Soldiers and Sailors Monument (1908–1911) is a
Beaux-Arts monument in
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...
, dedicated to the 12,265 men of
Onondaga County who served in the
Civil War.
[Soldiers and Sailors Monument](_blank)
from SIRIS. It was designed by architect
Clarence Blackall and includes two bronze sculptures, ''The Call to Arms'' and ''An Incident at Gettysburg'' by
Cyrus Dallin
Cyrus Edwin Dallin (November 22, 1861 – November 14, 1944) was an American sculptor best known for his depictions of Native Americans. He created more than 260 works, including the ''Equestrian Statue of Paul Revere'' in Boston, Massac ...
. The memorial was erected in
Clinton Square, alongside the
Erie Canal.
[Hardin, Evamaria, ''Syracuse Landmarks: An AIA Guide to Downtown and Historic Neighborhoods'', photographs by Jon Crispan, Syracuse University Press and Onondaga Historical Society, pp. 34–35.]
The monument consists of a square granite
pylon with attached Roman
Ionic columns at its corners, supporting a heavy
cornice
In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...
with a carved
frieze, and crowned by a globe guarded by four eagles grasping a thick
garland. This is set atop a
plinth, and a stepped plaza with corner
piers supporting bronze lampposts. The pylon's east and west sides are adorned with bronze
high-relief sculpture groups by Dallin. The north and south sides feature granite reliefs of flags and military
accoutrement
Accoutrements are the personal/individual equipment of service people such as soldiers, sailors, police and firemen and employees of some private organizations such as security guards, other than their basic uniform and weapons.In American English ...
s. The plinth features dedication plaques, and a quotation from President
Abraham Lincoln's
Gettysburg Address.
The monument is approximately 75 ft (22.86 m) tall.
Dallin won a design competition to produce the two monumental bronze groups, ''The Call to Arms'' and ''An Incident at Gettysburg''. The competition's judges included
J. Q. A. Ward and
Daniel Chester French
Daniel Chester French (April 20, 1850 – October 7, 1931) was an American sculptor of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, best known for his 1874 sculpture ''The Minute Man'' in Concord, Massachusetts, and his 1920 monume ...
.
[ Ahrens, Kent, ''Cyrus E. Dallin: His Small Bronzes and Plasters'', Rockwell Museum, Corning, NY, 1995, p. 74.] The ''Incident at Gettysburg'' group depicts the moment when a Syracuse native, Color Sergeant William C. Lilly of the
149th New York Infantry, paused in the middle of a firefight to repair a broken flagstaff with his belt. Lilly survived Gettysburg but was killed in a later engagement in the War.
The monument's cornerstone was laid on
Memorial Day, May 31, 1909.
It was dedicated on June 21, 1910,
although only Dallin’s ''The Call to Arms'' had been installed.
Dallin's assistant,
Frederick MacMonnies, had been sent to France to attend to the other sculpture group's casting in bronze, but instead got married and went off on his honeymoon.
''The Incident at Gettysburg'' was dedicated on June 23, 1911.
The Syracuse section of the Erie Canal was filled in and paved over in 1925, to create Erie Boulevard.
The monument's original granite plaza measured 50 ft (15.24 m) by 150 ft (45.72 m),
but the sections east and west of its central portion were removed in the 1930s, and replaced by landscaping.
A
reflecting pool that traces the canal's former path was constructed alongside the monument in 2001.
It features
fountain jets in warm weather and becomes an iceskating rink in winter.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Soldiers and Sailors Monument (Syracuse)
1911 sculptures
Allegorical sculptures in New York (state)
Allegorical sculptures in the United States
Bronze sculptures in New York (state)
Monuments and memorials in Syracuse, New York
Outdoor sculptures in New York (state)
Union (American Civil War) monuments and memorials in New York (state)
Works by Cyrus Edwin Dallin