Major General Ulysses S. Grant Equestrian Statue Vicksburg National Military Park [Located on Grant Circle] The equestrian statue of Grant marks his field headquarters location. The Union commander directed siege operations from here before moving to Vicksburg on July 6th, two days after the surrender. Information on this impressive statue is sparse. Sculpted by Frederick C. Hibbard, the statue cost $34,000, and was erected in 1918. I googled “Frederick Hibbard” and found the following information about him: Hibbard was born in Canton, Missouri in 1881, and as a child, worked with the clay on the banks of the Mississippi River. There he sculpted some of his favorite animals. The clay ignited his fascination for the art of sculpture. One of Hibbards first major successes came when he was selected to erect a monument on the battlefield at Shiloh. He said later:This monument was erected in memory of the 10,000 Confederate soldiers who fell in the Battle of Shiloh. The subject was a difficult one, for the Battle of Shiloh did not result in a Confederate victory. I went weeks studying Civil War history and biography, deciding at last to use symbolic figures typifying the reasons for the defeat. This monument was dedicated in 1917. Soon after this, he created an equestrian statue of U.S. Grant for Vicksburg. The requirement was that he should be depicted as he was during the Siege of Vicksburg. Hibbard said I could not fulfill the latter requirement because the General wore a blouse and his pants were over his boots. Had he been made in sculpture during the siege, he would have looked like a rooster with its tail feathers pulled out and spurs cut off. The Sculptors impressive career spanned almost a half century from 1904 until 1948. One of his masterpieces is a twelve-foot statue of Jefferson Davis, in Frankfort, Kentucky.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 02:06:54 +0000