''The Minute Man'' is an 1874
sculpture
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
by
Daniel Chester French in
Minute Man National Historical Park
Minute Man National Historical Park commemorates the opening battle in the American Revolutionary War. It also includes the Wayside, home in turn to three noted American authors. The National Historical Park is under the jurisdiction of the Na ...
,
Concord, Massachusetts
Concord () is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. At the 2020 census, the town population was 18,491. The United States Census Bureau considers Concord part of Greater Boston. The town center is near where the confl ...
. It was created between 1871 and 1874 after extensive research, and was originally intended to be made of stone. The medium was switched to
bronze and it was cast from ten
Civil War-era cannons appropriated by
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
.
The statue depicts a
minuteman
Minutemen were members of the organized New England colonial militia companies trained in weaponry, tactics, and military strategies during the American Revolutionary War. They were known for being ready at a minute's notice, hence the name. Mi ...
stepping away from his plow to join the
patriot
A patriot is a person with the quality of patriotism.
Patriot may also refer to:
Political and military groups United States
* Patriot (American Revolution), those who supported the cause of independence in the American Revolution
* Patriot m ...
forces at the
Battle of Concord, at the start of 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 young man has an overcoat thrown over his plow, and has a
musket in his hand. Nineteenth-century art historians noticed that the pose resembles the pose of the ''
Apollo Belvedere
The ''Apollo Belvedere'' (also called the ''Belvedere Apollo, Apollo of the Belvedere'', or ''Pythian Apollo'') is a celebrated marble sculpture from Classical Antiquity.
The ''Apollo'' is now thought to be an original Roman creation of Hadri ...
''. Until the late twentieth century, it was assumed that the pose was transposed from the earlier statue. Based on Daniel Chester French's journals, modern art historians have shown that the ''Apollo Belvedere'' was only one of several statues that were used in the research for ''The Minute Man''.
The statue was unveiled in 1875 for the centennial of the Battle of Concord. It received critical acclaim and continues to be praised by commentators. The statue has been a
suffragette symbol and a symbol of the
United States National Guard
The National Guard is a state-based military force that becomes part of the reserve components of the United States Army and the United States Air Force when activated for federal missions.[Army National Guard
The Army National Guard (ARNG), in conjunction with the Air National Guard, is an organized Militia (United States), militia force and a Reserve components of the United States Armed Forces, federal military reserve force of the United States A ...]
, and the
Air National Guard, and depicted on coins such as the 1925
Lexington–Concord Sesquicentennial half dollar and the 2000 Massachusetts
state quarter.
Background
Minutemen or Minute Companies were a part of the
militia
A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...
of the
Province of Massachusetts Bay
The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a colony in British America which became one of the thirteen original states of the United States. It was chartered on October 7, 1691, by William III and Mary II, the joint monarchs of the kingdoms of ...
. The name minutemen comes from the idea that they would be ready to fight with a minute's notice.
The force was created in response to the Massachusetts militia's failure to respond to the
Powder Alarm
The Powder Alarm was a major popular reaction to the removal of gunpowder from a magazine near Boston by British soldiers under orders from General Thomas Gage, royal governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, on September 1, 1774. In respo ...
in September 1774. Unlike the general militia, which was made up of all able-bodied white men between 16 and 60, the two companies of minutemen were made up of young volunteers who were paid one
shilling
The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence o ...
, eight pence for their time drilling three times a week.
The other difference between the general militia and minutemen was how officers were appointed. In the general militia, officers were appointed by
the governor as a political favor; officers of minutemen were elected by their peers.
By February 1775,
Concord, Massachusetts
Concord () is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. At the 2020 census, the town population was 18,491. The United States Census Bureau considers Concord part of Greater Boston. The town center is near where the confl ...
had 104 minutemen in two companies.
Battles of Lexington and Concord
In 1775, the
Massachusetts Provincial Congress
The Massachusetts Provincial Congress (1774–1780) was a provisional government created in the Province of Massachusetts Bay early in the American Revolution. Based on the terms of the colonial charter, it exercised ''de facto'' control over the ...
designated Concord as the stockpile for
patriot
A patriot is a person with the quality of patriotism.
Patriot may also refer to:
Political and military groups United States
* Patriot (American Revolution), those who supported the cause of independence in the American Revolution
* Patriot m ...
cannons, gunpowder, and ammunition.
In response to the growing stockpile of arms,
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
General
Thomas Gage
General Thomas Gage (10 March 1718/192 April 1787) was a British Army general officer and colonial official best known for his many years of service in North America, including his role as British commander-in-chief in the early days of th ...
sent spies to Concord to survey the preparations. Based on the reports from spies and instructions from
Secretary of State for America William Legge, Earl of Dartmouth, Gage ordered a preemptive strike on Concord. At daybreak on April 19, 1775, six companies of
grenadiers and light infantry under the command of major
John Pitcairn
Major John Pitcairn (28 December 1722 – 17 June 1775) was a Marine Service officer who was stationed in Boston, Massachusetts, at the start of the American War of Independence.
Born in Scotland in 1722, Pitcairn joined the Naval Service at ...
met a group of 70 militiamen under the command of
John Parker on the
Lexington Common. The militiamen were alerted to the British advance by
Paul Revere
Paul Revere (; December 21, 1734 O.S. (January 1, 1735 N.S.)May 10, 1818) was an American silversmith, engraver, early industrialist, Sons of Liberty member, and Patriot and Founding Father. He is best known for his midnight ride to a ...
,
William Dawes
William Dawes Jr. (April 6, 1745 – February 25, 1799) was one of several men who in April 1775 alerted colonial minutemen in Massachusetts of the approach of British army troops prior to the Battles of Lexington and Concord at the outset ...
, and
Samuel Prescott
Samuel Prescott (August 19, 1751 – ) was an American physician and a Massachusetts Patriot during the American Revolutionary War. He is best known for his role in Paul Revere's "midnight ride" to warn the townspeople of Concord, Massachusetts ...
who traveled from
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
. It is unknown who
fired the first shot of the
Battle of Lexington
The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, ...
, but after less than 30 minutes of fighting, eight militiamen were killed and nine were wounded. After dispersing the patriots, Pitcairn moved his troops on to Concord.
Based on alerts from Prescott and reports from Lexington 150 minutemen from Concord and
Lincoln
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincol ...
mustered on the Concord Common under the command of
James Barrett. After meeting the advancing British troops, the minutemen retreated to higher ground without firing a shot. Since the British troops had control of the town, they proceeded to search for and destroy the stockpiled supplies. The cannon, musket balls, and flour were all rendered unusable, but the gunpowder was removed before it could be seized. While the British were searching the town, the minutemen moved to the
Old North Bridge
Old or OLD may refer to:
Places
*Old, Baranya, Hungary
*Old, Northamptonshire, England
* Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD)
*OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Ma ...
and were reinforced by militiamen from other towns. At the bridge, 400 minutemen and militiamen repelled the British advance and forced them to retreat. Many of the minutemen who participated in the
Battle of Concord went home after the British retreated from the bridge. However, minutemen from other towns skirmished with the British troops during their march back to Boston.
1836 Battle monument
![Minute Man National Park, Concord, MA](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Minute_Man_National_Park%2C_Concord%2C_MA.jpg)
In 1825, the
Bunker Hill Monument Association donated $500 () to Concord to build a monument to the Battle of Concord.
The original plan was to place the monument "near the town pump" in Concord.
Due to disagreements within the town, nothing was done with the money until
Ezra Ripley
Ezra Ripley (1 May 1751 – 21 September 1841) was an American minister of Concord's First Parish Unitarian Church.
Biography
Ripley graduated from Harvard in 1776 where he taught and subsequently studied theology. In 1778 he was ordained to the ...
donated land for the monument near the Old North Bridge in 1835. After the donation, the town had
Solomon Willard
Solomon Willard (June 26, 1783 – February 27, 1861) was a carver and builder in Massachusetts who is remembered primarily for designing and overseeing the Bunker Hill Monument, the first monumental obelisk erected in the United States.
Backgr ...
design a simple
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 under ...
obelisk to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Concord.
The "
Concord Hymn
"Concord Hymn" (original title was "Hymn: Sung at the Completion of the Concord Monument, April 19, 1836")Buell, Lawrence. ''Emerson''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2003: 56. Emerson's son, Edward Waldo Emerson, who edited ...
" was written by
transcendentalist writer
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...
for the dedication of the monument in 1836.
At the ceremony, it was sung to the tune of "
Old Hundred
"Old 100th" or "Old Hundredth" (also known as "Old Hundred") is a hymn tune in long metre, from the second edition of the Genevan Psalter. It is one of the best known melodies in many occidental Christian musical traditions. The tune is usually ...
".
To the dislike of Emerson, the obelisk stands on the bank of the river where the British stood during battle.
''The Minute Man'' was created for the centennial celebration of the battle in 1875. Unlike the earlier monument, it was to be placed on the bank where the Massachusetts militia stood.
Creation and unveiling
The monument committee for ''The Minute Man''—which consisted of
George M. Brooks, John B. More, John S. Keyes, and Emerson—only considered
Daniel Chester French because he was from Concord and his father,
Henry F. French, was a prominent local lawyer and former judge.
The statue was French's first full-size work; previously French had produced a bust of his father and one additional statue.
In 1871, a year before he was formally commissioned, the committee chairman asked French to start working on the statue.
Throughout the year, French sketched possible poses for the statue. That summer, he created a small clay "related figure" that was rejected by the committee.
It is unknown what that statue looked like and it was not saved.
French researched ''The Minute Man'' by studying
powder horn
A powder horn is a container for gunpowder, and was generally created from cow, ox or buffalo horn (anatomy), horn. The term may also be used for any personal container for gunpowder, although powder flask is the strictly correct term.
Featur ...
s and buttons from the era.
According to
Harold Holzer
Harold Holzer (born February 5, 1949) is a scholar of Abraham Lincoln and the political culture of the American Civil War Era. He serves as director of Hunter College's Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute. Holzer previously spent twenty-thr ...
, because French was a handsome man, "there would be a line of young women outside his studio ready to show him their alleged
Colonial
Colonial or The Colonial may refer to:
* Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology)
Architecture
* American colonial architecture
* French Colonial
* Spanish Colonial architecture
Automobiles
* Colonial (1920 au ...
artifacts" to help him with his research.
After a months-long search, a plow from the correct era was located to model for the statue.
In 1873, his second clay model of the statue was accepted by the statue committee. The same year, the medium of the statue was changed from stone to bronze.
The miniature version of the statue won a local art competition in September 1873, but the pose of the figure was deemed "awkwardly stiff" by critics.
The pose of ''The Minute Man'' was made more natural in the enlargement process by working with models. By September 1874, the statue was completed and a plaster version of the clay statue was sent to
Ames Manufacturing Works in
Chicopee, Massachusetts
Chicopee ( ) is a city located on the Connecticut River in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 55,560, making it the second-largest city in Western Massachusetts after Springfield. ...
.
Because the town did not have the money to cast the statue in bronze, through a bill introduced by
Ebenezer R. Hoar
Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar (February 21, 1816 – January 31, 1895) was an American politician, lawyer, and jurist from Massachusetts. He served as U.S. Attorney General from 1869 to 1870, and was the first head of the newly created Department of Jus ...
, the United States Congress appropriated ten
Civil War-era cannons to the project.
The statue was cast with the metal from guns.
The statue was unveiled on April 19, 1875, during the centennial celebration of the Battle of Concord, in a ceremony attended by President
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...
and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
French, however, left for Italy to further study sculpture in 1874 and was not in attendance. Holzer suggests that French avoided the celebration "in case the statue was panned" by contemporary critics.
French's fears were unfounded and the statue was positively received by art critics and the public.
''The Concord Minute Man of 1775''
French was commissioned by the town of Concord in 1889 to rework ''The Minute Man'' for the
USS ''Concord''.
The new statue, paid for by
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
, was titled ''The Concord Minute Man of 1775''. The reworked statue cleaned up some imperfections in the face of the original statue and incorporated elements of ''
Beaux-Arts''.
French made the movement of the new statue more fluid and natural. It was completed in 1890 and installed on the gunboat in 1891.
A copy of the statue was also carried by the
USS ''Concord'' in the 1940s.
Composition
Statue
The statue is tall and depicts a minuteman at the Battle of Concord. It is, perhaps, a portrait of
Isaac Davis, an officer who died in the battle. The farmer-turned-soldier is shown trading his plow for a
musket and stepping away from his private life toward the impending battle.
The sleeves of his coat and shirt are rolled up; the minuteman's overcoat is draped over the plow.
A powder horn, mistakenly, sits on the man's back instead of on his hip where it can be used.
His face is alert while his eyes are transfixed on the battle into which he is ready to march.
On his head sits a wide-brimmed hat that has been pinned on the right side.
The pose of the soldier has been compared to the pose of the ''
Apollo Belvedere
The ''Apollo Belvedere'' (also called the ''Belvedere Apollo, Apollo of the Belvedere'', or ''Pythian Apollo'') is a celebrated marble sculpture from Classical Antiquity.
The ''Apollo'' is now thought to be an original Roman creation of Hadri ...
''.
Nineteenth- and twentieth-century art critics, such as
Lorado Taft
Lorado Zadok Taft (April 29, 1860, in Elmwood, Illinois – October 30, 1936, in Chicago) was an American sculptor, writer and educator. His 1903 book, ''The History of American Sculpture,'' was the first survey of the subject and stood for deca ...
and H. C. Howard, have suggested that the pose was directly copied from the Roman sculpture.
Howard in particular trivializes the sculpture as "little more than an Americanized rendition of the ''Apollo Belvedere''".
Modern scholarship, working with French's journals, disagrees that the pose is a copy while acknowledging that French used a variety of plaster casts of classical sculptures, including the ''Apollo Belvedere'', as inspiration when creating ''The Minute Man''.
Pedestal
''The Minute Man'' was intended to be placed on a local boulder by the town of Concord.
At the insistence of French and his father, the town allowed for the design of a stone pedestal. Several architects submitted designs to the town, including French's brother, but the competition was won by
James Elliot Cabot
James Elliot Cabot (June 18, 1821 – January 16, 1903) was an American philosopher and author, born in Boston to Samuel Cabot, Jr., and Eliza Cabot. James (known by his family and friends as "Elliot") had six brothers: Thomas Handasyd Cabot (b. ...
.
The resulting design is a simple granite pedestal that is tall and wide with inscriptions in two sides.
On the front, it is inscribed with the first stanza of Ralph Waldo Emerson's "
Concord Hymn
"Concord Hymn" (original title was "Hymn: Sung at the Completion of the Concord Monument, April 19, 1836")Buell, Lawrence. ''Emerson''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2003: 56. Emerson's son, Edward Waldo Emerson, who edited ...
".
The date of the battle and the year of the centennial are on the rear. Cabot's design is nearly identical to French's final pedestal design. Throughout the creation of ''The Minute Man'', French sketched and built a variety of potential pedestals.
Beneath the pedestal is a copper
time capsule
A time capsule is a historic cache of goods or information, usually intended as a deliberate method of communication with future people, and to help future archaeologists, anthropologists, or historians. The preservation of holy relics dates ...
from 1875 that contains items from past celebrations of the battle, maps, and photographs of both the sculpture and sculptor.
In 1975, a second time capsule was placed beneath the pedestal that included
Girl Scouts USA
Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA), commonly referred to as simply Girl Scouts, is a youth organization for girls in the United States and American girls living abroad. Founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912, it was organized a ...
pins, the
United States Bicentennial
The United States Bicentennial was a series of celebrations and observances during the mid-1970s that paid tribute to historical events leading up to the creation of the United States of America as an independent republic. It was a central event ...
's flag, and a
cassette tape.
Reception
''The Minute Man'' is highly regarded by art historians and critics.
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work.
...
came "very near to choking" when he saw the statue and battlefield during his 1892 tour of the United States.
Anna Seaton-Schmidt
Anna may refer to:
People Surname and given name
* Anna (name)
Mononym
* Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke
* Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773)
* Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century)
* Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 12 ...
referred to it as "the most inspiring of our soldier monuments" in her 1922 biography of French in ''The American Magazine of Art''. The Boston National Historic Sites Commission claimed the statue "perfectly personifies the American Patriot" in their 1959 interim report.
Michael Richman, the 1971–1972
Samuel H. Kress Fellow, calls it a "masterwork in nineteenth-century American sculpture".
Chris Bergeron from ''
The MetroWest Daily News
''The MetroWest Daily News'' is an American daily newspaper published in Framingham, Massachusetts, serving the MetroWest region of suburban Boston. The newspaper is owned by Gannett.
The newspaper covers several cities and towns in Norfolk, M ...
'' describes ''The Minute Man'' as "naturalistic detail imbued with an idealistic effect".
Harold Holzer describes the statue as representative of French's style of "naturalism, a great feeling of humanity, and connection to the subject".
Louisa May Alcott, writing for ''
Woman's Journal
''Woman's Journal'' was an American women's rights periodical published from 1870 to 1931. It was founded in 1870 in Boston, Massachusetts, by Lucy Stone and her husband Henry Browne Blackwell as a weekly newspaper. In 1917 it was purchased by ...
'', commented on the lack of place for women in its unveiling ceremony.
Alcott and other
suffragettes appropriated the statue as a symbol of their struggle for voting rights, and the suffragettes made pilgrimages to the statue in the 1880s.
Government usage
''The Minute Man'' was widely used by the US government to evoke the idea of the citizen-soldier, commemorate the Battle of Concord, and serve as a symbol for Massachusetts. The statue appears on the seal of the
United States National Guard
The National Guard is a state-based military force that becomes part of the reserve components of the United States Army and the United States Air Force when activated for federal missions.[Army National Guard
The Army National Guard (ARNG), in conjunction with the Air National Guard, is an organized Militia (United States), militia force and a Reserve components of the United States Armed Forces, federal military reserve force of the United States A ...]
, and the
Air National Guard. In 1925, the
United States Post Office Department
The United States Post Office Department (USPOD; also known as the Post Office or U.S. Mail) was the predecessor of the United States Postal Service, in the form of a Cabinet department, officially from 1872 to 1971. It was headed by the postma ...
released a five-cent stamp depicting the statue and verses from "Concord Hymn". The
United States Treasury
The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and ...
has used the statue on both
war bonds
War bonds (sometimes referred to as Victory bonds, particularly in propaganda) are debt securities issued by a government to finance military operations and other expenditure in times of war without raising taxes to an unpopular level. They are a ...
and
savings bonds. Workplaces and schools with a 90% war bond participation rate were authorized to fly a flag featuring ''The Minute Man'' during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. The statue has been depicted on United States coins twice. It appears on the obverse of the 1925
Lexington–Concord Sesquicentennial half dollar, and on the reverse of the 2000 Massachusetts
state quarter along with an outline of the state.
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
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External links
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{{featured article
1874 sculptures
American Revolutionary War monuments and memorials
Bronze sculptures in Massachusetts
Granite sculptures in Massachusetts
Minute Man National Historical Park
Monuments and memorials in Massachusetts
Outdoor sculptures in Massachusetts
Sculptures by Daniel Chester French
Sculptures of men in Massachusetts
Statues in Massachusetts
Farming in art