The Boston Massacre Monument, also known as the Crispus Attucks Monument and ''Victory'', is an outdoor bronze memorial by Adolph Robert Kraus, installed in

Boston Common The Boston Common (also known as the Common) is a public park in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest city park in the United States. Boston Common consists of of land bounded by Tremont Street (139 Tremont St.), Park Street, Beac ...

, in

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 ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

, United States.

Description and history

The monument was dedicated on November 14, 1889. The designer of the base was Boston architect

Carl Fehmer Carl Fehmer (November 10, 1838 – 1923) was a prominent German-American Boston architect during the 19th century. Fehmer had already started his architectural career before his service in the Civil War, but became well-established afterwar ...

. The monument was surveyed by the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

's "

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 ...

" program in 1993. The survey's description says, "The monument consists of an allegorical female figure representing the Spirit of the Revolution standing atop a granite base in front of a tall granite obelisk adorned with a band of thirteen stars around the top. The female figure is loosely draped and holds a furled American flag in her proper left hand. Her proper right arm is raised and in her proper right hand she holds a broken piece of chain. Beneath her proper right foot is a broken British crown. An eagle ready to take flight is perched by her proper left foot. On the base, beneath the female figure, is a bronze relief plaque depicting the

Boston Massacre The Boston Massacre (known in Great Britain as the Incident on King Street) was a confrontation in Boston on March 5, 1770, in which a group of nine British soldiers shot five people out of a crowd of three or four hundred who were harassing t ...

. It shows five men,

Crispus Attucks Crispus Attucks ( – March 5, 1770) was an American whaler, sailor, and stevedore of African and Native American descent, commonly regarded as the first person killed in the Boston Massacre and thus the first American killed in the Amer ...

, Samuel Maverick, James Caldwell, Samuel Gray, and Patrick Carr, slain by the British soldiers in front of the Massachusetts State House." These deaths took place on March 7, 1770. Crispus Attucks was a freed African American who was the first to die in the line of fire between the British and the colonist. Crispus Attucks was a part of the first group to start attacking the British soldiers with throwing balls of ice and stones at the troops. Attucks was glorified by some colonist as a emblem of resisting against the British power.

References

External links

* Allegorical sculptures in the United States Boston Common Boston Massacre Bronze sculptures in Massachusetts Flags in art Granite sculptures in Massachusetts Monuments and memorials in Boston Obelisks in the United States Outdoor sculptures in Boston Sculptures of birds in the United States Sculptures of men in Massachusetts Sculptures of women in Massachusetts Statues in Boston {{Massachusetts-sculpture-stub