The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1910-05-31
Gettysburg National Park
Is Best Exhibition of the
Extent of To Which Mod
ern Sculpture Is Being
Used To Commemorate
Deeds of Heroism.
rs
MUCH
(By Walden Fawcett.)

number and size of our battlefield ma.
tional parks. It is now the policy of
the national government, ably seconded
10y most Of the state governments, TO
convert into national parks the tracts
of land in the southern and middle
states which were the scenes Of the
great battles of the Civil war. Each
year sees new reservations Of this kind
acquired by purchase of congress or
through other means and set aside a.
permanent testimonials of the nation s
gratitude TO the men who fought and
died there. Keeping pace with thu
creation of new parks IN the policy of
extension being pursued with reference
TO the older established battlefield parks
which have not included at the outset
AS few of them havs-the entire areas
embraced in the battle which they com
memorate.
A second aud even more direct In.
~fluence Of fostering the present activl.
" in the creation Of memorials in mar
bic aud bronze IL the custom which has
grown up with the development of the
battlefield park plan of suitably mark
ing every historic spot Mt the scene of
a great struggle between the Union and
Confederate forces. This explains the
dozens and even hundreds of statues,
monuments and markers that are now
to be found in the average important
battlefield park. Some of the monu
ments are erected by appropriation Of
congress or by funds set aside by the
legislatures of states that desire to
thus honor their sons who fought in de
Tense of the flag. An even greater
number of these enduring tributes,
however, have been erected by organi.
cations made up of the survivors Of
companies, troops, batteries, regiments
or other minor divisions Of a contest.
ing army and who take this means of
t~estifying to their regard for their fal.
len comrades.
Perhaps the best evidence of the eX
tent to which modern sculpture is be
ing relied upon to commemorate the
deeds aud the heroes Of the greatest
Of civil wars is afforded by a tour Of
the Gettysgurg National park. Here,
lining more than 100 miles of carefully
prepared roadway and marking every
/ significant point in the three days bat
tie, are a total Of more than 400 monu
ments, memorial shafts and tablets and
more than 1000 markers. Many OF
these testimonials in marble, granite
and bronze are elaborate and costly and
the aggregate cost amount to several
million dollars. And yet on the battle
field as elsewhere the labor of love l..
only partially completed. Numerous
other monuments are definitely project
ed and yet others are in contemplation
The provision Of monuments in ever
increasing number for the battlefclds
(of which Gettysburg is the only one
would indeed be an appalling task Were
It necessary to laboriously chisel out
Of marble by hand all the statues and
carved figures. However, modern in
genuity has provided means for eflec
tive "short cuts" in battlefield sculp.
ture-expedients that make is possible
to unveil a monument within a few
months after the money for II has been
appropriated. Many OF the present.day
battleields memorials are in bronze and
in the east Of such a monument it is
only necessary to model the figure in
plaster. Molds are taken from this aud
when forwarded TO the foundry enable
the casting of the figure in BRONZE
replica or exact duplicate of the orig
nal design which the sculptor fashioned
in the clay or plaster.
The correspondingly rapid creation Of
granite or marble statues presented for
a long time more Of a problem, but it
has been solved and largely by the in.
v~ention Of some wonderful new tools
and appliances which make the long
dreamed.of sculpture by machinery
a reality. The machines, or rather
tools, which now perform in minutes
what the old.time hand chiseler re.
luired hours to accomplish, are all oper'
ated by means of compress mir, utilized
in much the same way that
At each one Of these modern monu.