Hi everyone. This week I want to talk about the art of Gettysburg and the battle ground monuments. I took a driving tour around the battle grounds and I want to talk about 2 Major-Generals.
Major-General Oliver Otis Howard:
This statue was erected in memory of him and to the citizens of Maine who fought in the Civil War. The sculpture was done in 1932 by Robert Aitken, it is made of bronze and is 22 ft. and seven inches in height. Major-General Howard was one of three men including George Gordon Meade and Joseph Hooker who were voted thanks by Congress in their role in the Gettysburg Campaign. The stance of the horse suggests that Major General Howard was firm in his decision that the Army of the Potomac would not retreat.
He was known as “the Christian General”.He went to school in North Yarmouth, Maine when he was young before graduating from Bowdoin College in 1850. In 1857 he took part in the campaign against the Florida Seminoles. It was during this campaign when he took conversion into evangelical Christianity. In May of 1861 he was made colonel of the 3rd Maine Volunteer Infantry. He commanded a brigade at the first battle of Bull Run and was promoted to brigadier general that fall. When he was at the head of a brigade in the Union Second Corps in the spring of 1862, he lost his right arm at the battle of Seven Pines.
Major-General Winfield-Scott Hancock:
The bronze state was created by Frank Edwin Elwell, the sculptor wanted to capture the calm but commanding presence of Major-General Hancock. The statue was dedicated on June 5, 1896.
He was an officer in the United States Army and in 1880 he was the Democratic nominee for President of the United States of America. He served in the Mexican-American war and he was honored for his bravery in the battle of Churubusco. At the start of the Civil War he was serving at Los Angeles, he was working to keep Union ammunition away from Southern sympathizers.
You can learn more about these historic figures at these websites:
http://gettysburgsculptures.com/maj-gen_hancock_equestrian_monument
https://www.gettysburgdaily.com/howard-statue-on-east-cemetery-hill/
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/winfield-scott-hancock
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/oliver-o-howard
