afterward purchased by Congress for the inadequate sum of six thousand dollars. The lower basin is twenty-six feet in diameter, and from its centre rises a pedestal bearing aquatic monsters and fishes spouting water; three female caryatides, eleven feet high, support a basin thirteen feet in diameter; a smaller basin above this is upheld by three infant Tritons, the whole being surmounted by a mural crown. Twelve lamps, arranged around the lower basin, and lighted by electricity, give the most beautiful effects of light and water. On the plaza in front of the Treasury Department, is another fine fountain, in the form of an immense granite urn, the tassa of which measures sixteen feet in diameter.