''General Israel Putnam'' is a monumental statue in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

, United States. Located in the city's

Bushnell Park Bushnell Park in Hartford, Connecticut is the oldest publicly funded park in the United States. It was conceived by the Reverend Horace Bushnell in the mid-1850s at a time when the need for open public spaces was just starting to be recognized. T ...

, the statue was designed by sculptor

John Quincy Adams Ward John Quincy Adams Ward (June 29, 1830 – May 1, 1910) was an American sculptor, whose most familiar work is his larger than life-size standing Statue of George Washington (Wall Street), statue of George Washington on the steps of Federal Hall, Fe ...

and honors

Israel Putnam Israel Putnam (January 7, 1718 – May 29, 1790), popularly known as "Old Put", was an American military officer and landowner who fought with distinction at the Battle of Bunker Hill during the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). He als ...

, a military officer in the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. The statue was largely paid for by a donation from judge Joseph P. Allyn and was dedicated in a large ceremony in 1874. It was one of the first statues to be erected in the park, which nowadays houses several other monuments to famous Connecticut residents. From an artistic standpoint, the statue has received mixed reviews from critics.

History

was a military officer who served as a

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

in the

during the

. Born in

Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the most significant seaports tr ...

in 1718, he moved to

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

in 1739 and died there in 1790, having become a

folk hero A folk hero or national hero is a type of hero – real, fictional or mythological – with their name, personality and deeds embedded in the popular consciousness of a people, mentioned frequently in folk songs, folk tales and other folklore; an ...

in the state. In 1869, Joseph P. Allyn, a judge from the state capital of

, died. In his

will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...

he allocated

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

5,000 to his father and two other men for the purposes of erecting a monument in honor of Putnam in Hartford's

. His father added an additional $5,000 of his own money and, in either 1872 or 1873, the trustees chose to commission sculptor

to design a statue of Putnam. The statue would be the first of six Revolutionary War sculptures Ward would create during his lifetime. R. M. Hunt of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

designed an accompanying pedestal for the statue, which cost about $2,000 and was paid for by the city government of Hartford. Ultimately, the monument cost a total of at least $14,000. Ward completed the sculpture in 1873 while he was also working on some sculptures for the

Connecticut State Capitol The Connecticut State Capitol is located north of Capitol Avenue and south of Bushnell Park in Hartford, the capital of Connecticut. The building houses the Connecticut General Assembly; the upper house, the State Senate, and lower house, the Hous ...

, located near Bushnell Park.

Casting Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as a ''casting'', which is ejected ...

was performed by the Robert Wood & Company

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. The monument was dedicated on June 17, 1874, in a large ceremony at the park. The dedication took place on the anniversary of the

Battle of Bunker Hill The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on June 17, 1775, during the Siege of Boston in the first stage of the American Revolutionary War. The battle is named after Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts, which was peripherally involved in ...

(a Revolutionary War battle in which Putnam participated almost 100 years prior) and occurred during a wave of monument-building in the United States that honored both Revolutionary and

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

-era figures. The statue would be one of the first to be erected in the park, coming several years after the erection of the first statue in the park, one of Bishop

Thomas Church Brownell Thomas Church Brownell (October 19, 1779 – January 13, 1865) was founder of Trinity College (Connecticut), Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, Episcopal Ch ...

, in 1869. In 1993, the monument was surveyed as part of the

Save Outdoor Sculpture! Save Outdoor Sculpture! (SOS!) was a community-based effort to identify, document, and conserve outdoor sculpture in the United States. The program was initiated in 1989 and ended in 1999. History Save Outdoor Sculpture! was initiated by Herit ...

project.

Design

The monument consists of a

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

statue of Putnam, standing tall, atop a

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

pedestal standing tall. The sculpture has side dimensions of approximately by , while the rectangular pedestal has side measurements of by . Putnam is dressed in his military garb from the Revolutionary War, including a

frock coat A frock coat is a formal men's coat characterised by a knee-length skirt cut all around the base just above the knee, popular during the Victorian and Edwardian periods (1830s–1910s). It is a fitted, long-sleeved coat with a centre vent at th ...

and

cravat Cravat, cravate or cravats may refer to: * Cravat (early), forerunner neckband of the modern necktie * Cravat, British name for what in American English is called an ascot tie * Cravat bandage, a triangular bandage * Cravat (horse) (1935–1954), a ...

, and is depicted in midstride. He is holding a sword by his side with his left hand, while his relaxed right hand holds onto a

tricorne The tricorne or tricorn is a style of hat that was popular during the 18th century, falling out of style by 1800, though actually not called a "tricorne" until the mid-19th century. During the 18th century, hats of this general style were referr ...

. According to an 1874 article in ''

The Aldine ''The Aldine'' was a monthly arts magazine published in New York in the 1800s. History ''The Aldine'' was published by Sutton Browne & Company starting in 1868 as ''The Aldine Press'', which was shortened in 1871. Subtitles included ''A typogra ...

'', Ward modeled Putnam's face off of an ink portrait belonging to his descendants and a portrait created by

John Trumbull John Trumbull (June 6, 1756November 10, 1843) was an American artist of the early independence period, notable for his historical paintings of the American Revolutionary War, of which he was a veteran. He has been called the "Painter of the Rev ...

. The base of the sculpture bears markings from the designer and foundry (J.Q.A. WARD / 1873 / R. WOOD & CO / BRONZE FOUNDERS. / PHILA.), while the front of the pedestal reads "ISRAEL PUTNAM" and the back bears the inscription "PRESENTED / BY THE HONOURABLE / JOSEPH PRATT ALLYN / MDCCCLXXIII".

Analysis

Contemporary reviews of the statue were generally mixed. An 1888 article by T. H. Bartlett in ''The American Architect and Building News'' states that the public was disappointed in Ward's portrayal of Putnam, saying, "Artists, as well as the public, have criticized, justly, the position and character of the statue." However, a 1903 article by Amanda M. Flattery in ''The Bay View Magazine'' lists the statue among several other examples of Ward's "genius", including his

equestrian statue of George Henry Thomas ''Major General George Henry Thomas'', also known as the Thomas Circle Monument, is an equestrian sculpture in Washington, D.C. that honors Civil War general George Henry Thomas. The monument is located in the center of Thomas Circle, on the ...

and statue of George Washington. The Bushnell Park Foundation, which oversees the park and administers the statue, observe that " Ward’s rendering of Putnam taking a step forward, he is no longer a static figure but a candid portrayal of a fleeting moment as the general strides forth", which lends "a more natural, spontaneous character and heightened the realism of his sculpture". They proceed to note that while the monument is "a radical departure from his work in the post-Civil War period, this statue marks a new and important dimension in his work".

Notes

References

Sources

* * *

External links

* {{Hartford, Connecticut 1874 establishments in Connecticut 1874 sculptures American Revolutionary War monuments and memorials Bronze sculptures in Connecticut Buildings and structures in Hartford, Connecticut Outdoor sculptures in Connecticut Sculptures of men in Connecticut Statues in Connecticut Tourist attractions in Hartford, Connecticut