The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1889-05-01
THE STORY OF A STATUE.
A Brief Historical Sketch of the Statue
Of Washington Lately Placed in the
State House Grounds.

A Brief Historical Sketch of the Statue
Of Washington Lately Placed in the
State House Grounds.
The bronze statue of George Washing
ton, which has been familiar part of
the furnishing of the lower corridor of
the State House, has been moved out of
doors and erected on pedestal oppo-
site the East wing of the building. The
idea, which is an excellent one, origi-
mated with Secretary of State Marshall.
Captain U. R. Brooks of Colonel
Marshall's Office furnishes the following
historical sketch of the statue.
In the year 1857 the late Hon. A. P.
Butler, who then represented South Car
olina in the United States Senate, must
have seen this Houdon statue, and being
impressed with its value recommended
its purchase by the State. Governor
Allston in his message 10 the LegiSla-
ture most feelingly speaks of it in the
following words: 1T is boon to man
kind when the good God permits, some
times, the wisdom of love, associated
with faith and hope, to be embodied in
human form, whose form We may look
upon and admire. It is true that our
debt of gratitude to his memory cannot
be paid, but it is due to ourselves that
we may acknowledge it by some visible
token, and it is due to poSterity to pro
vide a monument to which the young
may be pointed when curious to realize
the idea of his manly proportions, or
when enjoined by their matrons to study
the character of Washington, and emu
late the virtues which adorn it. pur-
pose that statue be ordered and provi
sions be made for its erection with the
new State Capitol. The Legislature did
not make the necessary appropriation and
before the next session 1t became neces-
sary for the Governor to take active
steps if he wished to secure the statue
for the State. Accordingly he then an
nounced what be had done in his next
annual message: The statue of Wash
ington, to which my message Of last No
vember alluded, was completed soon
after. Ascertaining in March that the
artist was obliged to dispose of his work,
and being certified that it was valuable,
took it for the State at $4,000, ad-
vancing 50, 900 from the contingent fund.
1 now ask an appropriation of 1000 to
complete the purchase, and compensate
fully the ingenious artist. The statue IS
of bronze. 1t has been placed IN the
Orphan House grounds, in Charleston,
under the care Of the city authorities
until the new State House shall he sutfi-
cieutly finished to render it safe in the
State grounds here" The appropriation
of $4,000 was promptly made by the Le-
gislature on December 81, 1858, under
the head of Extraordinary Expendi-
tures," to complete the payment for the
bronze statue of Washington, mentioned
in the Governors message, to be drawn
by the Governor and paid by him to the
proper person. This statue remained in
the Orphan House grounds in Charles
ton, until the missiles of death from the
swamp angei fell thick and fast, and it
was considered by the authorities safe
to remove it to Columbia the last year
of the war. It was placed in the main
hall of the State House, and remained
there until it was placed in its present
position in the State House grounds this
norning.
This is copy of the statue made by
Houdon, the French sculptor. The
original in marble, stands in the ro-
tunda of the Capitol at Richmond, Va.
There are also copies in Central Park,
New York, and in one of the parks OF
St. Louis.