Franklin Square, situated between K St, I St, 13th St, and 14th St, sees no end of vehicle or pedestrian traffic throughout the day. Food trucks line the eastern end of the park at lunch time while workers from the nearby office buildings enjoy lunch around the park’s broken fountain. On the western edge, overlooking 14th St’s never-ending stream of traffic, is the largely forgotten father of the United States Navy.
Standing in a lonely traffic circle west of the U.S. Capitol building is a memorial that has come to be called the Peace Monument. Most of the visitors it receives have come to see the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial, and few know that it stands in honor of the naval war dead of the American Civil War.
South of the White House, on land that was reclaimed from the Potomac River in the late 19th century, stands the memorial to Thomas Jefferson. It doesn’t have good parking and it can be tricky to walk to on foot, but the Jefferson Memorial remains one of the most popular monuments in D.C.
In the corner of the intersection of Virginia Ave. and 20th St. stands the equestrian statue of one of South America’s greatest leaders. In between the Office of Personnel Management and the State Department, the statue sees thousands pass by it daily, but the legacy of General José de San Martín has been largely forgotten in North America.
Southwest of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, at the northern edge of East Potomac Park, lies one of the most underseen memorials in Washington, honoring one of the least known founders of our country. Thousands pass by it daily on Interstate 395, but few stop to regard George Mason or contemplate his contributions to the country.
South and east of the Lincoln Memorial, next to Daniel French Dr. and Independence Ave., is one of the most well-known war memorials in Washington, D.C. Few memorials are imbued with as much humanity as the Korean War Veterans Memorial. Nineteen stainless steel soldiers march in formation in a triangular park. To their south is a wall of black granite with photographic images sandblasted onto its surface. At the eastern end of the park is the Pool of Remembrance. On the northern edge is the United Nations Wall, listing the 22 UN member nations that sent soldiers to Korea.
Standing in front of the Watergate Hotel and the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia is the statue of one of the most prominent leaders in Mexican history – Benito Juárez. Facing north, with a stand of trees behind it, the visage of the statue is often shaded and overlooked. Add to that its distance from the National Mall and it’s easy to understand why few know of its existence.
Dedicated in 1969 in a ceremony attended by U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk and Mexican Foreign Minister Antonio Carrillo Flores, the statue was a gift from Mexico in exchange for a statue of Abraham Lincoln that the U.S. had given to the Mexican government in 1966.
The Lincoln Memorial is the most visited monument in Washington, D.C. According to the National Park Service statistics, nearly 8 million people visited the memorial in 2015. The site is open to the public all day, every day, and it is rare to see it without any visitors. Thousands of drivers pass it every day coming to or from Arlington or West Potomac Park.
Plans for the construction of a monument to Lincoln began less than three years after his death. Clark Mills – the sculptor of the Andrew Jackson statue in Lafayette Park and George Washington’s at Washington Circle – was chosen for the task. His design called for a monument 70 feet high with 36 bronze sculptures, including six equestrian statues. At the top would have been Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation. The monument, which would have stood next to the Capitol, was never made due to a lack of funds.
At the eastern end of Freedom Plaza, at 13th Street NW and Pennsylvania Avenue, is the equestrian statue of General Casimir Pulaski. The statue is surrounded by stone benches and office workers can often be found lunching on them, under the nearby trees.
Most prominent among the statuary found around Washington are those of Civil War generals. Of the 18 grouped together by the National Register of Historic Places, half of them are equestrian statues. Only three of the non-equestrian statues are dedicated to a single individual. Not included on the list – but more than worthy of inclusion – is the African American Civil War Memorial that was completed 70 years after the last memorial was built.
Ten of the 18 monuments had dedication ceremonies that were attended by sitting presidents; three didn’t even have a ceremony. The first was dedicated in 1874 (nine years after the end of the war) and the last (before the African American Civil War Memorial was built) was dedicated in 1927. Read more for quick facts about these 19 monuments. Continue reading “Civil War Monuments”
